Despite being held to three hits, the Gorloks were in Sunday's game throughout thanks to another strong starting pitching performance from junior Sean Beaver (San Diego, Calif./Scripps Ranch). Beaver, who is now 1-2 on the season, pitched into the eighth inning as he allowed just three hits and one run, which was unearned thanks to fielding error in the eighth by junior All-American third baseman Ben Swords (Freeport, Ill./Freeport), while striking out five and walking none. 

In his three starts this season, Beaver, whose ERA on the year is 0.57, has received a total of 12 runs of support with 11 of those runs coming in Beaver's start against North Park. In his other two starts, the Gorloks have scored a total of one run.

While Beaver gave the Gorloks a strong start on the mound, the Spartans got an outstanding pitching performance from Skyler Yamamoto, who tossed a complete game shutout and scattered three hits, while walking two and striking out six. Yamamoto improved to 3-0 on the season with Sunday's win. 

Aurora had a scoring chance in the fourth inning as Justin Sartori and Jett Wedekind recorded a single and double with two outs to put runners on second and third, but Beaver would get out of the jam by striking out Paul Dobravec looking to end the inning. 

The Gorloks would put two runners on base in the sixth inning thanks to a lead off single from freshman second baseman Mitch Daniels (Columbia, Ill./Columbia) and a two out walk issued to Swords, but Yamamoto would end the threat by forcing senior leftfielder A.J. Smith (DuQuoin, Ill./DuQuoin) to fly out to center. 

Aurora would finally be able to break-up Beaver's shutout as Colin Rivard led of the inning by reaching on Swords' error. Rivard then moved to second on a bunt and then reached third on a ground out that chased Beaver from the game. Josh Reinhardt would greet junior Jake Anderson (Bolingbrook, Ill./Bolingbrook) with an infield RBI single. Reinhardt would move to second on a wild pitch and after Anderson walked Dylan White, freshman Jordan Smevoll (Dyer, Ind./Marian Catholic) came into the game and would strike out AJ Gill to keep the score at 1-0 in Aurora's favor. 

The Gorloks would put lead-off man on base in the bottom of the eighth as sophomore Zach Goodman (Greenwood Village, Colo./Arapahoe) drew a walk as a pinch hitter. Senior outfielder Aron Hopp (Lincoln, Ill./Lincoln College) would pinch run and reach third on a bunt and ground out, but once again, Yamamoto would get out of the jam by inducing freshman centerfielder Landon Vahle (Lee's Summit, Mo./St. Michael Archangel) to ground out to end the inning with tying run at third. 

In the ninth, Aurora broke the game open as they had four hits and took advantage of an error by Smith in left to plate four runs and take a 5-0 lead. The big hit in the inning was a two-run double to left off the bat of Corey Vondra. 

Swords would lead off the ninth with a single, but Yamamoto would retire the next three Gorloks in order to seal the Spartans' win.

In addition to Swords and Daniels, Webster's other hit was a two-out double in the second inning. 

Vondra paced Aurora with two hits and 2 RBI, while Rivard scored two runs in the win. 

Both team left six runners on base for the game. 

The Gorloks will look to bounce back on Monday, March 9 as they face Westfield State in a 9:45 a.m. ET game on Field 4 at the Lake Myrtle Sports Complex.