WINTER GARDEN, Fla. - When the RussMatt Central Florida Baseball Invitational released its schedule of games for Webster, the Gorloks saw on the schedule a rematch from last year's Division III World Series with Washington & Jefferson and that rematch happened here Friday morning as the Gorloks posted two five run innings en route to earning a 14-7 win over the Presidents at West Orange High School.

With the, Webster improves to 6-5 on the season and is now 3-2 on its seven game spring break trip to Florida, while Washington & Jefferson fell to 3-6 on the season in what was probably the last game of the season for the Presidents due to ongoing COVID-19 virus that has forced the cancellation of all remaining winter and spring NCAA Championships at all three levels. 

Friday's game was a rematch from last season's elimination round game in the Division III World Series, a game, Washington & Jefferson won 3-2 to end Webster's 2019 campaign. 

In Friday's game, the Gorloks offense recordeed 15 hits and scored five runs each in both the second and fifth innings and then used solid pitching from seniors Cooper Hake (Lincoln, Ill./IU-South Bend) and Dakota Borman (Freeport, Ill./Highland CC). 

Four of those 15 hits came from junior rightfielder Adam Lovell (Lafayette, Ind./Saint Joseph's College) as Lovell was 4-for-6 on the day with four runs scored, 3 RBI and stole three bases, including stealing two bases before scoring a run in the seventh inning. In addition to Lovell, senior catcher Joe Swanson (Park Ridge, Ill./Maine West) had three hits and scored two runs, while senior designated hitter A.J. Smith (DuQuoin, Ill./DuQuoin), junior All-American third baseman Ben Swords (Freeport, Ill./Freeport) and freshman second Mitch Daniels (Columbia, Ill./Columbia) each had two hits and the threesome combined to score four runs and record 3 RBI, all of which came off Swords' bat. 

The Presidents would get on the scoreboard first in the top of the first inning as they used a lead off single from Nate Rush, another single from Michael Zito and wild pitch from Hake to score the first run of the game. 

W&J pushed its lead to 3-0 in the top of the second thanks to a 2-run homer off the bat of Adam Jaworski that cleared the fence in left center.

Trailing 3-0, the Gorloks would finally get on the scoreboard in a big way in the bottom of the second as they sent nine hitters to the plate and used five hits and a W&J error to plate five runs and take a 5-3 lead. Junior shortstop Matt Staker (El Cajon, Calif./Saint Augustine) got the scoring started when he drew a bases loaded walk from W&J starting hurler Jansen Eichenlaub. After senior leftfielder Garrett Davis (Geneva, Ill./Elgin CC) struck out for the first out of the inning, Lovell followed with a 2-run double down the left field line to tie the game. The Gorloks added a fourth run on an wild pitch by Eichenlaub and would add it fifth run of the inning when Lovell stole home on a delayed steal play involving Lovell and senior centerfielder Aron Hopp (Lincoln, Ill./Lincoln College), who was on first due to a walk. 

The Gorloks pushed its lead to 6-3 in the fourth inning thanks to a lead off double by Lovell, a single by Hopp and a sacrifice fly from Swords. 

In the fifth, W&J added a run on a two-out homer over the the fence in left center by Peter Kalinski. Kalinski's home brought the President's within 6-4. 

Webster, though, would put more distance between themselves and W&J in the bottom of the fifth as Gorloks used three hits and an error by W&J to plate five runs and take an 11-4 lead. The scoring in the inning got started when Staker reached on a error that scored Swanson from third, who had led off the inning with a single. After Davis drew a walk to load the bases, Lovell followed with a run scoring single to left and then Swords brought home the next run on a sacrifice fly and senior first baseman Kyler Kent (Pottsboro, Texas/Pottsboro) would bring home the fifth run of the inning on another sacrifice fly. 

In the sixth, the President's would score three times on four hits, including a 2-run single by Rush that chased Hake from the game. Borman would then come into the game an after hitting the first batter he faced, would get out the jam by striking out Kalinski to end the inning.

The Gorloks pushed its lead to 12-7 in the bottom of the seventh without a hit as Lovell led off the frame by reaching on an error and then he would proceed to steal both second and third and after Hopp drew a walk, Lovell would score on Swords' second sacrifice fly of the game. 

Webster would cap the scoring in the bottom of the eight as they scored two runs on three hits and both runs came home thanks to wild pitches from Brach Herzig, who was the seventh President's pitcher of the game. Herzig would toss three wild pitches in the inning. 

In the ninth, Borman would wrap up his first save of the season as he worked around a walk and single, before retiring the final three hitters in order to seal Webster's win. 

Hake (2-0) tossed 5.2 innings and allowed nine hits and seven runs, while walking two and striking out six. Borman pitched the final 3.1 innings and allowed one hit and no runs, while walking three and striking out five. 

Eichenlaub (1-2) took the loss for the Presidents as he pitched 1.1 innings and allowed five hits and five runs, while walking two and striking out three. 

For the game, the two teams stranded 19 runners on base as W&J left 10 and Webster stranded nine runners. 

The Gorloks also stole seven bases as along with Lovell's three steals, Hopp had two.

Webster will continue play in the RussMatt Central Florida Invitational on Saturday, March 14 as they face the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse in a 1:15 p.m. EDT game at the Lake Myrtle Complex in Auburndale, Fla.