STEENS, Miss. — The W baseball team, the No. 4 seed in the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference tournament, was eliminated with a 4-2 loss to No. 5 seed Westminster College at CCA Field.
The Owls finished the season with a 22-18 record, marking their third straight 20-win campaign. Westminster improved to 17-24 and will advance to the SLIAC finals starting Thursday.
The Owls’ offense, averaging 8.7 runs per game this season, struggled early and was held scoreless through seven innings. Trailing 3-0 entering the eighth, MUW rallied with RBI singles from senior outfielder Baron Brack and junior catcher Michael O’Neill to cut the deficit to 3-2. Westminster added an insurance run in the ninth to seal the victory.
MUW was outhit 11-7 in the contest. Seniors Zach Johnson and Jack Sledge combined for five hits. Johnson, considered one of the league’s top players, finished 3-for-5 with a double in the eighth inning, his only extra-base hit of the day. Johnson ended the season batting .409, the third-best season batting average in Owls history.
First baseman Sledge went 2-for-3 with a walk. Starting pitcher Chris Ellis took the loss, allowing three hits and one earned run over 4.1 innings. Ellis struck out five and walked one in his outing.
