Written by Jason Vittone

FULTON, Mo. – The William Woods University baseball team hosted AMC rival Columbia College on Saturday afternoon in Fulton, Mo. The Owls and Cougars concluded their four-game weekend conference series at the Backer Sports Complex. CC took both ends of the twin bill 9-6 and 7-6.
 
Game one started with a first pitch home run off the bat of Kenny Piper to give the Cougars a quick 1-0 lead. The Owls answered with a solo shot of their own in the second inning by Easton Wallace.
 
CC scored a run in the third and the fourth inning to regain the lead. Chase Gibson and Easton Wallace delivered RBI singles in the bottom of the fourth to cut the lead to 3-2.
 
The Owls struck for four runs in the fifth. Gibbs and Gibson each tallied RBI singles before Wallace added an RBI double to give the Owls a 4-3 lead. Kamrom Morriss and Tyklen Salmons each added RBI singles to push the lead to 6-3.
 
Columbia added two runs in the sixth to tie the game before Dalton Bealmer gave the Cougars a 9-6 lead for good on a grand slam to right center field.
 
Travis Bassford (1-1) took the win for the Cougars in relief. Luke Miller earned his second save of the year. He worked 2/3 off an inning and struck out one. Andrew Fyffe (1-2) took the loss for the Owls.
 
Wallace went three for four with a double, home run and three RBI's to pace the Owls at the plate. Gibson and Morriss each had two hits in the loss.
 
The Cougars jumped on starter Ryan Long for three runs in the first inning. They tacked on four in the fourth which included a three-run home run by Bealmer.
 
It looked like the Cougars would cruise to the series sweep until the bottom of the ninth inning.  The Owls strung together a three-run rally and had the tying run in scoring position. CC closer Conner Darnell got Alex Owens to fly out to left to end the rally, and the series.
 
Pharon Pilgrim (1-1) earned the win for the Cougars. Darnell collected his sixth save of the year. Long (2-3) was tagged with the loss.
 
The Owls drop to 12-10, 5-7 on the year. Columbia improves to 19-4, 10-2 on the season. William Woods will return to action on April 6 at the College of the Ozarks.