O'FALLON, Mo. – The W Baseball utilized all of its weapons on Friday to battle back through a pair of elimination games to earn a spot in the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SLIAC) championship. The Owls (21-16) defeated No. 4-seed Westminster College, 3-1, in their morning game and then came back for a, 9-8, win over No. 3-seed Spalding University in the evening contest. 
 
The wins advanced MUW into the title game versus No. 1-seed – and nationally-ranked – Webster University on Saturday (1 p.m.). The Owls would have to defeat the Gorloks twice to win the SLIAC crown and earn the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Division III championships.
 
In the first game of the day, senior Landon Clark showed why he was a first-team All-SLIAC utility player. From the mound, Clark had a dominating effort after a couple early hiccups. Westminster got to Clark for a first inning run and, after allowing a hit in the third, Clark threw five hitless innings at the Blue Jays. In all, Clark struck out seven WC batters and improved his personal record to 7-2 on the season.
 
Clark's gem was also just the second game of 9.0 innings pitched in the eight-year history of the program. The other came in the very first season of Owls baseball, by Will Peters in a 10-7 win over Tougaloo on April 7, 2018.
 
MUW did all of its scoring in the bottom of the fifth inning. With one out, Matthew Windham doubled and Clark followed with a single to put runners on the corners. Zach Johnson then unloaded a triple to right that cleared the bases and give The W a 2-1 advantage.
 
The very next batter, Avery Benson, then smashed a double to left that plated Johnson for what would be the final 3-1 score.
 
The first four batters in the MUW lineup collected seven of the team's nine hits in the game. Leadoff man Windham went 1-for-4, followed by Clark at 2-for-4, Johnson at 2-for-4, and Benson at 2-for-4. Tyler Estabrook in the number six slot was also 2-for-4.
 
The game one win also gave The W a 20-win season (20-16) for the fourth time in program history – also accomplishing the feat in 2018, 2021, and 2024 – and the first time in consecutive season.
 
The win over Westminster vaulted The W into a second elimination game later in the evening against the same team that had originally put it in the play-back, elimination round in the first place, Spalding University. With a pitching staff worked hard in the tournament so far, MUW Head Coach Scott Mularz called on Campbell McCluney to take the hill with one simple objective: keep things close enough to give his team a chance.
 
That may sound simple, but the Golden Eagles lead the SLIAC in virtually every offensive category with video game-like totals, including a .342 team batting average. Spalding's production sat at 10.33 runs per game, as well.
 
McCluney gave Mularz a solid 6.1 innings and did his part to tame Spalding as much as possible and keep MUW – which has a pretty good offense of its own at .304 – within contact (especially after the team was pounded, 18-4, by SU in Thursday's loss). McCluney allowed six runs, but also threw four shutout innings at the Golden Eagles, victimized by just two mistakes: allowing a solo home run in the second and a three-run shot in the third.
 
The Owls left four runners on base through six innings and, down 6-0 heading into the bottom of the seventh, you got the feeling MUW was due.  And, boy, were they!
 
A leadoff double by senior Loren Cox may have seemed innocent enough. But then again, the theme from Star Wars starts with a single note before it evolves into something that gives you goosebumps. Little did Cox, a Caledonia native, know it at the time, but he had sounded the first note of a merry-go-round inning for the Owls. In the home half of the seventh 14 batters come to the plate, there were four pitching changes by Spalding and, most importantly, nine runs crossing the plate for The W. Batting a second time in the frame, Cox also drew a walk.
 
The 9-run outburst was accomplished without the benefit of anything more than a double, as well as some SU walks and hit batters. When the dust had settled, well, it never truly settled in spite of MUW now ahead, 9-6.
 
In its very next at-bats, the Golden Eagles looked more like a Phoenix trying to rise from the ashes against Owls' reliever Connor Reilly. Reilly retired the leadoff batter, but three-straight hits by SU plated two runs, making it 9-8, before the second out was recorded. Another double by Spalding had the tying run at third and potential winning run at second.
 
That's when – in a game ruled by the bat – a defensive gem saved the day for The W. With a left-handed batter at the plate and a clear path to third base, MUW catcher Benson rocketed a pickoff throw that nailed Spalding's Xavier Rahman straying too far off the bag for the third out of the inning.
 
Reilly (2-0) would close out the ninth and the Owls celebrated reaching their first-ever SLIAC championship game.
 
Four MUW batters had multi-hit games, led by Brack going 2-for-3, with 2 runs and 2 RBI. Cox was also 2-for-3 with 2 runs scored. Clark and freshman infielder Swayze Rikard were each 2-for-4 in the game.
 
"The team showed a lot of heart and fight today," Mularz said. "Grinding in the first game and Landon (Clark) put the team on his back.
 
"We hit a lot of balls hard today and, give Spalding credit, they made every play.  Our guys did a phenomenal job of staying composed.  Baseball is about momentum and once we got it in the seventh, we took advantage of it. Also, Campbell (McCluney) did a great job of holding Spalding at bay and giving our guys a chance during the game.  
 
"Him and Landon were huge."