FULTON, Mo. – The William Woods University baseball team and Missouri Baptist University return to Owl Field on Tuesday, March 15th in a makeup contest that was rained out on Saturday. The Owls and Spartans are scheduled to play one nine inning contest with first pitch set for 1 p.m.
The Owls (13-9, 2-3 AMC) return to action after being rained out on Saturday at Owl Field. The Spartans took the first two games of the series on Friday.
Missouri Baptist and WWU played a doubleheader on Friday night that saw the Spartans sweep the Owls. In game one, the Owls struck first in game one as they scored two runs in the bottom of the second inning. However, they could not hold onto the lead and Missouri Baptist scored the next seven runs of the game taking a 7-2 lead. WWU scored two in the bottom of the seventh but could not come all the way back and dropped game one, 7-4.
The high powered Spartans offense clicked starting game two as they jumped out to a 5-1 lead after five innings of action. MBU continued to add runs as they stretched the lead out to 7-1. In the bottom of the eighth inning, the Owls scored two runs but could not come back and the Spartans added two insurance runs taking game two, 9-3.
On the season the Owls are batting .307 on the season, collecting 192 hits, with 47 extra base hits. WWU has scored 129 runs this season. The Owls have outscored opponents 25-8 in the first inning and 25-3 in the fourth inning this season.
Tanner Wetrich leads the team with a .411 batting average. Wetrich has collected 23 hits on the season and driven in nine runs for the Owls.
Jansen Smith follows hitting .366 with 10 RBIs and seven doubles on the season.
On the mound,
John Cavness leads the pitching staff with a 4-1 record in 40 innings pitched. He has an ERA of 2.70, and has struck out 30 batters and in his six starts. Out of his six starts, Cavness has three complete games. Holding an ERA of 3.38 is
Ryan Phillips. Phillips is 4-2 on the season in his six starts, with one complete game and one shutout. In three starts this season,
Jacob Guilianelli has an ERA of 2.84.
As a pitching staff, the Owls have a team ERA of 5.32 and are holding opponents to a batting average of .279 on the season. William Woods has six players with a 3.00 ERA or lower this season.
Missouri Baptist (16-6, 4-1 AMC) comes into the series winning three straight. The Spartans are coming off a doubleheader sweep of Morthland College. MBU took game one 16-1, before taking game two, 22-0. The Spartans come in ranked second in the nation in stolen bases per game as they average 3.8 per game. They have stolen 77 bases on the season.
On the season, Brian Poupore leads the Spartans in batting average as he has a batting average of .435 and has four doubles and 18 runs driven in. Teammate Tim Hergert follows with a batting average of .431 with seven doubles and 11 RBI on the season.
On the mound for Missouri Baptist, the Spartants hold a team ERA of 2.97 and are allowing opponents to hit .257 on the season. Leading the way is Donnie Lovelady who has a team ERA of 2.37 in 30 and a third innings pitched. Lovelady has appeared in six games on the season, while starting four. Following Lovelady is Keven Long, who holds a 2-0 record and an ERA of 2.42 on the season.
Fans make sure to stay updated on wwuowls.com Tuesday night for a full recap and scores of the game.
