O'FALLON, Mo. - Webster University moved another step closer to a St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Baseball Tournament three-peat here Saturday afternoon as they used a complete game pitching performance from second-year freshman Jordan Smevoll (Dyer, Ind./Marian Catholic) and school record tying three doubles from fifth-year senior All-American first baseman Kyler Kent (Pottsboro, Texas/Pottsboro) in its 4-1 win over fourth-seeded Westminster College in the final of Pod 1 of the 2021 SLIAC Tournament at CarShield Field. 

With the victory, Webster improves to 33-6 on the season and now advances to next weekend's best-of-three SLIAC Championship series, which will be played at GCS Credit Union Ballpark in Sauget, Ill., against No. 2 seeded Spalding, who defeated third-seeded Fontbonne, 7-2, in Saturday's Pod 2 championship game. The championship series is scheduled to begin with a doubleheader on Friday, May 21 beginning at 5 p.m., with the third, if necessary game, scheduled for Saturday, May 22 at 6 p.m. The winner of the championship series will earn the SLIAC Tournament championship and the league's automatic bid into the 2021 NCAA Division III Baseball Tournament. 

The No. 2/No. 4 ranked Gorloks went 3-0 in their pod as they opened the tournament with a 5-2 win over eighth-seeded Eureka, before picking up a 9-2 win in Friday's winner's bracket against Westminster and then picking up another win over Westminster on Saturday in the Pod 1 final. 

Kent's three doubles were the most in a game by a Gorlok since Ben Dinter recorded three doubles against Ripon College on March 11, 2018. In addition, it is the 10th time in school history that a Gorloks has had three doubles in game. 

His first double in the bottom of the third put the Gorloks on the scoreboard as he drilled a Dawson Koch pitch deep to left center that allowed freshman left fielder R.J. LaRocco (San Diego, Calif./Point Loma) to score from first after reaching base on a hit by pitch for the 15th time this season with two outs. 

The Blue Jays, who ended its season with a 19-21 record after Saturday's loss, tied the game at 1-all in the top of the sixth against Smevoll. In the inning, Parker Schneiders led off with a double to left and after Smevoll struck out the next two hitters, Steven Diaz reached on a single to left center that allowed Schneiders to score and tie the game. The single by Schneiders snapped a streak to 14 consecutive batters retired by Smevoll after allowing a one-out single in the first to Derek Shikles. Shikles, though, would be retired when the next hitter, Payton Whitehead, grounded into a 5-4-3 double play. 

Webster would retake the lead in the bottom of the sixth as fourth-year junior All-American shortstop Ben Swords (Freeport, Ill./Freeport) was walked with one out by Koch, advanced to second on a stolen base and after fifth-year senior second baseman A.J. Smith (DuQuoin, Ill./DuQuoin) drew a walk from Bode Gebbink, fourth-year sophomore third baseman Mitch Daniels (Columbia, Ill./Columbia) drilled a Gebbink pitch over the wall in left center for a ground-ruled double that plated Swords with the go-ahead run.

In the bottom of the seventh, Webster would get some insurance runs for Smevoll as fourth-year junior rightfielder Adam Lovell (Lafayette, Ind./Saint Joseph's College) reached on a single up the middle, moved to second when LaRocco was hit by a pitch for the second time in the game and then Kent followed with an RBI double to right center that scored Lovell to give Webster a 3-1 lead. The next hitter, Swords, lifted a fly ball to deep center for a sacrifice fly that allowed LaRocco to score the fourth and final run of the game. Jacob Waeltermann would then proceed to load the bases on a bunt single by Smith and a walked issued to Daniels, before getting out of the jam by forcing third-year sophomore catcher Zach Goodman (Greenwood Village, Colo./Arapahoe) to pop out to second to end the inning. 

Smevoll would then allow only one more base runner over the final two innings as he walked Schneiders with one out, but would retire Schneiders on a double play and then retired the Blue Jays in order in the ninth to seal his eighth win of the season and Webster's place in the championship series. 

Smevoll (8-0) tossed his first career collegiate complete game and allowed just three hits and one run, while walking one and striking out six in his 123 pitch outing. The performance lowered Smevoll's season ERA to 1.37, which is second among the team's starting pitchers. For the game, Smevoll faced just two batters over the minimum. 

In addition to Kent's three doubles, Daniels also had two hits in the game as Webster finished with seven hits. Westminster had three hits in the game. 

Koch (4-5) took the loss for the Blue Jays as he pitched 5.1 innings and allowed three hits and two runs (two earned runs), while walking one and striking out four. 

The Gorloks also left nine runners on base and turned two double plays in the win. Westminster stranded one and hit four Gorloks with pitches.