ST. LOUIS, Mo. – This afternoon the Harris-Stowe State University baseball team was back in action when they played host to the William Woods (Mo.) University Owls in an AMC doubleheader. The Hornets split the doubleheader as they won the first game by a final score of 16-10 and lost the second game by a final score of 22-9 to improve to 11-18 on the season and 7-11 in the American Midwest Conference. With the split, the Owls fall to 18-15 on the year and 11-11 in the AMC.

In the first game of the doubleheader, the Hornets put together 17 hits in the contest. They came out and stung the Owls early as they scored seven runs in the top of the first to jump out to a 7-0 lead. The Owls responded by scoring a run in the top of the second to cut the lead to 7-1, but one run in each of the next two innings put the Hornets up 9-1 heading into the fourth. Harris-Stowe continued to put the ball in play as the game progressed and scored three runs in the bottom of the fourth to extend their lead to 12-1 midway through the game. The Owls bounced back and scored three runs in the top of the fifth to cut the lead to 12-4, but a four run inning from the Hornet in the bottom of the sixth gave them a 16-4 lead late in the contest. The Owls picked up six runs in the top of the seventh but that was as close as they would get as the Hornets recorded the final outs to solidify the win.

Tomas Pinet Jr. (1-2) got the start in this one as he allowed two hits and one earned run while striking out three in 4.0 innings on the mound. Brian Myers, Cam Fuller, Tommy Benner, and Luke Lampros came in to relieve Pinet Jr. as the four combined to all eight hits and six earned runs while striking out five in the final 3.0 innings of the contest. The Hornets had the long ball working for them in this one as Maurice La Fon (5), Turner McDonald (2), Davie Pound (2), and Bay To (1) all hit homeruns in the contest. In addition, Will Menendez went 2-for-3 with two RBI and Matt Janocik went 1-for-3 with two RBI to round out the top performers for the Hornets.

In the second game of the doubleheader, the Hornets put together 12 hits in the contest. Harris-Stowe once again got on the board first in this one as they scored a run in the top of the first and two runs in the top of the second to jump out to a 3-0 lead. The Owls bounced back to start the third and were able to score 10 runs in the innings to take a 10-3 lead in the game. The Hornets responded by scoring a run in the bottom of the third, but two runs from the Owls in the top of the fourth gave them a 12-4 lead in the game. Once again the Hornets bounced back and cut the lead to 12-6 in the bottom of the fourth, but a four run rally from the Owls in the top of the fifth gave them a 16-6 lead midway through the game. They continued to put the ball in play as the game progressed and outscored the Hornets 6-3 in the final two innings to solidify the split.

Dajuan Griffin was the starting pitcher in this one as he allowed two hits and three earned runs while striking out one in 2.0 innings on the mound. Raul Alvarez (1-4), Alex Williams, Alek Sierra, James Shaw, Preston Burnett, Jacob Gonzalez, Matt Gilbers, and Armando Sierra all came in to relieve Griffin as the eight combined to allow 11 hits and 17 earned runs while striking out five in the final 5.0 innings of the game. The long ball was once again working for the Hornets in this one as Matt Janocik (4) and Luke Lampros (4) each had two a piece while Logan Dryden (1), Austin Palacios (1), and Bay To (2) each had one.

Following the conclusion of the doubleheader, the baseball team honored their four seniors for their hard work and dedication to the program while sporting a Harris-Stowe State University uniform. The four seniors that were honored were Brendan Claus, Matt Janocik, Tavon Gibbs, and Brian Myers.

The Hornets will return to the field on Friday, April 30^th when they travel to Missouri Baptist University to take on the Spartans in the first two games of a four game series. The doubleheader is set to start at 1 p.m. No visiting team spectators will be allowed to attend.