HENDERSON, Tenn. – The William Woods University Baseball team defeated the second seed Freed-Hardeman University, 5-3, in an elimination game in the American Midwest Conference Baseball Championship Friday night.
 
The Owls used five different pitchers in the contest and they held the Lions offense to three hits in the game and scoreless for the last seven innings of the contest.
 
With the win the Owls stay alive and will play Missouri Baptist University on Saturday, May 7th at 12 p.m. in an elimination game.
 
Game Flow
The Owls jumped out to an early lead in the top of the first inning against the Lions. After the leadoff hitter was retired, the Owls took advantage of a Lion error as Neal Aherin reached on an error. He advanced to third on a single by Ryan Phillips. Jordan Dey singled to left field, scoring one and putting the Owls ahead. The Owls grew its lead to 3-0 in the first as Grant Garrett doubled to deep right field.
 
Freed-Hardeman battled back and after a leadoff walk to JC Daily, Chase Young hit a two run home run to right field timing the Owls lead down to one, 3-2. After giving up the homerun the Owls starter, Garrett Haslag settled down and did not allow another run in the inning.
 
FHU continued to battle and tied the game in the bottom of the second inning. Griffin Siebert doubled to lead off the inning and he advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt. Siebert came into score on a Daily fielder's choice ground out. After two innings were complete the game was tied at three.
 
After the Lions tied the game at three, both teams' pitchers took over and the game remained deadlocked until the top of the seventh inning. Tanner Wetrich reached on an error, and advanced to third on the play. He came into score on a Neal Aherin single giving the Owls a 4-3 lead.
 
After talking the lead, the Owls did not look back as Freed-Hardeman only collected one hit for the remainder of the game. WWU extended its lead to 5-3 in the top of the eighth inning. With runners on the corners, Wetrich singled up the middle scoring Matt Priest extending the lead to 5-3.
 
With the two run lead, the Owls bullpen locked the game down as Justin Landewee and Blake Novack came into to close the game out in the eighth and ninth inning of work. Landewee and Novack did not allow the Lions offense to get anything going and retired Freed-Hardeman in order in both innings. Novack struck out Garrett Ferguson to end the game and the Owls came away with a 5-3 victory.  
 
By The Numbers
11 – The Owls collected 11 hits in the win
3 – William Woods pitching staff only allowed 3 hits for the game
5 – The Owls scored five win in the 5-3 win
2 – WWU had four players with two hits
2 – Grant Garrett led the Owls with 2 RBI in the win
11 – The Owls pitching staff issued 11 walks in the game
7 – WWU recorded 7 strikeouts in the win
 
Starting Pitcher Lines
WWU – Garrett Haslag, 1 IP, 1H, 2R (2ER), 2BB's, 0K's
FHU – Jared Humphry, 6 IP, 7H, 4R (3ER), 3BB's, 3K's