COLUMBUS, Miss. – For the second week in a row, The W baseball handed a team its first loss in St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SLIAC) action, with Webster University being the recipient after the teams split Friday's doubleheader. The Owls (15-11, 9-3 SLIAC) lost game one by a football-esque, 16-13 score, before downing the Gorloks (15-10, 9-1 SLIAC) in the nightcap, 13-9, at CCA Field.
The series rubber game will be Saturday at 12 p.m. Last weekend, MUW gave Spalding its first SLIAC blemish with a Saturday split, before a win last Sunday gave The W the series versus the Golden Eagles. Both Webster and Spalding are ahead of the Owls in the league standings.
In the opener, The W was one innings away from being run-ruled, down 16-6 heading into the bottom of the seventh. But the Owl rallied for six runs to not just keep the game going, but add some angst to the Gorloks' side, seeing their large lead sliced. In the home seventh, MUW's
Chase Marshall had an RBI single, followed by
Griffin Fuller's two-run double to right that made it 16-9. With runners on second and third, Swaye Rikard slammed a two-run single up the middle and
Zach Johnson singled through the right side to make it 16-12.
The W's third pitcher of the day,
Connor Reilly, kept Webster at bay the final 3.0 frames to give his team a chance.
In the ninth, MUW chopped off another run thanks to a WU throwing error and had the potential tying run at the plate, but could not convert, for the 16-13 final. MUW starter
Zach Connell (2-3) went 3.1 innings and absorbed the loss.
The W out-hit the Gorloks by an 18-16 margin, buoyed by the top half of its lineup, which accounted for 12 of those hits. The difference was five homers by the Gorloks.
Johnson led the MUW assault, going 3-for-5, with a home run, three runs scored, and three RBI. Leadoff man
Matthew Windham and five-hole batter
Chase Marshall both went 3-for-6. Windham had a solo homer, a double, and scored three times, while Marshall scored twice and had two RBI.
Michael O'Neill (2-6),
Jack Sledge (2-5), and
Swayze Rikard (2-5) all had multi-hit games for MUW, as well.
In game two, the potent Owls' offense again ran up 13 runs, but this time it was enough, as
Robby Canten (5.1 IP) and
Will Carter (3.2 IP) handled mound duty. Carter was the winning pitcher, improving his personal record to 6-0 in 2026.
Down 5-1 through 5 ½ innings, The W posted four runs each in the sixth, seventh, and eighth innings. The biggest blow of the night came off of the bat of designated hitter
Baron Brack. With the score tied 5-5 entering the home half of the seventh, Brack unloaded a grand slam home run that gave MUW the lead it would not relinquish.
Brack finished game two by going 4-for-5 and driving in seven runs. Johnson was 2-for-2, with four runs scored and three walks, while also slamming his team-leading seventh homer, with a solo shot in the first.
Windham went 2-for-5, scoring twice and driving in one, as the third Owl with multiple hits in the game.
