SPRINGFIELD, Ill.— The No. 3-seeded William Woods University baseball team was able to hang on for a wild 11-8 victory over No. 1-seeded Freed-Hardeman University on Saturday night.
Between the two teams', they combined for 19 runs, 21 hits and 11 errors, seven of which were committed by the Lions.
The scoring got started for the Owls (38-11; 19-7 AMC), in the bottom of the third, as
Larry Price reached base on a fielder's choice. Then,
Nick Spagnola hit a double to left-center, which allowed Price to score from first and give the team a 1-0 advantage.
That lead, however, was short-lived, as in the top of the fourth, the Lions, scored five runs on three hits and were helped out by two WWU errors. Bobby Seda's infield single scored Mark Salisbury to tie the game at 1-1, then Houston Looser hit a single of his own, scoring Zach Carter and Bobby Seda to make it a 3-1 game.
Two batters later, Griffin Siebert ripped a double to left-center, scoring Looser, to extend the advantage out to 4-1. The Lions went on to tally another run on a wild pitch and headed to the bottom of the fourth, with what they thought, was a comfortable four run lead.
In the home half of the fourth, the Owls offense exploded, scoring six runs on five hits.
Dustin Kremer and
Austin Clapp started the inning off with consecutive walks.
Stephen Kohler came to the dish and hit a double, scoring Kremer and cutting the lead down to 5-2.
After a strikeout,
Jordan Dey singled to shallow center, which allowed Clapp to come on home and make it a 5-3 outing.
Grant Garrett collected a single to left, which put runners on the corners for leadoff hitter
Larry Price.
The leftfielder was hit-by-pitch, which loaded up the bases for the always dangerous
Nick Spagnola, however, his hit to first, allowed Bobby Seda to throw home on the play and get Dey on the force out, for the second out in the inning.
The Owls were not to be denied though, as
Cody Stewart, hit his fourth triple on the year, clearing the bases and giving WWU a 7-5 lead at the end of four innings.
In the bottom of the sixth, the team gained even more breathing room, as Spagnola reached base on a two out single. After stealing second and moving on over to third after a wild throw, Stewart collected his fourth RBI on the day, this time hitting a single, to give the Owls an 8-5 advantage.
Kremer was able to keep the inning going, as he doubled to deep left, which easily scored Stewart and made it a 9-5 game, after six innings of play.
The Owls would plate another run in the seventh, to make it 10-5, but in the top of the eighth, the Lions made the game interesting, as they scored three runs on two hits, but the inning was kept alive by two WWU errors, which narrowed the teams' lead down to 10-8.
WWU, was able to respond in the bottom of the eighth, getting one of those runs back, off the bat of
Austin Clapp, who hit a sacrifice fly to score Stewart from third, who led the inning off with a single.
With an 11-8 lead in the top of the ninth, it turned into a nail-biter again, as after reliever
James Ball got the first batter to fly-out, Seda and Looser hit consecutive singles, which brought the tying run to the plate.
Head coach
Darren Munns went to another hard throwing righty out of the pen, this time bringing in
Ryan Yuengel and the senior dominated the two batters he faced, as he got Garrett Ferguson to strike out swinging and Griffin Siebert to strike out looking, which secured the three run victory for the Owls.
Offensively, WWU totaled 12 hits and were led by Stewart going 3-for-5 with two runs scored and four RBI. Spagnola also went 3-for-5 with two runs scored, while at the leadoff spot, Price went 1-for-3 with two runs scored as well. Kremer, Kohler, Dey and Garrett also each added one hit and one RBI.
Dylan Hastings got the win in relief for the Owls, as he went 2.1 innings of shutout ball and struck out four batters. Ball, also pitched well in relief, going 2.1 innings, allowing three runs (zero earned) on five hits and struck out one. Yuengel, meanwhile, earned the save, with his two strikeout performance.
FHU, meanwhile, was led by Looser, going 3-for-5 with two runs scored and two RBI. At the leadoff spot, J.C. Daily went 2-for-5 with two RBI, while Seda went 2-for-5 with one run scored and one RBI.
With the win, the Owls will now go toe-to-toe with No. 4-seeded Missouri Baptist University on Monday, May 4
th at 12 p.m. The winner of that game, will face Lyon College in the AMC Championship game at 3 p.m. that same day.
Fans make sure to stay updated on wwuowls.com on Sunday for a full preview of the game against the Spartans.
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