MOUNT PLEASANT, Iowa - Playing for the first time in nearly two weeks, Webster University Baseball moved closer to winning its 14th consecutive St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference regular season title here Sunday by sweeping a doubleheader against Iowa Wesleyan University at the Mapleleaf Athletic Complex. 

Webster opened the doubleheader with a 4-2 win behind a complete game pitching performance from fifth-year senior All-American Matt Mulhearn (Chicago Heights, Ill./Marian Catholic) and then exploded for 16 hits in a 15-0 win called after seven innings due to the 10-run mercy rule in the nightcap.

With the two wins, Webster improves to 28-6 overall and 23-3 in the SLIAC and can clinch the regular season title outright on Monday with two more wins as the No. 3/No. 5 Gorloks conclude the Iowa Wesleyan series with another doubleheader beginning at 12 p.m. With a split, the Gorloks will earn a share of the regular season title with Spalding, who is 24-4 in the league, but Webster will earn the No. 1 seed in this coming week's SLIAC Tournament as the Gorloks took three of four games from the Golden Eagles during their regular season series in last March at GCS Credit Union Ballpark in Sauget, Ill.  

In the opener, Mulhearn established a new school and SLIAC record career wins as he won his 31st career game on the mound and bettered the old school and league mark of 30 career wins, which was held by former Gorlok Isaac Behme, who won 30 games with the Gorloks from 2012-15. Mulhearn is improved to 9-1 this season with the win and is now 31-8 in his five year career as a Gorlok.

Along with improving to 9-1 on the season, Mulhearn also tossed his fourth complete game of the season and lowered his season ERA to 0.83 as he allowed five hits and two unearned runs, while walking one and striking out 13 against the Tigers. The 13 strikeouts, which pushed his career total to 321, marked the third consecutive and sixth time this season that Mulhearn has recorded double-digit strikeouts in a start. 

Webster would jump in front 1-0 in the top of the sixth inning as fourth-year junior rightfielder Adam Lovell (Lafayette, Ind./Saint Joseph's College) led off the frame with a single to center, stole second, advanced to third on fly out to right by freshman left fielder R.J. LaRocco (San Diego, Calif./Point Loma) and scored on an RBI single to right off the bat of fifth-year senior All-American first baseman Kyler Kent (Pottsboro, Texas/Pottsboro). 

IWU would take a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the sixth as they plated two unearned runs against Mulhearn thanks to two hits, a sacrfiice fly and an error by fourth-year junior All-American shortstop Ben Swords (Freeport, Ill./Freeport). Swords was playing at short for fourth-year junior Matt Staker (El Cajon, Calif./Saint Augustine), who suffered a hand injury in Webster's last series against Fontbonne and is expected to miss the remainder of the 2021 season. While Swords, who normally plays third base, moved to short, fourth-year sophomore Mitch Daniels (Columbia, Ill./Columbia) moved from second to third base. 

Trailing 2-1, the Gorloks retook the lead in top of the seventh thanks to an RBI single by fifth-year senior centerfielder Aron Hopp (Lincoln, Ill./Lincoln College) and a sacrifice fly off the bat of Kent against IWU reliever Stephen Larson. 

Webster gave Mulhearn an insurance run in the ninth as Lovell reached on a one-out single to center, stole second, advanced to third when LaRocco flew out to right and scored on a passed ball by IWU catcher Erik Kiewiet to give Webster a 4-2 lead. 

In the bottom of the ninth, Mulhearn two runners on base thanks to back-to-back singles and those two runners would eventually make it to second and third with two outs, but Mulhearn stopped the threat and ended the game by striking out Jack de Burg. 

The Gorloks recorded 10 hits in the opener as Lovell went 3-for-5 with two runs scored and had two stolen bases, while Swords and Daniels each had two hits. 

Dominic Gerace had two of IWU's five hits in the first game. 

Larson (0-1), who was pitching in relief of starting pitcher Joe Morrison, took the loss for the Tigers as he tossed three innings and allowed five hits and three runs, while walking one and striking out two. Morrison pitched the first six innings and allowed five hits and one run, while walking one and striking out five. 

Meanwhile, in the nightcap, Webster had four players record at least two hits, with Kent going 3-for-5 at the plate with three runs scored and 2 RBI. In addition to recording 16 hits, six of those hits went for extra bases as Webster had five doubles and Swords had a triple. The other players with at least two hits were Lovell, Swords and fifth-year senior second baseman A.J. Smith (DuQuoin, Ill./DuQuoin).

In addition to having 16 hits and scoring 15 runs, including tallying six runs in the third and seven runs in the sixth inning, the Gorloks also got strong starting pitching from second-year freshman Jordan Smevoll (Dyer, Ind./Marian Catholic), who pitched five innings and allowed two hits and no runs, while striking out four and walking none to move to 7-0 on the season.

The Gorloks got on the scoreboard in the top of the first inning as Lovell opened the game with a single to left and would score on a one-out RBI single to right by Kent and Kent would score later in the inning as Swords was caught trying to steal second and on the play, Kent scored from third to give the Gorloks a 2-0 lead. 

Webster's lead grew to 8-0 in the top of the third inning as they recorded four hits and used an IWU error to plate six runs. In the inning, LaRocco opened with a double to center, moved to third on a wild pitch and scored on an RBI double by Kent. Kent would score when the next hitter, Swords, drilled a triple to center for the second run of the inning. Swords would then score the third run on a passed ball and third-year sophomore catcher Zach Goodman (Greenwood Village, Colo./Arapahoe) would bring home on a run on a sacrifice bunt. Hopp brought home the fifth run of the inning on an RBI single to right and he would score when Lovell reached on a fielding error by IWU first baseman Nicholas Salas. 

The Gorloks would cap the scoring by sending 11 hitters to the plate and scoring seven runs on hits and a Tigers error. Four of the seven runs came home on 2-run doubles by Smith and freshman pinch hitter Levi Hall (Oceanside, Calif./El Camino) in the inning. Hall has recorded 11 RBI in 16 games and 31 at-bats this season and is one of 10 Gorloks with double-digit RBI. 

Sophomore Devan Shulstad (Tampa, Fla./Harris-Stowe State) would pitch a scoreless sixth as he struck out two of the three hitters he faced, while freshman pitcher Joel Arsenault (Centennial, Colo./Arapahoe) retired all three batters he faced in the bottom of the seventh to seal the win. 

Luis Ayesa (2-4) took the loss for IWU as he pitched two-plus innings and allowed six hits and six runs, while walking two and striking out four. 

de Burgh and Kiewiet recorded the Tigers' lone two hits in the nightcap. 

Webster left seven runners on base, while IWU stranded two and committed two errors. 

The two teams will conclude the 2021 regular season with another doubleheader beginning at 12 p.m. on Monday, May 10.