CLAYTON, Mo. - On Wednesday afternoon at Kelly Field on the campus of Washington University in St. Louis, two of the top baseball teams in NCAA Division III faced off against each other as No. 3/No. 5 ranked Webster took on No. 3/No. 6 ranked WashU in a non-conference game and the two teams didn't disappoint as the Bears would use a walk-off single form Collin Kahal in the bottom of the 12th inning to seal its 4-3 victory. 

Kahal's single, which came off of freshman Alek Elges (Littleton, Colo./J.K. Mullen), who was the fourth Gorlok pitcher of the game, allowed pinch runner Harry Mauterer to score from second with the game winning run. 

With the loss, Webster, who snapped its nine game win streak, falls to 10-2 on the season, while WashU improved to 9-0 on the season. 

Elges (0-1) took the loss for the Gorloks as he tossed a season-high 4.1 innings and allowed six hits and one run, while walking two and striking out a career high six batters. 

In the game, Webster was outhit 12-10 as freshman catcher R.J. LaRocco (San Diego, Calif./Point Loma) led the way with a 3-for-5 effort at the plate, while graduate student All-American first baseman Kyler Kent (Pottsboro, Texas/Pottsboro) and third-year sophomore second baseman Mitch Daniels (Columbia, Ill./Columbia) each had two hits for the Gorloks. 

After neither team was able to score in the game's first three innings, the Gorloks broke open the scoreless game in the top of the fourth inning as they used three hits and plated two runs to take a 2-0 lead. In the inning, fourth-year junior All-American third baseman Ben Swords (Freeport, Ill./Freeport) led off with a double to left center and after fifth-year senior designated hitter A.J. Smith (DuQuoin, Illl./DuQuoin) struck out, Kent drew a walk to put two runners on base with one out. After second-year freshman leftfielder Landon Vahle (Lee's Summit, Mo./St. Michael Archangel) struck out for the second out, Daniels delivered a run-scoring single through the left side and then fourth-year junior shortstop Matt Staker (El Cajon, Calif./Saint Augustine) followed with another run scoring single in the almost the same spot off of WashU starting hurler Mitchell Black.

The Bears, though, would get one of those runs back in the bottom of the fourth off of Webster junior hurler Bryce Meyer (Bartonville, Ill./Carl Sandburg College), who was making his first career start. 

Meyer, who got into a bases loaded jam in the first inning after walking three batters, would pitch three-plus innings and allowed one hit and one run, while walking four and striking out two. 

The Gorloks would record three hits in the fifth inning and used an RBI single by Kent to left that plated LaRocco, who reached on a one-out single to center to give the Gorloks a 3-1 lead. 

WashU used two singles and and a sacrifice fly by Johnny LaMantia off of third-year sophomore reliever Joey Marko (Winfield, Mo./Winfield) to pull within 3-2. 

In the bottom of the seventh, the Bears would tie the game on two hits, including an RBI single by Bo Anderson and an error by LaRocco to score an unearned run.

The Gorloks put its first two runners on base in the eighth as Smith walked and Kent recorded a double off of WashU reliever Jared Fong, before Fong would strike out fifth-year senior leftfielder Garrett Davis (Geneva, Ill./Elgin CC) and with second-year freshman Dylan Coleman (Chicago, Ill./Notre Dame College Prep) at the plate as a pinch hitter, Fong would pick Smith off third for the second out and Coleman would strike out looking to end the inning. 

Elges would come into the game in the bottom of the seventh and retire the first five batters he faced on strikeouts, before Henry Singer reached on a one-out bunt single in the bottom of the ninth. Tim Van Kirk then followed with a single to put runners on first and second with one out, but Elges got out of the jam by getting Caleb Durbin to fly out to left and then he struck out Anderson to end the inning and force extra innings. 

WashU would put two runners on base in both the 10th and 11th innings, but Elges would prevent any runs from scoring to keep the game tied.

Fong would retire the Gorloks in order in the top of the 12th, before the Bears would come up with their 12th inning heroics. 

Fong (2-0) earned the win for the Bears as he pitched the final five innings and allowed two hits and no runs, while walking none and fanning six. 

Van Kirk had three of WashU's 12 hits, while Anderson and Troy Bauer each had two hits in the win. 

The two teams combined to leave 23 runners on base as WashU left 16 runners stranded and Webster left seven on base. Both teams turned a double play and the Gorloks had two errors.

Webster will return to St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play this coming weekend as they host Spalding University for a four game series at GCS Credit Union Ballpark in Sauget, Ill. The two teams will play a doubleheader on Saturday, March 27 and then another doubleheader on Sunday, March 28.