PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. – This afternoon the #8 Webster University baseball team was back in action when they traveled to Port Charlotte, Florida, to compete in the 2022 Snowbird Classic. The Gorloks split their doubleheader on the day as they fell to the #2 Marietta (Ohio) College Pioneers by a final score of 3-1 and then bounced back to defeat the #4 North Central (Ill.) College Cardinals by a final score of 5-0 to improve to 6-2 on the season.
The Gorloks put together six hits in their first game of the day. Marietta got on the board first in this one as they scored a run in the bottom of the first to take an early 1-0 lead. Webster bounced back and tied the score in the top of the fourth on an RBI single from
Nathaniel Martinez, but a run from the Pioneers in the bottom of the frame gave them a 2-1 lead midway through the contest. They scored an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth and picked up the final outs of the game to solidify the win.
Jordan Smevoll (1-1) was the starting pitcher in this one as he allowed eight hits and two earned runs while striking out five in 7.0 innings.
Ben Kowalski came in to relieve Smevoll as he allowed two hits and one earned run in 1.0 inning.
Nathaniel Martinez led the way offensively as he went 1-for-3 with an RBI. In addition,
Ben Swords went 1-for-2 with a run scored while
R.J. LaRocco,
A.J. Smith,
Parker Wielt, and
Adam Lovell all added hits.
Webster put together five hits in their second game of the day. They got on the board in the bottom of the first when
Adam Lovell scored on a Park Wielt RBI single to give Webster a 1-0 lead. They added two runs in the bottom of the fourth and held a 3-0 advantage midway through the game. They scored two more runs in the bottom of the eighth and picked up the final outs of the game to split the doubleheader.
Alek Elges (2-1) was the starting pitcher in the second game and did not allow a hit until the fifth inning of the contest. He allowed just five hits while striking out four in 8.1 innings.
Cooper Hake came in to relieve Elges in the ninth and was able to pick up the final outs of the game to solidify the shutout.
Evan Evola led the way at the plate as he finished with two RBI in the game.
Ben Swords went 1-for-3 with two runs scored,
Parker Wielt went 1-for-3 with an RBI and a run scored,
Mitch Daniels went 1-for-3 with an RBI, and
Zach Goodman went 1-for-3 with an RBI to round out the top performers for Webster.
The Gorloks are back in action on Monday, March 14
th when they travel to Auburndale, Florida, to take on the #19 University of Southern Maine Huskies. The game is set to start at 1:45 p.m. EST at Lake Myrtle Complex Field 7.
