FULTON, Mo. – The William Woods University baseball team closed out its three-game set with No. 24 Freed-Hardeman University, 8-2, on Saturday afternoon. The Owls were led by senior pitcher, Ryan Phillips who went seven innings and struck out 13 Lions in the contest.
 
WWU returns to action on Friday, March 10 when they host Missouri Baptist University American Midwest Conference action. First pitch for Friday is set for 5 p.m.
 
Game Flow
William Woods Ryan Phillips came out dealing on the mound as he only allowed one hit in the first and collected one strikeout. He kept the Lions off the board in the inning. In the bottom of the inning, the Owls showed up swinging as Josh Nicol reached on a leadoff walk. Neal Aherin pinch ran for Nicol and Alex St Pierre advances hit teammates by executing a sacrifice bunt. With Neal Aherin in scoring position, his brother Nolan Aherin reached on a walk. Ryan Phillips came up to bat and reached on an error by the Lions. With bases loaded, Tyler Cunningham ripped a double to left- center scoring the three Owls on base. Cunningham advanced to third on a ground out by Tyler Bracht and Glen DesBouillons singled up the middle, scoring Cunningham, and put the Owls ahead 4-0 heading to the second.
 
The Owls would squeeze one more run in the bottom of the second after Nicol reached on a walk and another timely error by the Lions, would score pinch runner Aherin to make it 5-0 in the bottom of the second. In the bottom of the third, Tyler Bracht singled to short, beating out the throw. DesBouillons would then come up and singled to left-center scoring Bracht, extending the Owls lead to 6-0.
 
It would not be until the bottom the fifth that the Owls would score again. Anthony Davison would have a leadoff single and Matt Priest would reach on a walk. With Owls on first and second, Nicol singled to right center scoring pinch runner Connor Wood, and Priest, putting the Owls ahead 8-0.
 
Freed-Hardeman could not string anything together for the first seven innings of the contest as Owls starter, Ryan Phillips, kept the Lions off balance. In the seven innings he pitched, Phillips only allowed six hits in the contest and struck out 13 hitters in the contest.
 
The Lions would not score until the top of the ninth when Bryce Lester reached on a walk and Griffin Seibert hits a two-run homerun on a 2-2 count, putting the Lions down 8-2. The Lions would threaten on the base paths with runners on second and third, but Dalton Christian would strike out the last two hitters of the inning, defeating the Lions 8-2.
 
By the Numbers
13 – Ryan Phillips had 13 strikeouts in the contest against the Lions
8 – WWU collected eight eights in the contest
8 – The Owls scored eight runs in the victory
4 – WWU scored four runs in the first inning
5 – William Woods had five players collect a hit in the contest
3 – Anthony Davison went 3-for-3 in the contest
1 – Tyler Cunningham collected one double in the contest