College Baseball: Freed-Hardeman 11, William Woods 1

HENDERSON, Tenn. — The No. 7 seed Owls were limited to just six hits in their loss to the No. 2 Lions on Wednesday in the first round of the American Midwest Conference postseason tournament.

William Woods University (25-23) — which has lost six straight — dropped into the losers’ bracket of the double-elimination format and will play at 2 p.m. today. The Owls will face the loser of Wednesday night’s first-round matchup between No. 3 seed Central Baptist (Arkansas) College and No. 6 Williams Baptist (Arkansas) College.

Freed-Hardeman University (39-15), ranked No. 17 in NAIA Division I, advanced to the semifinals and will play the Central Baptist-Williams Baptist winner at 8 tonight.

The Lions were in command from the outset against William Woods on Wednesday, scoring two runs in the bottom of the second inning and four more in the third to open up a 6-0 lead. The Owls tallied their lone run in the top of the fifth on sophomore left fielder Nolan Aherin’s RBI sacrifice fly, but Freed-Hardeman pulled away by countering with two runs in its half of the inning and added two more in the sixth and one in the eighth.

Junior third baseman Ryan Phillips went 2-for-4 for William Woods, while freshman shortstop Tanner Wetrich finished 1-for-3 with a triple in the fifth and scored the Owls’ run. Aherin was also 1-for-3 with a double.

Senior starter John Cavness went just 4 1/3 innings in taking the loss. Cavness was rocked for eight earned runs on 10 hits, walked four and struck out three.