FULTON, Mo. – The William Woods University baseball team dropped the first game of its weekend series against Williams Baptist College, 5-1 on Friday afternoon in a nine inning match-up. The Owls will look for redemption against the Eagles, as the team concludes its three-game series with a doubleheader tomorrow. The first pitch is set for 1:00 p.m.
The Owls (15-6; 3-3 AMC), suffered its third loss in the team's last five games, despite WWU outhitting the Eagles on Friday by collecting nine hits to Williams Baptist's three, a season-high of errors led to three unearned runs for WBC.
The Eagles were the first to strike, after a leadoff walk, putting Alex Camp on first, then after two outs Camp would take off in an attempt to steal second, with two costly errors from the Owls, Camp would come around in score the first run to give WBC the early 1-0 lead.
WWU, however would respond right away in the bottom of the first inning, as
Larry Price reached first base on a Eagles wild throw, then
Austin Clapp would draw a walk, putting Price in scoring position for the cleanup hitter,
Jordan Dey. Dey would push his team-high RBI's to 21 with a single up the middle, scoring Price for the equalizing run and making the score 1-1.
Starting pitcher,
Garrett Haslag would get into another jam, as the first three hitters for Williams Baptist reached base to start the second inning, then a deep sac fly to center field would score the Eagles second run of the day. After a tough play and an error for the Owls, another WBC runner would come across the plate, giving them a 3-1 lead and end the day for Haslag and be replaced on the mound by
James Ball. The senior, would come in and strike out the first Eagle he faced, although WBC's Ryan Shelton would come to the plate next and single to deep center field, scoring two for the Eagles, which pushed their lead up to 5-1.
That would be the last runs scored from either team, as both team's offense would go cold for the remainder of the match-up. The Owls would get a rally going and put pressure on the Eagles defense in the bottom of the eighth.
Cody Stewart would lead things off with a single to right field but Clapp would hit into a double play to take away the Owls threat. That didn't phase Dey, as he collected his second hit of the day with a stand up double and then advanced to third with a slow rolling single to short stop from Spagnola, giving life back into WWU late in the game, however the owls couldn't get a run on the board as
Alex St. Pierre's pop out to first base ended the inning.
After going a quick one, two, and three in the bottom of the ninth inning for the Owls, it would secure the 5-1 win for the Eagles and hand WWU its third AMC loss on the season. Â
Spagnola led the way for the Owls, tallying three hits on the afternoon, while Stewart and Day each collected a pair of hits, going 2-for-4 from the plate, as Dey brought in the lone WWU run in the game. On the mound, Haslag suffered his first loss of the season by allowing five runs, one earned in one inning of work. Ball would come in relief and hold off the Eagles, pitching seven innings of relief for the Owls, not allowing a run to score, while striking out eight batters and giving up just two hits.
WBC recorded just three hits on the day, as Camp, Shelton and Tanner Murray tallied a hit on the day. Starting pitcher for the Eagles, Braxton Rhodes pitched a full seven innings, giving up just one run on nine hits and striking out six batters to collect the win.
Fans stay updated tomorrow on wwuowls.com for a full recap and scores of the doubleheader from Owls Field of the conclusion of the weekend series against WBC.Â
