Box Score Matt Wollnik keyed a five-run fourth, and starter Isaac Behme had a record setting performance on the mound for the Gorloks, as the Webster University baseball team beat Westminster College, 10-0. Wollnik (SO, Naperville, IL/Neuqua Valley HS) highlighted the inning with a grand slam, while Behme closed the door on the Westminster offense, on April 3 at GCS Ballpark.
Behme (SR, Harrisburg, IL/Harrisburg HS) took the mound for the start for Webster and held Westminster in check as he tied a team record for strikeouts in a game in only seven innings, fanning 14 Blue Jays. Behme tied John DuHadway, who had 14 in a game at Principia College in 2009. Behme allowed just four hits and one walk as he improved to 3-2 and lowered his earned run average to 3.48 on the season.
In the Webster fourth, Jeff Kammer (SR, Chesterfield, MO/Lafayette HS) singled, Dylan Rajkovich (JR, Orland Park, IL/Carl Sandburg HS) reached on an E6, and a Charlie Gandolfi (SR, Mundelein, IL/Mundelein HS) bunt single loaded the bases. Zach Allam (JR, Bloomington, IN/Edgewood HS) singled in Kammer. Wollnik followed with a towering fly over the left field wall, just inside he foul pole, for a grand salami, making his first collegiate home run a memorable one
It was Wollnik's seventh hit in eight at bats, after going 5-5 with a walk in his last at-bat the previous afternoon vs. Washington U. Wollnik would extend his string to nine straight when he doubled his next time up. A fly out to left field ended his run, with eight hits and a walk in the nine at bats. Wollnik raised his season batting average from .210 to .293 in the two games.
In Webster's fifth inning, the Gorloks' running game helped manufacture two runs. Radjkovich singled and stole second. Gandolfi bunted for a single, with Radjkovich taking third. Gandolfi swiped second and Allam reached on an E4, with Radjkovich scoring. Allam then took off for second, and Gandolfi swiped home before Allam was tagged out in a rundown, making it 7-0 Webster.
A double by Wollnik in the sixth, and a two-out single by Blake Thomas (JR, Troy, IL/Triad HS) scored Wollnik, giving Webster an 8-0 lead. The Gorloks ended the game on the 10-run rule in the bottom of the eighth with help from the Blue Jay defense. Ryan Fischer (JR, Manchester, MO/Parkway South HS) led off with a pinch-hit single, took second on a wild pitch, then Thomas reached on a hit by pitch. Fischer and Thomas took second and third on a passed ball before Kyle Uhrich (SO, St. Louis, MO/Webster Groves HS) singled Fischer home. Aaron Meyer (FR, New Haven, MO/Washington HS) who had pinch run for Kammer in the seventh, singled in Uhrich for the game winner.
Wollnik was 3-4, with a home run, double, four RBIs, and two runs scored. Gandolfi was 3-3 with two runs, and two stolen bases, and Rajkovich was 2-4 with a double, stolen base, and two runs scored. Uhrich was 2-5 with an RBI and Kammer was 2-4 with a double and run scored. The Gorloks banged out 18 hits as a team, giving them 42 hits in their last two games, and raised the team batting average from .299 to .318.
The Gorlok lineup sports a number of gaudy averages with Mike Golich (FR, Aurora, IL/West Aurora HS) at .391, Rajkovich at .367, Uhrich at .365, Thomas at .363, and Kammer at .351.
Webster is 3-3 in the SLIAC with the win and 13-8 overall. The team travels to Fulton, MO, on April 4 to finish the weekend series with Westminster with a doubleheader. Webster is back home on April 8 as they host Greenville College (IL) for a doubleheader.
