SAINT LEO, Fla. - Webster University and Concordia-Chicago concluded their suspended game from March 1 here Tuesday morning and then the teams played their regularly scheduled game at Thomas Southard Stadium on the campus of Saint Leo University.
 

In the suspended game that was halted in the top of the 10th inning tied at 1-all due to lightning that hit GCS Credit Union Ballpark at Sauget, Ill., on March 1, CUC would score a run in the top of the 12th inning to pick up a 2-1 win and then the Cougars and the Gorloks played a marathon game in the second contest as the teams played an 11 inning game that lasted four hours and fourty minutes and CUC won the game after scoring four runs in the 11th to seal the win.

With the two setbacks, the No. 2 ranked Gorloks fall to 5-5 on the season, while CUC improves to 4-3 on the year.

In the halted game, Webster took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the third on a two-out homer over the wall in right field off the bat of junior rightfielder Adam Lovell (Lafayette, Ind,/Saint Joseph's College).

The Cougars, though, would get that run back in the top of the fourth as they used two hits and a throwing error by junior shortstop Matt Staker (El Cajon, Calif./Saint Augustine) as they plated an unearned to tie the game.

From that point, the game would be a pitcher's duel between Webster senior All-American pitcher Matt Mulhearn (Chicago Heights, Ill./Marian Catholic) and CUC senior lefthander Adam Gregory.

From the bottom of the fifth to the bottom of the ninth, Mulhearn would retire 12 consecutive batters before walking Matt Fauth with one out in the eighth. Mulhearn had pitched the first nine innings in total and had allowed four hits and an unearned run, while walking one and striking out nine.

Meanwhile, Gregory was also just as effective as he would retire nine Gorloks in a row after allowing Lovell's home run and in seven innings, he allowed four hits and one run, while walking none and striking out six.

In the eighth, CUC put runners on first and third thanks to a walk and a passed ball on a third strike, but Mulhearn would leave those runners on base when he forced Howie Hatton to ground out to end the inning.

The Gorloks had a scoring chance in the bottom of the eighth as freshman second baseman Mitch Daniels (Columbia, Ill./Columbia) drew a lead off walk from Cade Laudenschlager, who replaced Gregory on the mound. Freshman Scott Lovell (Lafayette, Ind./Lafayette Central Catholic), who was pinch running for Daniels, would move to second on a wild pitch and reached third on a bunt by senior centerfielder Aron Hopp (Lincoln, Ill./Lincoln College, before Adam Lovell would ground out and freshman leftfielder Landon Vahle (Lee's Summit, Mo./St. Michael Archangel) struck out to end the inning.

When the game resumed on Tuesday morning at Saint Leo, Mulhearn returned to the mound and would pitch all 12 innings in a game as he allowed six hits and two runs (one earned run), while walking one and striking out 10. Mulhearn threw 142 pitches in the game.

CUC would put a runner on base in the 11th as Hatton reached on a error by junior second baseman Kellen Quigley (Bolingbrook, Ill./Bolingbrook), but Mulhearn would leave that runner on base as he forced Garry Maynard to ground out.

In the bottom of the 11th, the Gorloks appeared poised to win the game the Gorloks loaded the bases thanks to three walks from Zach Litke, who relieved Noah Dressler, who had pitched the final two-thirds of the suspended game at GCS. Litke, though, be replaced by Mike Tobin and Tobin got out of the jam by forcing Kent to ground out to end the inning.

CUC would break up the 1-1 tie in the top of the 12th on an RBI single off the bat of Brayden Benavides. Benavides' single scored Brody Mariotti from second after he led off the inning with a double.

In the bottom of the 12th, Tobin would retire the Gorloks in order to seal his team's win.

Webster finished with four hits in the game, including two from Lovell, while CUC recorded six hits, including two each from Maynard and Mariotti.

Tobin, who was the fifth pitcher of the game for the Cougars, tossed 1.1 innings and did not allow a hit or a run and didn't record a strikeout or walk a batter.

Meanwhile, in Tuesday's regularly scheduled game, both teams combined for 31 hits, seven errors, left a total of 30 runners on base and used a combined 14 pitchers in the marathon contest.

Webster, who has is now 2-2 on its Spring Break trip to Florida, finshed the second game on Tuesday with a season high 17 hits, including Daniels and Staker each recording three hits as the two players went a combined 6-for-9 with three runs scored and 2 RBI. In addition, junior All-American third baseman Ben Swords (Freeport, Ill./Freeport), senior All-American first baseman Kyler Kent (Pottsboro, Texas/Pottsboro), senior designated hitter A.J. Smith (DuQuoin, Ill./DuQuoin) and Hopp each had two hits and combined for 5 RBI, including a career high tying 3 RBI from Hopp.

For the game, nine Gorloks recorded at least one hit, but Webster left 16 runners on base.

CUC would jump in front 2-0 in the first inning thanks to two hits off of Mulhearn, who earned the start on the mound, and three Gorlok errors that led to two unearned runs.

The Cougars' lead grew to 5-0 in the third inning as they scored three runs on three hits in the inning against both Mulhearn and junior Andrew Padilla (Burbank, Ill./Reavis), who relieved Mulhearn after facing two batters in the third.

Webster would score its first runs of the game in the bottom of the third thanks to four hits, including an RBI double by Hopp and a sacrifice fly off the bat of Vahle.

CUC added a run to its lead in the sixth on a sacrifice fly in foul territory in right field to push in front 6-2.

The Gorloks, though, would wake up its offense in the sixth inning as they had four hits and took advantage of an error to score six runs and take an 8-6 lead. In the inning, Hopp began the scoring with a 2-run single to left center and later in the inning, Vahle added two more runs with his 2 RBI single to right and then other two runs were brought home on RBI singles by Swords and Kent.

In the top of the seventh, CUC got two of those runs the Gorloks scored in the bottom of the sixth on a 2-run home run from Matthew Uba off of junior reliever Jake Anderson (Bolingbrook, Ill./Bolingbrook) to tie the game at 8-all. Anderson was the fourth Gorlok pitcher of the game.

Webster would load the bases in the seventh thanks a single by Daniels, a walk issued to Staker and a walk to Lovell, but Alex Crinigan, who was the the sixth Cougar pitcher of the game, would relieve Chandler Kerr and leave the bases loaded after inducing Vahle to hit into a fielder's choice.

The Cougars retook the lead in the eighth as they scored three runs and took an 11-8 lead. In the inning, CUC scored three runs on one hit and a Gorlok error.

In the bottom of the eighth, the Gorloks had four hits and pulled within 11-10 on a 2-run single up the middle off the bat of Daniels. Later in the inning, the Gorloks would have chance to add more runs, but Dreesler relieved Crinigan and forced Hopp to ground into a 4-6-3 double play.

Webster would open the bottom of the ninth by Lovell reaching on an error and would reach second on another error and then Swords followed with an RBI single through the right side to tie the game. Dressler, though, would prevent further damage by the Gorloks as he induced Kent to ground into a 6-3 double play and then forced Smith to fly out to right to force extra innings.

After neither team was able to score after putting a runner on base in the 10th, CUC would break open the game in the top of the 11th as they had two hits and used a Gorlok error to plate four runs and take a 15-11 lead. The big hit by the Cougars was a 3-run double down the left field line by Bryce Vincent off of senior Cooper Hake (Lincoln, Ill./IU-South Bend), who relieved sophomore Joey Marko (Winfield, Mo./Winfield) just before Vincent's hit.

Lovell walked to open the 11th innning, moved to second on a ground out and moved to third on a Dressler wild pitch, but would remain there as after Swords walked and Smith was hit by a pitch to load the bases, sophomore catcher Zach Goodman (Greenwood Village, Colo./Arapahoe) would end the game by lining out to Mariotti at first.

Vincent paced CUC with five hits and 5 RBI as he was 5-for-6 at the plate, while Mateo Calle went 3-for-6 with four runs scored and Uba was 2-for-5 with 4 RBI.

Marko (0-1), who was the fifth Gorlok pitcher of the game, took the loss as he tossed three innings and allowed three hits and four runs (three earned), while walking two and striking out three.

Dressler (1-0) picked up the win as he pitched the final 3.2 innings and allowed three hits and one unearned run, while striking out one and walking two.

The Gorloks, who will take the next two days off, will return to the diamond on Friday, March 13 as they face preseason 30th-ranked Washington & Jefferson (3-4) in a 10 a.m. ET game at West Orange High School in Winter Garden, Fla. The game will be a rematch of last year's elimination round game in the Division III World Series as the Presidents defeated the Gorloks, 3-2.