Box Score The 8th ranked Webster University baseball team started the 2014 season in fine fashion, defeating Aurora University, 9-1, in Auburndale, FL, on March 8. Dylan Dean Smith (SR, Albion, IL/Edwards County HS) got the start and went seven strong innings in the Gorloks' win.
Smith, who went 4-2 in 2013 after missing the 2012 season with an injury, went seven innings, allowing just four hits and a walk, one earned run, and striking out four. Smith was 4-0 as a freshman in 2011.
Webster got on the board quick to start the game, as Corey Lasky (SR, Vernon Hills, IL/Adlai E Stevenson HS) tripled to lead off. He scored on a Taylor Stoulp (SR, St. Louis, MO/St. Mary's HS) single with one out to give the Gorloks a 1-0 lead.
The Gorloks broke the game open with a five-run fifth. Catcher Ian Foege (SR, Eureka, MO/Eureka HS) doubled, freshman Matt Wollnik (Naperville, IL/Neuqua Valley HS) singled, and Lasky singled, scoring Foege. After a Lasky steal of second and a Charlie Gandolfi (JR, Mundelein, IL/Mundelein HS) walk to load the bases, Stoulp walked in Wollnik.
Jeff Kammer (JR, Chesterfield, MO/Jefferson College) hit a sac fly, scoring Lasky.
With two down, Jared Turner (SR, Springfield, IL/Chatham Glenwood HS) walked, loading the bases up again. After an Aurora pitching change, Kevin Kojs (SR, New Lenox, IL/Lincoln Way Central HS) singled Gandolfi and Stoulp in to make it 6-0.
Webster added three more in the seventh as Stoulp led off with a double, Kammer singled, and DH Joe Winckel (SR, Bonne Terre, MO/North County HS) singled in Stoulp. Kammer scored on a wild pitch, with Winckel moving to third. A Kojs sac fly plated Winckel for the Gorloks ninth run.
Stoulp was 3-3, with three RBI, two runs, a stolen base, and a double. Lasky was 3-5, with 2 runs scored, a stolen base and an RBI. Kojs wound up 2-4 on the day, with three RBIs.
Senior pitcher Jack Bensinger, who sat out the 2013 season with an injury, came on in relief of Smith in the eighth and had a 1-2-3 inning. In the ninth, Bensinger loaded the bases with one down, but got out of the jam unscathed with a bouncer backer to the mound and a ground out to third to end the game. Bensinger was 3-0 in 2012 in his first season for the Gorloks.
Webster will play 10th ranked SUNY-Cortland State on March 9. Cortland is already off to a good start, going 5-1 in their first six spring games, including two wins over 13th ranked Salibury University (MD).
