A stifling showing by the William Woods Owls has them in a first-place tie for the American Midwest Conference regular season championship.
Four Owl pitchers combined to limit the Park University Pirates to three hits to help William Woods secure an 8-0, AMC shutout of the Pirates on Monday at Westminster College's Saucier Field.
The Owls (32-9, 17-6 AMC) tallied 12 hits in picking up their seventh straight win and are tied atop the AMC standings with Freed-Hardeman.
Senior center fielder Cody Stewart hit an RBI groundout to second to plate the first run in junior left fielder Larry Price in the bottom of the first inning. Senior third baseman Austin Clapp drove in the next tally, singling the ball past the pitcher's mound to bring in senior right fielder Nick Spagnola.
Junior first baseman Jordan Dey doubled in the next William Woods run in the second. Spagnola, Price and Stewart followed later that inning with RBI singles, while a Clapp sacrifice fly drove in the final run to up the Owls to a 7-0 lead.
William Woods scored its final run in the sixth.
Price finished 3-for-3, Spagnola was 2-for-4 with two runs scored and Dey went 2-for-4 with a run scored. Stewart wrapped up the Owls' multi-hit performers with a 2-for-5 showing.
Junior starter Kyle Marburger struck out five in 5 2/3 scoreless innings to garner the win. Marburger scattered two hits and walked one batter.
Senior reliever Dylan Hastings struck out five in 2 1/3 spotless innings, helping William Woods complete a series sweep with a 6-4 AMC win over Benedictine University-Springfield on Sunday at Backer Sports Complex.
Senior James Ball struck out two and allowed a hit in one inning to to collect his seventh save of the year.
The Owls erased a 4-2 deficit with three runs in the bottom of the fourth. Dey and Price each hit RBI singles to tie the game, while Spagnola's one-out, sacrifice fly drove in the go-ahead run in senior pinch-hitter Javier Ledesma.
William Woods added its final run in the eighth.
Sophomore second baseman Alex St. Pierre was 2-for-3, while Dey, Clapp and senior designated hitter Dustin Kremer each finished 2-for-4 to lift the Owls to an 11-5 hitting advantage.
William Woods hosts a single, non-conference game against MidAmerica Nazarene (Kansas) University at 3 p.m. today.