FULTON, Mo. – The W baseball team split its pair of St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SLIAC) doubleheader at Westminster College on Saturday, losing the opener, 8-7, and bouncing back to take the second contest, 5-4. The Owls (16-13, 10-5 SLIAC) and the Blue Jays (9-20, 4-10 SLIAC) will play the series' rubber game on Sunday (12 p.m.) at Saucier Field.
 
Game one had hopeful beginnings for MUW, when designated hitter Baron Brack (2-4) cracked a two-run home run – his fifth of the year - in the first inning and MUW manufactured a pair of runs in the second. But WC answered with three of its own in the home half of the first and another in the second to knot the game at 4-4.
 
In the visitor's third, Zach Johnson (1-4) led off with a single and went to third on a Brack base hit to put runners at the corners. The duo then executed a double steal, to give the Owls the 5-4 lead. With one out, catcher Michael O'Neill (1-4) uncorked his fourth homer of the year, upping the MUW advantage to 7-4 and the Blue Jays already on their fourth pitcher of the game.
 
Meanwhile, The W's righty Robby Canten (1-4) clawed through the first six frames with his team ahead, 7-6, with four strikeouts on his ledger. But the game proved to be one inning too long for Canten, as things went south in the seventh, with the Jays tapping the MUW starter for two more runs. Walker Smith came in to get the second out and Connor Reilly came on to end the inning. But the damage was already done, as WC now held an 8-7 lead it would not relinquish the rest of the way in the drizzly conditions.
 
Game two had a similar beginning for The W, this time with Johnson (2-3) bashing his team-leading eighth home run in the first. The two-run blast plated Chase Marshall (2-4), who reached on a one-out single just before Johnson stepped in.
 
And, similar to the first game, Westminster responded with one in the first and two in the second to wrest the lead, 3-2.
 
But this time, MUW would take control for good in its at-bat in the third. On the first pitch of the inning, leadoff man Matthew Windham (2-4) blasted his sixth homer of the season to tie the game. After a Blue Jays pitching change, the next MUW batter, Marshall, offered a rude greeting to the new hurler by hitting his fifth round-tripper of the year, making it a 4-3 game and putting his team ahead for good.
 
Johnson's RBI single in the fifth gave The W some insurance it would need, 5-3. A WC solo homer in the seventh made it the 5-4 final score.
 
Owls' starter Zach Connell went 4.1 innings, allowing five hits and three runs. Campbell McCluney threw 4.2 relief innings to get the win and improve to 2-3 on the year.