GREENVILLE, Ill. - Webster University opened up defense of its St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Baseball Tournament championship here Friday morning by posting an 11-1 victory over East Division No. 2 seed Greenville University in the first round of the 2019 SLIAC Tournament at Robert E. Smith Field. 

With the win, the 18th/23rd-ranked Gorloks achieve their 10th all-time 30-win season and improves its record to 30-10 on the season, while Greenville falls to 22-16 overall.

Friday's win over Greenville sets up a winners bracket match-up Friday night at 6 p.m. between the Gorloks and East Division No .1 seed Spalding, who shared the regular season SLIAC title with Webster and swept a doubleheader against the Gorloks in Lousiville, Ky., on March 20. Spalding opened the SLIAC Tournament with a 3-2 win over No. 4 seeded Westminster (Mo.) College on Friday morning at SIU-Edwardsville. 

In the win over the Panthers, Webster's offense came to play as the Gorloks collected 15 hits and scored multiple runs in three of the first five innings to post its third win this season over Greenville and extend its win streak in SLIAC Tournament first round games to 10 straight games. Webster is now 36-19 all-time in the tournament. The last time Webster lost a first round game in the tournament was in 2009 when Fontbonne picked up a 6-5 victory over the Gorloks.

Sophomore third baseman Ben Swords (Freeport, Ill./Freeport) and junior catcher Joe Swanson (Park Ridge, Ill./Maine West) each had three hits and combined for 5 RBI, while senior rightfielder Nate Tholl (Tinley Park, Ill./John A. Logan CC), junior All-American first baseman Kyler Kent (Pottsboro, Texas/Pottsboro) and senior second baseman Danny Strohm (St. Louis, Mo./Greenville University) each had two hits and combined to score five runs, including Tholl scoring three runs. 

The Gorloks jumped in front 5-0 in the second inning as they sent nine hitters to the plate and used six hits to score five runs, In the inning, Kent opened the frame with a single to left, before sophomore designated hitter Kellen Quigley (Bolingbrook, Ill./Bolingbrook) followed with his first career triple that plated Kent with the first run of the game. Swanson would then follow with an RBI single to right center to make it 2-0. The Gorloks eventually made it 3-0 on an RBI single up the middle by Tholl and Swords would follow Tholl and drill a 3-2 pitch from Jonah Moore to right field that brought home two runs to make the score 5-0.

That 5-0 lead would be more than enough for junior pitcher Matt Mulhearn (Chicago Heights, Ill./Marian Catholic) as he would pitch into the sixth inning and allowed just five hits and one run, while striking out one and walking none in his 59 pitch outing, Mulhearn improved to 10-2 with the win and the 10 wins are now tied for the most in Webster single season history. Additionally, Mulhearn has now won 10 games in back-to-back seasons as he posted a 10-2 record as a sophomore in 2018. 

Greenville would prevent a shutout by Mulhearn in the fourth as Klaiton Wolff led off the inning with a solo home run over the fence in left. The homer was just the third allowed by Mulhearn this season. 

The Gorloks, though, would give Mulhearn some more cushion in the bottom of the fourth as Swords brought home a run on his double to right center and Kent would add an RBI single in the inning to give Webster a 7-1 lead. 

Webster's lead grew to 10-1 in the fifth as the Gorloks took advantage a hit by Strohm and two errors and two passed balls by the Panthers to score three runs. Two of the three runs in the inning would be unearned against Moore, who took the loss for the Panthers and fell to 4-3 on the season.

Moore pitched five innings and allowed 13 hits and 10 runs (eight earned), while walking three and fanning two in his 103 pitch outing.

The Gorloks would complete the scoring in the bottom of the seventh as Tholl was hit by a pitch leading off the inning, moved to third when junior leftfielder A.J. Smith (DuQuoin, Ill./DuQuoin) reached on an fielding erorr by Greenville shortstop Ryan Taylor and would score on a sacrifice fly in foul territory down the right field line by Kent to give the Gorloks an 11-1 lead. 

Greenville had a scoring chance in the eighth as they loaded the bases thanks a hit by Taylor, a hit batsman by sophomore reliever Jake Anderson (Bolingbrook, Ill./Bolingbrook), who relieved Mulhearn in the sixth and a walk. With the bases loaded, Webster brought senior reliever Jay Blake (Imperial, Mo./Mineral Area College) from the bullpen and he would retire the next two Panthers in order on an infield fly and a line out to end the inning without allowing a run. 

Blake would strike out the side in the ninth to close out the game. The three strikeouts by Blake established a new career high. 

Anderson and Blake combined to pitch 3.2 innings and allowed just one hit, but walked three and struck out three. The three walks were by Anderson and the three strikeouts came from Blake. 

In the game, Webster left 11 runners on base and turned its 38th double play of the season on defense.

The Gorloks defense committed two errors in the game, while Greenville had three errors.