Senior third baseman Austin Clapp and junior second baseman Nick Spagnola drove in three runs apiece Friday night as the third-seeded Owls roughed up No. 2 Lyon (Ark.) College 13-4 in the second round of the American Midwest Conference postseason tournament.
William Woods (37-10) played top-seeded Missouri Baptist University in the semifinals late Saturday afternoon at Robin Roberts Stadium. Tesults were not available at press time. The Spartans (46-10) shut out No. 5 seed Benedictine University-Springfield 5-0 on Friday.
The Owls - winners of three in a row and 10 of their last 11 - took two of three from Missouri Baptist in an April 11-12 series in Fulton.
Saturday's winner advanced to the championship at 4 p.m. Monday. The loser plays earlier in an elimination game at 1 p.m.
Senior left fielder Zach Nichols put the Owls on the scoreboard Friday night with a one-out, RBI single to center in the bottom of the first. Spagnola then roped a two-out triple to the right-field fence to drive in Nichols and senior designated hitter Matt Thomas to give William Woods a 3-0 lead.
In the third, junior center fielder Cody Stewart raced home when Nichols reached on an error with no outs. Senior first baseman Eilert Meyers reached on a fielder's choice to plate Thomas, while Nichols scored on an RBI single by redshirt junior pinch-hitter Dustin Kremer to make it 6-0.
William Woods added two more runs in the fourth on an error by the Scots and a sacrifice bunt from Spagnola. Lyon scored three runs in the top of the fifth, but the Owls posted two in the sixth on an RBI triple from Nichols and a sacrifice fly by Clapp. Stewart's RBI sacrifice fly in the seventh stretched William Woods' lead to 11-3.
The Scots plated their last run in the eighth, while the Owls tallied their final two runs in the bottom of the inning on sacrifice flies from Clapp and senior right fielder Damon Adrian.
Thomas finished 3-for-5 and Spagnola was 2-for-3 with a double as William Woods collected 11 hits. Stewart also went 2-for-3.
Sophomore starter John Cavness gave up three earned runs on six hits in seven innings to record the victory for the Owls. Cavness (7-2) struck out three and walked none.