FULTON, Mo. ­­-- Senior Zach Nichols belted a go-ahead three-run home run in the bottom of the sixth inning to help the William Woods University baseball team collect a 5-3 victory over Benedictine University at Springfield on Friday night at Owls Field.

With William Woods (34-9, 18-7 AMC) trailing 3-2 in the sixth, Nichols connected on a ball up in the zone from Benedictine University at Springfield (21-15, 15-10) Dalton Doerfler, and lifted it over the left-centerfield fence, to give his team a two-run advantage. Closer James Ball came into the game in the top half of the seventh, and preserved the win for WWU, as he tossed three innings of one-hit, shutout baseball, to collect his 11th save of the season.

The home run was the second of the night for Nichols, as he drilled a solo shot in the bottom half of the fourth to tie the game at 2-2. The pair of homers now gives the Hannibal, Mo., native five on the year, and is his third dinger in his last four games.

The pair of homers helped the Owls collect an important series-opening win against the Bulldogs, and extends WWU's winning streak to a season-best seven games.

 "I thought tonight was a very well-played college baseball game between two quality teams," said Head Coach Darren Munns after the contest. "Both teams played hard tonight, and we've been accustomed to these types of games against Benedictine-Springfield. Zach came up big for us tonight. Their starter was really keeping us off balance, but he was able to get a pitch up in the zone and made Doerfler pay for it. It was a hard-fought win tonight, and I'm happy to be on the positive side of things."

Even though WWU picked up the win, they have been eliminated from American Midwest Conference regular season title contention, thanks to a pair of Missouri Baptist wins today. The Owls can still earn the No. 2 seed in next week's AMC Tournament with a doubleheader sweep on Saturday, coupled with a Lyon College loss to Park University. If Lyon wins however, the Owls will be locked into the conference's No. 3 seed.

Nichols offense outburst would be enough to help WWU starter Dane Smith collect his eighth win of the season. The senior posted his fourth win in his last five starts on Friday night, as he went six innings, allowing three hits and three runs, but only one was earned, as he lowers his ERA to 3.29 on the year.

Smith was able to work around a slew of errors by William Woods, as they committed a total of six on the night.

"Dane really battled," said Munns of his starter. "He got a lot of help tonight from the double-play ball, as he was able to keep it low in the zone when he had hitters on base. We did not play great defense tonight, and he was able to work around that. I'm glad that he was still able to compete at a high level despite that, and pick up his teammates tonight."

The WWU offense was cooled off by the Bulldogs pitching staff, as the BenU-Springfield combination of Doerfler and reliever Drake Hardin allowed just six hits and five runs on the night, all of which came from the starter Doerfler, who suffered his fourth loss of the season.

Nichols was the lone Owls player to have a multi-hit night, as Sam Moon, Cody Stewart, Matt Thomas, and Dustin Kremer each collected a hit. For Moon and Thomas, their hits extended their recent hitting streak to seven and eight games respectively.

William Woods broke through with a run in the first inning, as Cody Stewart knocked a one-out double to right field, and advanced to third on an error, setting Matt Thomas up with an RBI opportunity. The lefty would deliver the first run of the game, as he got Stewart in on a ground out to first.

Dane Smith would get into trouble in the top of the second, as he allowed the inning's first two batters to reach. He would recover and record two outs with no damage done, but a misplayed fly ball to left allowed both runners to come across and give Benedictine-Springfield a 2-1 advantage.

WWU tied the game in its half of the fourth inning, thanks to Zach Nichols' first home run of the game, as he sent a long drive over the leftfield wall. But, it would be a short-lived tie, as the Bulldogs responded with a run of their own in the next half inning, giving them a 3-2 lead.

Stewart and Thomas each reached base to start off the sixth inning, and Nichols would bring them around to score on his go-ahead three-run homer, as WWU took a 5-3 advantage.

James Ball would spell Smith in the next half inning, and cruised through the seventh, before getting into a jam in the eighth.

With a runner on third and two outs, Ball thought out of the inning, as Grant Dewitt hit a grounder short. However, the umpire called catcher's interference, allowing Dewitt to go to first, putting runners on the corners. Ball recovered quickly, as he got Ben Sigourney to strike out on the next at-bat ending the threat.

The Owls closer would work around a one-out error in the top of the ninth, as he picked up his 11th save of the year, one shy of Alex Cann's single-season record, and gave William Woods the two-run win.

The three-game series will conclude on Saturday afternoon with a doubleheader starting at 1 p.m., at Owls Field. Saturday will also be Senior Day at William Woods, as Coach Munns and his staff will honor the program's 10 seniors.

Check back with wwuowls.com for a full recap of both games.