SAUGET, Ill . - Webster University continued its domination of the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Baseball Tournament here Friday evening as the top-seeded and No. 2 ranked Gorloks took home its third straight and 11th all-time tournament championship following its 13-3 win over No. 2 seeded Spalding University in the second game of the championship series of the 2021 SLIAC Tournament at GCS Credit Union Ballpark. 

With the victory, Webster extends its win streak to 10 consecutive games and improves its record to 35-6 overall on the season and earns the league's automatic bid into the 2021 NCAA Division III Baseball Tournament. The NCAA will unveil the 48-team field for this tournament late Sunday evening online at www.NCAA.com. Spalding drops its record to 29-15 in what in all likelihood was its final game of the 2021 season.

Friday's 13-3 win in the second game of the championship series followed the Gorloks hard-fought 4-3 come-from-behind victory in the first game of the championship series against the Golden Eagles that was also held on Friday. The first game began at 5 p.m., and was completed around 7:30 p.m.

In the second game of the championship series, Webster's offense scored runs in five of the eight innings it batted, including scoring four runs in both the second and fourth inning and tallied three runs in the sixth inning. In addition, the Gorloks finished with 13 hits in the second game, including a 4-for-5 effort at the plate from third-year sophomore catcher Zach Goodman (Greenwood Village, Colo./Arapahoe). 

Along with scoring 13 runs on 13 hits, the Gorloks also got another outstanding starting pitching performance from second-year freshman Jordan Smevoll (Dyer, Ind./Marian Catholic) as the 6-foot-1 southpaw won his second game in the tournament as he pitched six innings and allowed seven hits and two runs, while striking out seven and walking none. For his efforts, Smevoll (9-0) was named the SLIAC Tournament MVP as he went 2-0 with a 1.80 ERA in the tournament. He tossed 15 innings and allowed 10 hits and three runs, while striking out 13 and walking just one. 

Smevoll got all the offense he needed from fourth-year junior All-American shortstop Ben Swords (Freeport, Ill./Freeport) in the fourth inning as he drilled a 2-2 pitch from Spalding reliever Clay Burton over the wall in left field for a grand slam to give the Gorloks an insurmountable 9-2 lead. The homer was the second of the year for Swords, who also named to the All-Tournament Team after hitting a team-best .467 in five tournament games as he had seven hits, scored six runs, hit two doubles, two home runs and had 11 RBI for a 1.000 slugging percentage. 

In addition to Goodman's four hits, fourth-year junior rightfielder Adam Lovell (Lafayette, Ind./Saint Joseph's College) had three hits and scored two runs, while second-year freshman designated hitter Landon Vahle (Lee's Summit, Mo./St. Michael Archangel) added two hits.

The Gorloks got the scoring started in the bottom of the first of the second game as Lovell led off with a single, moved to second when Swords was hit by a pitch from Spalding starter Caleb Collins and would score on an RBI single up the middle off the bat of fifth-year senior second baseman A.J. Smith (DuQuoin, Ill./DuQuoin). 

Spalding, though, would get that run back in the top of the second thanks to two doubles and a single with the second double from Mitchell Langley driving home the Golden Eagles' first run.

Webster, though, would plate four runs on two hits and two errors by the Golden Eagles in the bottom of the second to take a 5-1 lead. 

The Golden Eagles used a hit by pitch, an infield single by Eric Meyer and an RBI single by Michael Speck in the top of the third to drop Webster's lead to 5-2. 

Swords' grand slam in the fourth put the game out of reach as the slam made the score 9-2 in Webster's favor. 

In the fifth, the Gorloks added another run on an RBI single by Vahle that plated Goodman, who had opened the inning with a double. 

Goodman would give the Gorloks a 13-2 lead in the bottom of the sixth as he connected for a three-run homer over the fence in right off of Spalding's Peyton Hood, who relieved Burton in the fifth inning. 

The Golden Eagles would complete the scoring in the eighth as they used two walks issued by junior reliever Bobby Strandt (Frisco, Texas/University of Arkansas) to plate a run on a double play grounder by Zane Baker. 

In the ninth, fourth-year junior Sean Beaver (San Diego, Calif./Scripps Ranch), who was the seventh pitcher of the night for the Gorloks, would force Meyer to hit back to the mound to end the game and set off a celebration on the field for the Gorloks. 

Along with Smevoll and Swords, Webster fifth-year senior All-American first baseman Kyler Kent (Pottsboro, Texas/Pottsboro) was also named to the All-Tournament Team.

Speck led the way offensively for Spalding in the second game as he had three hits, while Langley, Meyer and Baker each had two hits as Spalding finished with nine hits for the game. 

Collins (7-2) took the loss for Spalding as he pitched 3.1 innings and allowed seven hits and eight runs (five earned), while walking one and striking out none. The Golden Eagles committed three errors in the game that led to four unearned runs for the Gorloks. 

Both teams left a combined 16 runners on base as Spalding stranded nine and Webster left seven. 

The other members of the All-Tournament Team were Spalding's Langley, Spalding's Evan Trentman, Spalding's Jack Parisi, Fontbonne's Braeden Dobbs, Fontbonne's Ryan Howell, Westminster's Andrew Boessen and Westminster's Trent Morrow.