LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The city of Louisville, Kentucky, may be known as the hometown of legendary heavyweight boxer, the late Muhammad Ali, but on Sunday afternoon it was The W baseball's
Zach Johnson delivering a knockout punch in a 7-5 win at Spalding University. Johnson's 10th-inning home run in the key St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SLIAC) matchup also gave the Owls (14-10, 7-2 SLIAC) the series win over the Golden Eagles (14-8, 9-2 SLIAC) at Derby City Field.
Early on, it looked as though MUW might break open the game, loading the bases in the very first at-bat.
Chase Marshall slapped a single for a run batted in, but that was all the Owls could muster. In the bottom of the first, the Golden Eagles stuffed the sacks versus MUW starter
Josh Mackey, but also came away with a single run, 1-1.
Spalding added single runs in the third and fifth to lead 3-1. But a big MUW seventh flipped the script on the Golden Eagles, at least temporarily.
The seventh opened with
Jay Marbutt and Johnson each walking, followed by a
Baron Brack single that loaded the bases. After a force at home for the first out,
Zack Egan was hit by a pitch to bring home Marbutt and elicit an SU pitching change.
Michael O'Neill struck out for the second out of the inning. But the Golden Eagles pitching was still looking a bit tarnished, after
Griffin Fuller was also hit by a pitch,
Swayze Rikard walked, and Egan scored on a passed, ball before the inning ended and the Owls now perched on a 5-3 lead.
Meanwhile,
Robby Canten, The W's third pitcher of the day who came on in the fifth, cruised through that inning, as well as the sixth and seventh. In the eighth, Canten retired the first batter he faced, before allowing a single and a walk to put the tying runs on base and
Will Carter was summoned from the bullpen.
Carter retired the first batter he faced on one pitch. But on his second pitch, Spalding's Eli Nutter cracked a triple that tied the game, 5-5, before the final out was recorded. Neither team scored in the ninth and the Owls headed to their second extra-inning game of 2026.
In the top of the 10th,
Matthew Windham singled up the middle on a 1-2 pitch and was sacrificed to second, bringing Johnson to the plate. As it turned out, the sacrifice didn't really matter, as Johnson walloped a 3-2 pitch over the left-field fence to put The W ahead, 7-5, with his team-leading fifth round-tripper of the season.
All that remained was for Carter to close out Spalding in the bottom of the 10th, as he improved his personal record to 5-0 on the season with 2.2 innings of scoreless work.
Johnson finished the game going 2-for-4, with a walk, two RBI and two runs scored. Windham was 2-for-6 and scored twice. Brack was he third MUW batter with multiple hits, going 2-for-5, with a walk and run.
The W will not get much time to savor the series win over Spalding, as it is due to host SLIAC preseason favorite Webster University in a big three-game set at CCA Field on Friday and Saturday (April 3-4).
