COLUMBUS, Miss. – Needing a single win to secure the No. 2 seed for the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SLIAC) post-season tournament, The W baseball took care of business, 7-4, in game one versus Westminster College. The win allowed the Owls (19-15/14-4 SLIAC) to use game two, an 11-6 loss to the Blue Jays (17-20/9-9 SLIAC), to rest many starters and allow numerous reserves to do battle in the home - and regular season - finale at CCA Field.
 
The second seed for MUW also carries the reward of a play-in, first-round, bye on Tuesday. Instead, The W will go directly to the double-elimination final four round beginning Thursday (May 8) in O'Fallon, Missouri.
 
As expected, Sunday's game one was a battle from the outset for MUW (which had never beaten WC in three prior meetings). The Owls struck first in the bottom of the third as Zach Johnson (2-4) crushed his team-leading eighth home run of the season. The prodigious three-run blast plated Landon Clark (1-5) and Matthew Windham (1-5) to make it 3-0.
 
Clark was cruising from the mound, as well, through the first four frames. But in the fifth, the MUW ace ran into trouble as the Blue Jays tagged Clark for three runs. Clark completed the fifth, but that finished his day with seven strikeouts and two walks.
 
Campbell McCluney came on and delivered a solid 3.0 inning of work to improve his personal record to 5-0 on the year. Connor Reilly tossed a hitless ninth inning to earn his second save of 2025.
 
McCluney was the benefactor of MUW's four-run outburst in the sixth. Zach Egan's (1-4) bases-loaded bunt single to pitcher pushed across the first run. Griffin Fuller (1-4) then smacked a two-RBI double to right-center field with what would be the game-winning RBI. Swaye Rikard's (1-3) sacrifice fly made the score 7-3, before WC got one back in the top of the eighth for the 7-4 final.
 
Avery Benson also had a multi-hit game, going 2-for-2, with a walk and a run scored.
 
In game two, Westminster took a 3-0 lead in the game that had no consequences for The W. Colton Neal (1-3) ignite an Owls' rally in the fourth, when he was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to make it 3-1. Then, in the sixth, his RBI single made it 3-2.
 
Rikard's (1-3) RBI single brought home Anderson Wilder (1-2) with the tying run. Tyler Estabrook then reached on an error to give MUW a 4-3 lead.
 
But the Jays would erupt for five in the seventh and here in the eighth to pull away and gain the split.