FULTON, Mo. – The William Woods University baseball team dropped the opening game of the three-game series with Hannibal-LaGrange Friday afternoon, 4-3.
 
With Hannibal-LaGrange's field unplayable, the road three-game series got moved to the Owls' home field. Although the Owls were playing on their home turf, they were the road team in all aspects. 
 
WWU started off the scoring in the top of the second. Isaiah Gibbs hit a one-out triple to the right field fence and was brought home with Tyler Bracht's RBI single to right-center field. 
 
HLG looked to tie the game in the bottom of the inning but the Owls' defense forced two runners to be left in scoring position.
 
In the top of the third, Jordan Smith led off with a single to left-center field. He moved to third on Trevor Garriott's sacrifice bunt and scored on Brian Granton's RBI.
 
The Owls added one more run in the top of the third to take a 3-0 lead. Zach Smith singled to get on base and scored on J. Smith's RBI single to shallow right field. 
 
HLG scored their first run of the day in the bottom of the fourth on an RBI single. They added a second run in the fifth and scored the tying run in the bottom of the sixth with an RBI triple.
 
In the top of the eighth, Bracht singled to left field. Connor Poulson then singled, advancing Bracht to second. J. Smith was walked, loading the bases with one out, but HLG grabbed the final two outs to leave three runners stranded. 
 
In the bottom of the eighth, HLG scored the go-ahead run on an RBI single. The Owls were held to three up, three down in the top of the ninth, ending the game with a 4-3 loss.
 
Bracht went 3-for-4 from the plate with one RBI. J. Smith went 2-for-3 with an RBI and a run scored. 
 
Allan Brown (1-2) was credited with the loss on the mound. He pitched 2.0 innings and faced nine batters. Travis Hennessey was the starting pitcher. He pitched 6.0 innings and struck out five.