SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – A Late rally from No. 25 ranked William Woods University baseball team tied the game in the seventh inning, however, its 2015 AMC tournament journey came to an end in heartbreaking fashion, as a walk-off home run from Missouri Baptist University Jeff Smith in the bottom of the ninth gave the Spartans the 6-5 victory on Monday afternoon.
 
Playing in the semi-final game of the AMC Tournament, just one game away from its third straight championship game appearance, the No. 3 seeded William Woods (38-12;19-7) found themselves just three outs away to sending the game into extra innings, but MBU had a different vision about that, eliminating the defending AMC tournament champions, as the Spartans will now face Lyon College for the tournament title today at 3:00 p.m.
 
The Owls were able to strike first as Larry Price reached on a walk, with a sacrifice bunt from Nick Spagnola, Price moved up 90 feet. Then after a ground out from Cody Stewart, Price was standing on third base, as Dustin Kremer doubled to right-center, to give WWU the early 1-0 lead in the first.
 
MBU, however, responded by plating two in the bottom half of their inning, from RBI singles by Orlando Olivera and Aaron Pangilinan, to give the Spartans the 2-0 lead.
 
The Owls then got into a jam in the bottom of the third, as Missouri Baptist was able to plate two more runs to its lead on four hits. Brent Zimmeran led off with a double to left field and scored from a single off Elisha Roundtree single and later crossed the plate after a single from Brian Poupore, which ended the day for the Owls starting pitcher John Cavness, as the Spartans extended its lead to 4-1.
 
With Ryan Yuengel now on the mound for the Owls, MBU pushed another run across in the next inning on two hits, to make the score 5-1, as WWU was in need of a boost of energy and spark offensively.
 
After not scoring since the first inning of the game, the Owls bats came alive in the top of the sixth, as Stewart led off with a single and scored with Kremer's second double of the day to deep right, cutting the Spartans lead down to 5-2.
 
The Owls knew with innings starting to run out, the team needed to get its offensive that has been red hot all season long going, which is exactly what happened, after two pitching changes from MBU and bases loaded with two outs Kremer recorded his fourth double of the day with a shot to left field, scoring Spagnola and Stewart getting within just one of the Spartans (5-4). In the next at bat, the Owls would score the equalizing run, with a pass ball, moving Kremer to third base and a clutch single up the middle from Austin Clapp made the score all tied up 5-5.
 
WWU had a chance to regain the lead and momentum in the top of the ninth, as they had Price 90 feet away from the plate with one out in the inning, but after a Cody Stewart strike out and an internal walk to Kremer, MBU reliever would get retire Clapp and end the frame and head into the bottom of the ninth in this hard fought battle semifinal match-up.
 
Owls closer James Ball got the call from head coach Darren Munns, despite been stellar in similar situations like the one in the bottom of the ninth all year long, with two balls and two strikes on him, MBU lead off hitter Smith, hit a walk-off home run to left-center. The hit broke through with the winning run (6-5), to advance the Spartans to the tournament championship game and eliminating the Owls.
 
Offensively, WWU collected nine hits on the day, as Kremer totaled four of them, all being doubles, which recorded a career –high in doubles in a single game. The Owls clean-up hitter went a perfect 4-for-4 from the plate while also plating a team-high four RBI's. Clapp chipped in a pair of hits and the big game-tying RBI in the seventh innings, while Spagnola, Stewart and Dey each had a hit.
 
In the loss, the Owls used four pitchers, as Cavness got the start for the team, who has been impressive all season long, only pitched 2.2 innings giving up six hits and allowing four runs. Yuengel, replaced the starter but also gave up a run on two hits in 1.1 inning of work before being relieve by Dylan Hastings, who pitched 4.0 scoreless innings, only allowing one hit and striking out five batters. Ball, suffered just his second loss on the year, in a rare occasion, as the senior gave up a run in his lone inning of work.
 
MBU recorded 10 hits on the day, as Zimmeran, Olivera and Roundtree each went 2-for-4 from the dish, while Smith recorded his lone hit of the day in walk-off fashion. On the mound, the Spartans used five pitchers from their bullpen, as Marcus Crescentini came up with the win.
 
With the loss, William Woods will have to wait and find out if their 2015 season will continue to the opening round of the 2015 NAIA National Tournament, as the team sits with an overall record of 38-12, which is 25^th in the nation.
 
Fans stay updated on wwuowls.com for more information on the Owls rest of the season hopes. 

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