Batesville, Ark. – The William Woods University found itself down two runs entering its final at-bats on Friday, and the Owls scored two runs tying the game at 5-5 but the Owls comeback fell short as Lyon College scored the winning run in the bottom of the ninth taking game one of the series, 6-5.
 
In the bottom of the ninth inning, Lyon loaded the bases with one out and Tyler Houston came to the plate and hit a sacrifice fly to win the game for Lyon.
 
WWU and Lyon close out its three-game series tomorrow with a doubleheader at Scots Field. First-pitch of the doubleheader is set for 12 p.m. The Owls and Scots will play a seven-inning contest followed by a nine-inning game.
 
Game Flow
The Scots got to the Owls starter, Ryan Furtney, in the bottom of the first inning. With one out, Kyle West singled and advanced to second on a stolen base and third base on a Furtney wild pitch. He came into score on an Owls error putting the Scots ahead 1-0.
 
The contest stayed 1-0 until the bottom of the third inning. The Scots extended its lead to 4-0 in the third after scoring three runs on two hits while taking advantage of two Owls errors.
 
WWU's offense started to show life in the top of the fourth inning. With two outs, Nolan Aherin drew a walk, Glen DesBouillons doubled to left field putting two runners on. The Owls loaded the bases after Jansen Smith was hit by a pitch. The Owls left the bases loaded when Josh Nicol flew out to end the inning.
 
After a one, two, three bottom of the fourth, the Owls bats came back to life. With one out and a runner on first, Ryan Phillips double to left field. Tyler Cunningham followed with an RBI ground out putting the Owls on the board. With a runner on third, Jalen Poindexter reached on an error, which scored one putting the Owls down 4-2. The Owls were not done as they added one more on a DesBouillons double trimming the Scots lead down to one, 4-3.
 
Lyon added one run in the bottom of the seventh inning. With runners on first and third, Tyler Houston hit a sacrifice fly to right field scoring Andrew Sauceda extending its lead to 5-3.
 
The Owls offense cooled off after the three run fifth inning as they were held hitless in the sixth, seventh and eighth inning. WWU did not have another base runner until the top of the ninth inning when Alex St. Pierre and Ryan Phillips drew back-to-back walks off Tyler Tognarine. After the second out of the inning, Jalen Poindexter singled to center field and on the play St. Pierre came into score putting the Owls down, 5-4. On the play, Phillips advanced to third base on a Will Lindsey bobble in center field putting the tying run on third base. Nolan Aherin followed Poindexter with an RBI single scoring Phillips and tying the game at 5-5. With the go ahead run on third base, the Owls threat was ended and the game went tied to the bottom of the ninth inning.
 
After tying the game, the Owls could not get to extra innings as the Lyons scored a run in the bottom of the ninth on a sacrifice fly by Tyler Houston to win the contest, 6-5, for the Scots.
 
By the Numbers
7 – Ryan Furtney struck out seven Scots in his 7.1 innings pitched Friday
8 – WWU left eight runners on base
3 – The Owls pitching staff recorded three wild pitches
4 – Four Owls had a hit in the contest
2 – Nolan Aherin and Glen DesBouillons collected two hits to lead the Owls
3 – WWU had three extra base hits in the contest
5 – William Woods drew five walks in the contest
 
Starting Pitcher Lines
WWU – Ryan Furtney, 7.1 IP, 5H, 5R (2ER), 0BB's, 7K's
Lyon – Cole Jenkins, 5 IP, 6H, 3R (1ER), 2BB's, 6K's