Box Score The Webster University baseball team saw its 11-game win streak go by the boards in a 12-7 loss at Washington University on April 17. The Gorloks banged out 14 hits, including two home runs, but also gave up seven unearned runs to the Bears in the contest, aided by seven team errors.
The Gorloks took a 2-0 lead on RBI singles by Max Fecske (SO, North Hollywood, CA/Notre Dame HS) in the first, and by Matt Wollnik (SO, Naperville, IL/Neuqua Valley HS) in the second inning. The Bears tied it up in the third when the Gorloks committed two errors in the frame, but the fourth inning proved to be Webster's undoing. Washington U. scored five runs, four unearned, as the Gorloks committed two more errors and had a catcher's interference in the inning, to fall behind 7-2.
Starter Isaac Behme (SR, Harrisburg, IL/Harrisburg HS) would go four innings, giving up eight hits and eight runs, but only two earned. Behme wound up taking the loss and is 5-3 on the season. Five different relievers would finish up the contest for the Gorloks.
Webster had a glimmer of hope in the top of the eighth when Fecske and Blake Thomas (JR, Troy, IL/Triad HS) singled, and Kyle Uhrich (SO, St. Louis, MO/Webster Groves HS) followed with his 11th home run of the season, cutting the deficit to 8-5. The Bears would answer with four more runs of their own in their half of the eighth inning to extend the lead to 12-5.
The Gorloks had one more glimmer of hope in the ninth when pinch-hitter Connor Hogan (SO, New Lenox, IL/Lincoln Way West HS) singled and pinch-hitter Adam Naliwajko (SO, Mt. Prospect, IL/St. Viator HS) hit his first home run as a Gorlok to make it 12-7. Fecske had a one-out single, but that was it for Webster.
Fecske wound up 5-5 on the afternoon, with an RBI and run scored, as he raised his season average to .424. Naliwajko was 1-1 with the homer and is hitting .364. Thomas was 2-5 with a run scored, and Mike Golich (FR, Aurora, IL/West Aurora HS) was 2-4, with a walk and run scored. Golich is batting .385 in his freshman campaign.
Uhrich was 1-4 with a home run and three RBIs. The RBIs brought Uhrich's team-leading total to 41 on the season. Uhrich's 41 RBIs are the 16th most in a single season for Webster with at least 10 regular season games and the SLIAC Tournament still to go.
Webster, ranked #28 in this week's ABCA/Collegiate Baseball poll, fell to 21-9 on the season. The contest was the second on the week with the Bears, with the Gorloks winning a thrilling, 6-5, comeback on April 14 over Washington U. at GCS Ballpark.
The seven errors were the most in a game for Webster since a 2009 contest vs. Coe College when the Gorloks had eight miscues.
The Gorloks travel to Elsah, IL, to player Principia College in a doubleheader on April 18. Webster's next home game will be the completion of a postponement with Greenville College on April 21 at GCS Ballpark. The game was halted on April 8, because or rain and lightning with Webster coming to bat in the fourth inning, leading 6-2. The game will pick up at that point in the contest.
