WILMORE, Ky. -  Mississippi University for Women baseball capped the 2022 regular season by winning two-of-three games in Kentucky. On Friday evening, the Owls lost to host Asbury University (15-5), before taking both Saturday games in a rematch versus Asbury (7-3) and against West Virginia Tech (9-3).
 
Now The W must wait and see if its late-season surge is enough to earn a berth in the 10-team United States Collegiate Athletic Association (USCAA) post-season. The Owls are currently ranked No. 10 in the USCAA coaches poll. After losing its first six games of 2022, MUW went 14-13 and knocked off several quality foes the rest of way.
 
Among those wins was the weekend split against Asbury, a 20-win team this season. In Friday's loss, the Owls out-hit the Eagles, 12-11. However, the difference was that all of MUW hits were singles, while AU had nine extra-base knocks.
 
Blake Estabrook was 3-for-4, with two runs and a run-batted in. Austin Telano and Baker Watson each was 2-for-3 and had a walk. Telano drove in a run, while Watson scored once.
 
Joel Estabrook (3-5) took the loss, going 5.2 innings. He allowed nine hits and 11 runs, 10 earned.
 
The W bounced back in the Saturday rematch to top the Eagles, thanks to some solid pitching and a couple long balls. MUW starter Kirby Ross (3-6) got the win with 5.2 innings of work, scattering six hits and permitting three earned runs. Tyler Temple got the final out of the sixth and Landon Clark tossed a scoreless seventh, giving him 10.1 unblemished innings in seven appearances in 2022.
 
Telano's sacrifice bunt drove home a run in the second, only to see the Eagle tally two in their half of the inning. Clark (2-4) slugged his team-leading sixth home run – a two-run shot – in the third, but the Eagles knotted the game at 3-3 with a run in their half of the third.
 
Tanner Evans (2-4) led off the Owls' fourth with a solo homer, No. 5 of the season, that put The W ahead for good. After a pair of long balls, MUW had three-consecutive bunt singles to load the bases in the sixth. A sacrifice fly by Telano, a run on an AU fielding error and an RBI single from Watson resulted in a three-run at-bat for The W.
 
In its final game of the trip, MUW took on West Virginia Tech. The Owls and Golden Bears were locked in a scoreless pitcher's duel for four frames. But The W would score in each of the next four innings – four in the fifth, one in the sixth, three in the seventh and another in the eighth – to break it open.
 
Payton Springfield (1-1) went 5.0 innings to earn his first win as an Owl. He allowed four hits, one earned run and struck out four Golden Bears. After Temple got in trouble in the seventh, Evans came on to throw 2.2 innings of no-hit, no-run relief and registered three "Ks".
 
Blake Estabrook went 3-for-5 and scored twice. Gann (2-6) and Telano (2-5) were the only other Owls with multiple hits. Evans had a double and two RBI, while catcher Avery Benson drove in three runs. Ethan Carrouth clubbed his first home run of the year in the sixth inning.