COLUMBIA, Mo. – William Woods (3-2) made the trip to Columbia due to rain and field conditions and made the most of it, sweeping the Viterbo V-Hawks (0-2) in dramatic fashion on Saturday.
The Owls got off to a slow start while Viterbo's offense was firing on all cylinders. An eight-run fourth inning from the V-Hawks put William Woods in a 9-0 hole as costly errors haunted the Owls. In the bottom of the sixth,
Justin Dameron sparked life with a triple, and a pinch-hit double from
Brayden Groseclose followed to ignite a four-run frame that trimmed the deficit to 9-5.
Freshman
Tyler Clayton and junior
Cole Hartwick took over from there, completely shutting down the Viterbo offense over the final three innings. The duo combined to allow no runs, giving the Owls a shot heading into the seventh.
Viterbo helped the cause by loading the bases, and the Owls capitalized. A walk from Jared Bendfield and
Jackson Kirn cut the lead to 9-7. A wild pitch and a sacrifice fly from
Jude Gremillion tied the game at 9-9, setting the stage for more late-game magic.
With the winning run on third,
Colby Caton stepped in and wasted no time. On the very first pitch, Caton ripped a fastball into right field to complete the comeback and seal a 10-9 walk-off win for the Owls.
Riding that momentum into game two, William Woods wasted no time striking first.
Sam Russo and Caton each generated runs in the opening frame to give the Owls a quick 2-0 lead. In the second inning, a
Ryan Retone double followed by triples from Russo and Caton helped fuel a four-run inning, pushing the advantage to 6-0.
On the mound,
AJ Vasquez delivered a gem. The right-hander tossed six scoreless innings with six strikeouts, keeping the V-Hawks off balance all afternoon. He ran into trouble in the seventh, but
Chance Lehman came out of the bullpen to limit the damage and earn his first save of the year as the Owls held on for the 6-4 victory.
William Woods will head back to Columbia tomorrow for another doubleheader with Viterbo, with first pitch set for 12:00 p.m.
