Taylor Hodges, Sports Information Director

FULTON, Mo. – The Lions (31-10, 18-2 AMC) took games one and two of a three-game series against William Woods (12-24-1, 5-18 AMC) on Friday, dominating in game one by winning 11-2, and taking game two by a score of 5-2.

Runs were scored in every inning in the first game of the series, mostly by the Lions, who scored in all but the third and fourth innings.

It was a strong outing for Josh Sears at the plate, as the sophomore went 4-for-5 with a home run, a double and two runs batted in. Only six of the Lions' 11 runs were earned due to the Owls committing four errors.

Austin Steel pitched the full seven innings for the No. 6 ranked visitors. He struck out four batters while only surrendering one base on balls.

Game two was a bit closer, with the Lions only winning by three runs.

The visitors got on the board first in the top of the first inning when De'Mikyle Holmes was brought in from second base by Collin McPherson. They would add one more run in the top of the fourth after Cody McSwain doubled and then scored on a Zach Sanders single.

The Owls would cut the lead in half by scoring a run in the bottom half of the fourth, and then tie the game in the bottom of the sixth.

But the Lions added their final three runs in the eighth and ninth innings to put the game out of reach.

Collin Baber scored the lone run in the eighth after coming on as a pinch runner for Sears. He advanced to second on a McPherson ground out, and then stole third base, his 28th swiped bag of the season. He then took his 29th after taking home on another stolen base.

The two runs in the top of the ninth came from Isaac Howeth and and Christian Busby.

Alex Huey earned the start on the mound and had a strong performance, striking out 10 batters in his eight innings pitched. Landon Sewell came on in the ninth inning and earned the save after striking out two of the three batters he faced.

Game three of the series will be played on Saturday at 1 p.m.