Box Score BATESVILLE, Ark. – The W baseball lost its first St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletics Conference (SLIAC) game of the season, falling at Lyon College, 5-4. Both the Owls (12-9, 6-1 SLIAC) and the Scots (12-5, 7-0 SLIAC) entered the game with unblemished slates in the league.
Round One between the SLIAC heavyweights (the second and third meetings between the travel partners will take place on April 21) turned into a strong pitcher's duel, at least for the first seven innings. Scots starter Aiden Linson held The W to one unearned run and struck out six before exiting with one out in the eighth. Conversely, MUW Head Coach
Scott Mularz went with the "committee" approach in the midweek conference bout.
Owls' starter
Josh Mackey went 3.0 innings, gave up two hits and two runs, just one of which was earned, and had one strikeout.
Will Carter went the next 3.0 shutout innings, permitting one hit and striking out three Lyon batters. The third man in for MUW was
Robby Canten (1-3 record), who breezed through the seventh with a 1-2-3 frame. The W's hurlers posting five "Ks" and zero walks through 7.0 innings.
But the eighth inning had peaks and valleys in store for both teams. Unfortunately for The W, its peak preceded its valley.
With one put in the top of the eighth, MUW's
Matthew Windham (1-4) singled and wound up on third after a passed ball and wild pitch with
Michael O'Neill (0-3) at the plate. O'Neill walked to put runners on the corners for
Zach Johnson (2-4), who singled through the left side, scoring Windham and moving O'Neill to second, knotting the game at 2-2.
After a Scots' pitching change, designated hitter
Baron Brack (1-4) climbed in to face LC's Parker Paschel. A wild pitch moved both runners into scoring position. And Brack took advantage, slugging a 1-2 pitch into the left-center gap to drive in two, with a double that made it 4-2 in favor of the visitors before the side was retired.
Despite allowing a leadoff single in the home half of the eighth, Canten got a strikeout and fly out to put MUW within an out of getting away unscathed. But the Scots' Landon Swallow cracked Canten's first pitch to him over the left-field fence and flip the scoreboard to 5-4 in favor of the host Lyon squad.
Campbell McCluney came on to get the final out, but the damage was done and the Owls went out in order in the ninth.
MUW out-hit the Scots by a 7-5 margin for the game.
The W will next travel to Louisville, Kentucky, on Saturday and Sunday, March 28-29, for a three-game series at Spalding University.
