Wildcats Fall to Owls in Road Half of Split Series

FULTON, Mo. - After splitting Saturday's doubleheader at home, Baker baseball was swept in Tuesday's road series by William Woods in Fulton to close out the four-game conference set.

The Wildcats carried a one-run lead in the opener before the Owls pulled away for a 7-1 win, then had their hearts broken by a sixth-inning rally in a 2-1 nightcap.

Coming off a 9-2 victory in the second game on Saturday, BU's offense couldn't find much life in Fulton, tallying a combined eight hits between the two contests. Tyson Kiser had three of the hits and drew two walks in game one to reach base safely in all but one of his plate appearances.

Kiser opened up his day by dropping a one-out single into right center before stealing second and then hustling home to score on Caden Deeney's RBI knock to give the Wildcats an early 1-0 lead in the top of the second.

BU pitcher Kole Starlin came out dealing in his seventh start of the season, striking out the side in both the first and third innings on the way to a season-high eight strikeouts.

William Woods finally got to Starlin in the bottom of the fourth, bringing four runs across as the wheels started to come off for the Wildcats. BU left a couple of runners on in the fifth, which stung a little worse after the Owls stretched their lead with two more runs in the bottom of the fifth.

With Baker stranding another pair of runners, WWU pushed across a final run in the bottom of the sixth to put the finishing touches on its comfortable victory in the first game of the doubleheader.

Echoing the series opener, the Wildcats came up short in another tight pitching duel in the final game, bookending the series with a pair of gut-wrenching 2-1 losses.

Brady Friend pitched four straight scoreless innings to begin the finale, matching the William Woods starter, who faced the minimum through the first 10 batters before Kiser connected on the first of his two hits.

In the top of the sixth, Carson Adams was hit by a pitch, Camden Karlin followed with a walk, and Kiser chopped one high enough to reach on an infield single to load the bases for the Wildcats with one out.

Then, Jackson Truman sent a hard hit ball back up the middle that was kept in the infield by the diving WWU shortstop, but allowed everyone to reach safely, including Adams, who came across for the game's first run.

William Woods came right back with a pair of runs in the bottom of the sixth to play spoiler to BU's one-run lead for the second straight time. The Owls led off with a triple and followed it right up with an RBI single to tie things up immediately after the Wildcats broke the scoreless deadlock.

Later in the inning, with the bases loaded, WWU dribbled a slow roller to the right side of the infield to bring the decisive run across and complete the Owls' series victory.

Moving to 19-15 overall and 7-9 in Heart play, Baker is scheduled to return to action with a road series at MidAmerica Nazarene on Friday and Saturday, April 10-11, with both doubleheaders slated for 1 p.m. in Olathe, Kan.

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