The Webster University baseball team ended its spring break trip with a pair of losses to Linfield College (OR), including a heart-breaker in the second game. The Gorloks lost 5-0 and 5-4 on March 12 in Whittier, CA. Webster ran into a hot pitcher in the opener and gave up a four-run lead in the nightcap.
In the 5-4 loss in
game two, Trey Tigart (JR, Sikeston, MO/Sikeston HS), made his first start of the season after five relief appearances. Tigart sailed through the first five innings, giving up just two hits, but the Widcats got to him in the sixth and seventh. Tigart gave up a run on a pair of doubles in the sixth as the Wildcats made it 4-1. In the seventh, after allowing a two-run homer, Tigart gave up a triple and single as Linfield tied it at 4-4. After Mitch Stefani (SR, Aurora, IL/Waubonsie Valley HS) was summoned from the bullpen, the runner at first stole second and took third on the throw. He would score on a single as Linfield took a 5-4 lead heading into the eighth.
Webster built a 4-0 lead with single runs in the fourth and fifth, and two runs in the
the sixth. Brandon Smith (JR, Imperial, MO/Seckman HS) walked in the third, and eventually came around on a single by Jeff Kammer (SR, Chesterfield, MO/Lafayette HS). Bailey Magruder (FR, New Lenox, IL/Lincoln Way West HS0 walked to lead off the fourth and would score on a double by Jake Celleghin (SR, Westifeld, IN/Westfield HS) to make it 2-0.
Blake Thomas (SR, Troy, IL/Triad HS) reached in the sixth with no one down, and Kammer followed with a single. With Kammer stealing second, a wild pitch allowed Thomas to score. Jake Milosch (FR, St. Charles, IL/St. Charles East HS) walked and Matt Wollnik (JR, Naperville, IL/Nequa Valley HS) had a bunt single to load the bases. Mike Wick (SO, Bartlett, IL/Bartlett HS) grounded into a 6-4-3 double play as Kammer crossed the plate to make it a 4-0 Webster lead.
Webster had two runners on in the top of the eighth, but a double play on a line-drive to short ended the inning. Kyle Uhrich (JR, St. Louis, MO/Webster Groves HS) had a two-out single in the ninth, but was stranded. Kammer was 2-4, with an RBI and run scored. Uhrich and Wollnik were both 2-4 in the game
The Gorloks ran into a hot pitcher in
game one. Linfield's Riley Newman shut Webster out, giving up six hits, and improving to 5-1 on the season. Johnny Lord (JR, Naperville, IL/Nequa Valley HS) started for Webster, and went 6 2/3 innings, giving up five hits and four runs, just two of them earned. Lord struck out four as he fell to 1-2 on the season.
The Wildcats scored on a solo home run in the first and put together three singles for another run in the second to take a 2-0 lead. Lord had kept the score at 2-0 until the seventh when he gave up a single then walked a man with two down. Stefani came in from the bullpen and commited an error, allowing a run to score. A double by the next batter scored two more as all three runs were unearned.
Uhrich went 2-4 in the contest.
Webster, ranked #19 in the latest d3baseball.com poll, is 6-8 on the season. Linfield, ranked 25th, is 13-7. The Wildcats were 33-15 in 2015 and won the NCAA III Championship in 2013. The Gorloks open play in the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference with a weekend series at Eureka College on March 19-20.
