LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The W baseball split its St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SLIAC) doubleheader at Spalding University, losing the opener, 7-5, before scoring a dominating, 12-1, win in the second game. The Owls are now 13-10 overall and 7-2 in the SLIAC, while the Golden Eagles (14-7, 9-1 SLIAC) suffered their first league setback.
 
MUW permitted six runs in its first three innings of game one –  four in the first inning and two more in the third - of the nine total runs allowed in the pair of contests to SU. Owls starter Campbell McCluney (1-2) took the loss, going 5.0 innings and charged with six earned runs. McCluney gave up six hits and struggled to find the strike zone, issuing an uncharacteristic seven walks to the Golden Eagles.
 
Despite trailing 6-0, MUW battled back and got itself within a hit of scoring the potential tying or go-ahead runs by the ninth inning. The rally began in the sixth frame, when a Baron Brack (2-3) sacrifice fly plated Jay Marbutt and an RBI single from Michael O'Neill (1-4) cut the margin to 6-2.
 
After SU responded with a run in the home half of the sixth to make it 7-2, The W loaded the seventh when Zach Johnson (3-5) smashed a two-run double to center, but had Marbutt, trying to score from first, cut down at the plate. Brack followed with an RBI single that drove home Johnson and make it 7-5.
 
The Owls loaded the baes once again in the ninth, but could not convert any more baserunners into runs. The W outhit Spalding in the game, 9-7.
 
In the second game, MUW pitching allowed the Golden Eagles just three singles and one run. That means, going back to game one, the Owls' hurlers permitted Spalding just five hits and two total runs in the 14 innings played of the day.
 
junior righthander Zach Connell posted (2-2) his second-straight quality start for the Owls, going 5.0 innings, allowing one hit and one earned run. Chris Ellis tossed the final 3.0 innings to earn the save, with two-hit, scoreless relief.
 
Spalding grabbed the early lead with a single run in the second and made that hold up until the top of the fifth, when the Owls tallied three runs. Zach Egan doubled and moved up to third on a wild pitch, before trotting home on Swayze Rikard's sacrifice fly. MUW then loaded the bases, before Marbutt took a bases loaded walk and Johnson lifted a sacrifice fly to give their team a 3-1 advantage it never relinquished.
 
The W blew the game open with four in the eighth and five in the ninth.
 
The Owls' offense was led by Griffin Fuller, who went 3-for-4 and scored three runs. Marbutt was 2-for-4 with 4 runs batted in and two runs scored. Johnson also went 2-for-4, with a walk, a run, and two RBI. Egan finished the day going 2-for-5.
 
Brack went 1-for-6 in game two, but his hit was a grand slam in the ni9nth to make it the 12-1 final score.
 
The teams will play the rubber game of the series on Sunday at 11 a.m. Central Time.