ST. LOUIS, Mo. – The William Woods University baseball team played Harris-Stowe State University in a pair of games Tuesday afternoon, earning a split in the hitting friendly games. The Owls dropped game one 16-10 before bouncing back with a 22-9 short-game win in game two.
Combined on the day, the two teams knocked 20 homers out of the park. The Owls had seven batters hit home runs with
Isaiah Gibbs and
Connor Poulson finishing the day with two each.
Heading into the final conference series, the Owls sit with an 18-15 overall record and an 11-11 conference mark.
The Owls host Williams Baptist on the final weekend of regular season, starting with a DH on Thursday, April 29, at 3 p.m.
Game One
HSSU put up seven runs on two outs in the first inning.
The Owls scored their first run of the game in the top of the second on an
Alex Wimer sacrifice bunt to score
Bryson Matthews.
HSSU matched in the bottom of the inning however, hitting a homer over the left field fence to take an 8-1 lead.
The Hornets added another run in the third and three in the fourth to go up 12-1.
In the top of the fifth,
Isaiah Gibbs hit a RBI double to center field, scoring
Jack Niggemeier and moving
Marcus Gonzalez to third. A wild throw allowed Gonzalez and Gibbs to score, bringing the game to 12-4.
HSSU scored four in the bottom of the inning on two home runs, extending their lead to 16-4.
The Owls attempted to rally, putting up six runs on four home runs in the seventh but their deficit was just too much. Gonzalez and Gibbs hit back-to-back home runs on one out.
Kamron Morriss then came up four batters later and dropped a three-run bomb over left field.
Connor Poulson scored the final run of the game with his homer over right field.
The Owls finished the game with four home runs and 10 hits total. Gibbs was the only Owl to record multiple hits with a double and a home run. He also drove in two runs. Morriss drove in three with his homer.
Owen Tripp (1-4) was credited with the loss on the mound. He started and pitched 0.2 innings.
Game Two
HSSU scored one in the first on a RBI single and two in the second on back-to-back home runs to take a 3-0 lead.
The Owls powered a 10-run inning in the third to take up a 10-3 lead. HSSU had a hand in five of the Owls' runs, walking in three, hitting a batter to bring in another and throwing a wild pitch to score the fifth. Niggemeier scored on
Easton Wallace's fielder's choice, and near the end of the inning, Wimer RBI singled to score Matthews, Gonzalez hit a sacrifice fly to score Morriss, and Gibbs RBI doubled to center to score Niggemeier.
HSSU led off the third with a home run, bringing the game to 10-4.
WWU scored two in the fourth on a
Jake Fleming two-run homer over the left field fence, but HSSU matched in the bottom of the inning with their own two-run homer over left.
WWU added four in the fifth on a Gibbs RBI double to score Gonzalez and a three-run dinger from Poulson. They added three more in the sixth on Gibbs' three-run bomb to take a 19-6 lead.
HSSU again matched in the bottom of the sixth, scoring three on three solo homers.
The Owls added three more runs in the top of the seventh with a Matthews homer and a
Tyklen Salmons' two-run bomb. They held HSSU from scoring again with two strikeouts and a ground out, ending the game early with a 22-9 win.
HSSU scored eight of their nine runs off home runs.
The Owls knocked five homers and four doubles in the game, tallying 13 hits total. Gibbs went 4-5 from the plate with three doubles, a home run and six RBI.
Kaleb Haley (2-2) grabbed the win on the mound. He started on the mound and tossed 2.1 innings. The five-man pitching staff struck out nine total batters.
