A walk-off single by Brandon Smith scored the game-winner as Webster advances in the SLIAC Baseball Tournament with a 3-2 win over host Greenville College, on May 12.  The Gorloks advanced in the winners bracket, with Jack Bensinger tossing a complete game in the victory, and will face Westminster College on May 13 at Greenville.

In the Webster ninth, Dylan Rajkovich (SR, Orland Park, IL/Carl Sandburg HS) led off with a single and was sacrificed to second by Matt Wollnik (JR, Naperville, IL/Nequa Valley HS).  With two down, Smith (JR, Imperial, MO/Seckman HS) drove a single into left as pinch-runner Ryan Fischer (SR, Manchester, MO/Parkway South HS) scored the deciding run.

After spotting the Panthers single runs in each of the first two innings, without the benefit of a hit, the Gorloks tied it up in the bottom of the second.  Jeff Kammer (SR, Chesterfield, MO/Lafayette HS) and Jake Milosch (FR, St. Charles, IL/St. Charles East HS) singled, and Rajkovich doubled home Kammer.  Wollnik grounded into a 1-2-5-4 double play, with Kammer thrown out at home and Wollnik thrown out trying to take second.  But Mike Golich (SO, Aurora, IL/West Aurora HS) followed with a single to score Rajkovich and tie the game at 2-2.

Starter Bensinger (GR, Los Angeles, CA/Campbell Hall) had a complete game win, throwing nine innings, giving up just four hits, allowing two unearned runs, walking none and striking out four.  Bensinger, announced earlier in the evening as an All-Conference First Team selection (see separate article), won his ninth game as he improved to 9-2 and lowered his SLIAC league-leading ERA to 1.56.

Golich was 2-3 with an RBI, stolen base, and reached on a hit by pitch.  Rajkovich was 2-4 with a double and an RBI, and Smith was 1-5 with the game winning RBI. 

Webster, the #1 seed in tournament after finishing first in the SLIAC with an overall record of 18-4, improves to 28-13 overall.  Westminster, the #2 seed, defeated #3 MacMurray College, 12-2, in the other first round contest.  The Gorloks will play the Blue Jays at 1:00 p.m. on May 13, back in Greenville, IL.