MILLINGTON, Tenn. - Tyler Horton collected five hits and drove in five runs Saturday afternoon in Millington, Tennessee, while
Taylor Hopkins went 4-for-7 with nine RBIs, as William Woods University opened the 2024 baseball season with 26 hits in a doubleheader sweep - 7-2 and 23-5 - over NCAA Division II Lane College. Hopkins' performance earned the AMC's first Player of the Week designation of the 2024 season.
Hopkins, added a pair of doubles and scored three runs, while Horton scored five runs and hit the Owls' first home run of the 2024 season. He was also responsible for the Owls' first three runs of the season, singling in the first inning to bring home Horton, adding another single in the third to drive in two - Horton, again, and
Matt Hanson. A
Kamron Morriss double brought home two more runs in the seventh, followed by Horton's first RBIs of the day, a two-run single that brought home Morriss and
Jude Gremillion.
Lane added a pair of runs in its half of the seventh, but
Wyatt Fischer was able to close the door by getting the final two hitters in relief of
Max Benton, who went six-plus innings with seven strikeouts and only one walk, improving to 1-0 on the year.
William Woods put the series away early in game two, scoring six times in the first, twice in the second, and eight more in the third, including run-scoring doubles by Hopkins and Jack NIggemeier. Hopkins' third-inning double was his second of the game, also responsible for the first three runs of the game with a bases-loaded double to left center.
Horton hit his home run in the second inning, a two-run homer that made it 8-0. The Owls went on to score three more in the fourth and four in the sixth. Niggemeier finished game two 3-for-4, while Hopkinds drove in six in the game and
Ryan Camerer had four RBIs.
The Owls used four pitchers in the game, including
Peyton Clampitt, who went four innings to pick up his first win of the season, striking out four of 23 batters faced.
Karter Andersen,
Tyler Abney, and
Dylan McLone each went an inning in relief.
William Woods is scheduled back on the field Saturday and Sunday, at the Creekside Complex in Parkville, Missouri, taking on Hastings College in a doubleheader Saturday at 1 p.m., followed by a Sunday doubleheader with Peru State College, also slated for 1 p.m.
