CLAYTON, Mo. - Webster University remained undefeated in the 2021 St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Baseball Tournament here Friday as the top-seeded Gorloks posted a 9-2 victory over fourth-seeded Westminster College in a Pod A winner's bracket game at Shaw Park.
With the win, Webster improves its record to 32-6 overall and advances to Saturday's 1:30 p.m. Pod A championship game at 1:30 p.m. where they will face Westminster once again after the Blue Jays staved off elimination with its 3-2 elimination round game win over fifth-seeded Greenville Friday evening at CarShield Field in O'Fallon, Mo. Westminster fell to 18-20 with the loss.
The winner of Saturday's Pod A championship will meet the winner of the Pod B final that will match No. 2 seeded Spalding meeting No. 3 seeded Fontbonne on Saturday morning at 10 a.m. at CarShield Field in the best-of-three SLIAC Championship series next weekend to determine the league's postseason champion. Since Webster is undefeated in the double elimination tournament, they must need to be defeated twice on Saturday to not advance to the championship series.
Against Westminster, Webster recorded 17 hits and scored nine runs, including five runs in the fifth inning to extend its win streak seven straight games.
In the win, three Gorloks had three hit games against the Blue Jays as freshman leftfielder
R.J. LaRocco (San Diego, Calif./Point Loma) went 3-for-5 with three runs scored, while fourth-year junior All-American shortstop
Ben Swords (Freeport, Ill./Freeport) went 3-for-4 with 4 RBI and third-year sophomore catcher
Zach Goodman (Greenwood Village, Colo./Arapahoe) was 3-for-3 with two runs scored. In addition to the three players that had three hits, three other Gorloks - fourth-year junior rightfielder
Adam Lovell (Lafayette, Ind./St. Joseph's College), second-year freshman designated hitter
Landon Vahle (Lee's Summit, Mo./St. Michael Archangel) and fifth-year senior centerfielder
Aron Hopp (Lincoln, Ill./Lincoln College) each had two hits in the win.
The Gorloks jumped in front 2-0 in the bottom of the first on a 2-run double to center by Swords off of Westminster starting pitcher Chase Holder.
Webster's lead grew to 3-0 in the bottom of the second as they used a walk, a single by Vahle, a wild pitch and sacrifice fly off the bat of Lovell to score Goodman with the third run.
The three runs would be more than enough for fifth-year senior
Matt Mulhearn (Chicago Heights, Ill./Marian Catholic) as he pitched six shutout innings to improve his record to 10-1 on the season. The SLIAC Pitcher of the Year allowed four hits and no runs, while striking out 10 and walking none. The 10 strikeout performance helped Mulhearn set a new single season record for strikeouts with 117. He bettered the old single season mark of 115 strikeouts set by current Tampa Bay Ray pitcher Josh Fleming during his NCAA Division III Pitcher of the Year campaign in 2017. Mulhearn has now had double-digit strikeouts in four consecutive starts and seven times overall on the year.
Webster added a fourth run in the bottom of the third inning on an RBI triple off the bat of fifth-year senior second baseman
A.J. Smith (DuQuoin, Ill./DuQuoin).
The Gorloks put the game away in the bottom of the fifth as they used six hits to plate five runs and push its lead to 9-0. In the inning, LaRocco led off with a single, scored on an RBI double by fifth-year senior All-American first baseman
Kyler Kent (Pottsboro, Texas/Pottsboro) and Kent would score when Swords drilled a pitch by Holder over the fence for his first home run of the season. Vahle would bring home a run on his RBI single to center and Hopp followed with an RBI single to right.
Westminster, who is coached by former Gorlok player and assistant coach Zach Bishop, prevented a shutout by the Gorloks as they used three hits and a Webster error to plate two runs off of junior pitcher
Bobby Strandt (Frisco, Texas/University of Arkansas) and drop Webster's lead to 9-2. Strandt replaced Mulhearn on the mound to open the inning. The big hits in the inning was an RBI double by Parker Schneiders and an RBI single by Bryce McKinney.
In the bottom of the seventh, the Gorloks used three singles to load the base with two outs, but Jayme Bertsch got out of the jam by striking out LaRocco to end the inning.
Westminster would finish the game with nine hits as Derek Shikles and Schneiders each had two hits for the Blue Jays.
Holder (1-5) took the loss for the Blue Jays as he pitched 4.2 innings and allowed 13 hits and nine runs (nine earned), while walking two and striking out none.
The Gorloks committed two errors in the game and both teams combined to leave eight runners on base each.
