ST. LOUIS, Mo. – The Harris-Stowe State University baseball team was back in action when they traveled to Carshield Field in O'Fallon, Missouri, to compete in the AMC Baseball Championships. The Hornets played two games on the day as they defeated the Williams Baptist (Ark.) University Eagles by a final score of 10-9 and then lost to the Williams Woods (Mo.) University Owls by a final score of 4-3 to improve to 13-22 on the season. Their win against Williams Baptist was the Hornets first AMC Baseball Championship win since the 2007 season.

In their first game of the day, the Hornets put together 11 hits in the contest. The Eagles got off to a quick start as they scored a run in the top of the first to take an early 1-0 lead. The Hornets answered back and scored three runs in the bottom of the first and two runs in the bottom of the second to take a 5-1 advantage heading into the third. The Eagles cut the lead to 5-2 in the top of the third, but another three run rally from the Hornets in the bottom half of the inning gave them an 8-2 lead in the game. The Eagles battled back as the game progressed and were able to rally for three runs in the top of the fifth and two runs in the top of the sixth to cut the Hornets lead to 8-7.  Harris-Stowe extended their lead back to 9-7 in the bottom of the sixth, but two more runs from the Eagles in the top of the seventh tied the game at nine. The Hornets continued to put the ball in play over the next two innings and were able to score a run in the bottom of the eighth to solidify the win.

Dajuan Griffin was the starting pitcher in this one as he allowed nine hits and five earned runs while striking out two in 5.0 innings on the mound. Alex Williams (4-3) came in to relieve Griffin as he allowed four hits and one earned run while striking out two in the final 4.0 innings of the game. Maurice La Fon led the way at the plate for the Hornets as he went 3-for-5 with two RBI and a solo homerun. In addition, Will Crooker went 2-for-3 with two RBI, and Matt Janocik went 2-for-4 with a solo homerun to round out the top performers for the Hornets.

In the second game of the day, the Hornets put together nine hits in the game. The Owls got on the board first in this one as they scored a run in the bottom of the third to take a 1-0 lead. The Owls continued to put the ball in play and scored two runs in the bottom of the seventh to extend their lead to 3-0. The Hornets had a tough time getting anything going through the first seven innings of the game, but a three run homerun from Davie Pound in the top of the eighth tied the score at three late in the contest. However, the Owls scored a run in the bottom of the ninth to solidify the walk off win.

Alex Williams got the start in the second game as he allowed seven hits and three earned runs while striking out three in 6.1 innings on the mound. James Shaw and Raul Alvarez (1-6 came in to relieve Williams as the two combined to allow one hit in the final 1.2 innings of the game. Davie Pound led the way for the Hornets as he went 1-for-1 with a three run homerun.

The Hornets will return to the field tomorrow, May 5^th when they take on the loser between Columbia (Mo.) College and Lyon (Ark.) College in an elimination game. The game is set to start at 7 p.m. at Carshield Field in O'Fallon, Missouri.