O'FALLON, Mo. - Webster University Baseball began defense of its St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tournament title here Thursday afternoon by posting a 5-2 victory over eighth-seeded Eureka College in the first round of the 2021 SLIAC Tournament at CarShield Field. 

With the victory, Webster improves to 31-6 overall and moves into a winner's bracket game in Pod 1 on Friday afternoon at 1:30 p.m. against fourth-seeded Westminster College at Shaw Park in Clayton, Mo. Eureka fell to 6-27 on the season and will face fifth-seeded Greenville in a Pod 1 elimination game of the double-elimination tournament at 10 a.m. at Shaw Park. 

The Gorloks were outhit 7-6 for the game as fourth-year junior All-American third baseman Ben Swords (Freeport, Ill./Freeport) had two of those six hits, while four other Gorloks recorded a hit in the win, which extended Webster's win streak to five straight game in the SLIAC Tournament since a 9-4 loss to Greenville in the first game of the championship round at the 2018 tournament. 

Webster got into the scoring column in the bottom of the second inning thanks to a hit, a hit batsman, a wild pitch and an RBI groundout by third-year sophomore catcher Zach Goodman (Greenwood Village, Colo./Arapahoe). Goodman's ground ball scored Swords, who led off the inning with a single up the middle off of Eureka starting hurler Gregory Cluskey.

The Gorloks pushed its lead to 3-0 in the bottom of the third as they used to two hits and error to plate two unearned runs. The first run came home on an RBI single to center by Swords and the second run scored on a sacrifice fly to left by fifth-year second baseman A.J. Smith (DuQuoin, Ill./DuQuoin).

Eureka would break Webster's bid for a shutout in the fifth inning as the Red Devils used two errors and two hits to plate two unearned runs off of fourth-year junior Andrew Padilla (Burbank, Ill./Reavis) to cut Webster's lead to 3-2. 

Padilla, who got the start on the mound in Thursday's game, pitched 4.2 innings and allowed four hits and two unearned runs, while walking two and striking out four before being replaced by third-year sophomore Joey Marko (Winfield, Mo./Winfield). 

The Gorloks would add some insurance runs in the bottom of the seventh thanks to a pinch hit single by second-year freshman outfielder Landon Vahle (Lee's Summit, Mo./St. Michael Archangel) and RBI doubles by both fifth-year senior centerfielder Aron Hopp (Lincoln, Ill./Lincoln College) and freshman leftfielder R.J. LaRocco (San Diego, Calif./Point Loma) to push the Gorloks lead to 5-2. 

Vahle's pinch hit single snapped a streak of 12 straight in a row retired by Cluskey after he allowed Swords' RBI single in the third. Cluskey, who entered the game with an ERA 13.63 on the season, retired the Gorloks in order in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings. 

In the eighth, the Red Devils would put two runners on base thanks to a single and Marko hitting Austin Davis with a pitch, before Marko would get out of the jam by forcing Jelby Cheramie to ground out. 

The Red Devils would then two more runners on base in the ninth against junior Ben Kowalski (Ottawa, Ill./Ottawa Township), before Kowalski would strike out Braden Cross to end the game and seal his first career save. 

Marko (4-0) earned the win in relief of Padilla as he pitched 3.1 innings and allowed one hit and no runs, while walking one and striking out one. Kowalski allowed two hits and struck out two in the ninth inning. 

Cluskey (2-6) pitched all eight innings for Eureka and allowed six hits and five runs (three earned runs), while striking out four and walking one. 

Alex Barney had two of Eureka's seven hits as the Red Devils left 11 runners on base in the game. The Gorloks stranded five base runners. 

The teams combined for three errors as Webster had two errors and Eureka had one. 

Here is a look at the complete 2021 SLIAC Baseball Tournament schedule:

POD 1 – Webster, Westminster, Greenville, Eureka
POD 2 – Spalding, Fontbonne, Iowa Wesleyan, Blackburn
 
Thursday, May 13
@CarShield Field
Pod 1 - Game 1: #1 Webster 5, #8 Eureka 2
Pod 1 - Game 2: #4 Westminster 8, vs. #5 Greenville, 2
@Clayton High School
Pod 2 - Game 3: #2 Spalding 13, #7 Blackburn 0
Pod 2 - Game 4: #3 Fontbonne 14, #6 Iowa Wesleyan (8-19, 8-19 SLIAC) 0

Friday, May 14
@Clayton High School
Pod 1 - Game 5: #8 Eureka vs. #5 Greenville, 10 a.m. (Loser eliminated)
Pod 1 - Game 7: #1 Webster vs. #4 Westminster, 1:30 p.m.
@CarShield Field
Pod 2 - Game 6: #7 Blackburn vs. #6 Iowa Wesleyan, 10 a.m. (Loser eliminated)
Pod 2 - Game 8: #2 Spalding vs. #3 Fontbonne, 1:30 p.m.
Pod 2 - Game 9: Winner Game 6 vs. Loser of Game 8, 4:30 p.m.
Pod 1 - Game 10: Winner of Game 5 vs. Loser of Game 7, 7:30 p.m.

Saturday, May 15
@CarShield Field
Pod 2 - Game 11: Winner of Game 8 vs. Winner of Game 9 (Pod 2), 10 a.m.
Pod 1 - Game 12: Winner of Game 10 vs. Winner of Game 7 (Pod 1), 1:30 p.m.
Pod 2 - Game 13: If Necessary Pod 2, 4:30 p.m.
Pod 1 - Game 14: If Necessary Pod 1, 7:30 p.m.

Championship Series (Best 2 out of 3)
@Highest Seeded Team
Friday, May 21
Game 1: Pod 1 winner vs. Pod 2 winner, 3:30 p.m.
Saturday, May 22
Game 2: Pod 1 winner vs. Pod 2 winner, 12 p.m.
Game 3: (If Necessary), 30-40 minutes after Game 2