ST. LOUIS, Mo. – The 10^th ranked Webster University baseball team was back in action this evening when they played host to the Greenville (Ill.) University Panthers for the first game of a three-game SLIAC series. The Gorlok defeated the Panthers by a final score of 11-5 to improve to 28-5 on the season and 13-2 in the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. With the loss, the Panthers fall to 15-20 on the season and 7-9 in the conference.

The Gorloks put together 11 hits to notch their 18^th straight win. The Gorloks got on the board first in the bottom of the first when they scored on a sacrifice fly from Evan Evola to go up 1-0 in the game. The Panthers answered with a four-run rally in the top of the second, but a solo homerun from Nathaniel Martinez (2) and a two-run homerun from Matt Staker (2) in the bottom half of the inning tied the score at four. Webster added four more runs in the bottom of the third on a grand slam from Malik Wirges (4) and held an 8-4 advantage through four innings of play. The Panthers scored one final run in the top of the fifth, but three runs from Webster in the bottom half of the inning solidified the win.

Carter Hunt (5-0) was the starting pitcher in this one as he allowed eight hits and five earned runs while striking out two in 5.0 innings. Cooper Hake pitched in relief as he did not allow a hit while striking out one in the final 4.0 innings of the game.

Malik Wirges led the way at the plate as he went 1-for-2 with a grand slam and three runs scored. In addition, Matt Staker went 2-for-4 with three RBI and Nathaniel Martinez went 1-for-2 with an RBI while Aron Hopp and Evan Evola each added an RBI.

The Gorloks will return to the diamond on Saturday, April 30^th when they host the Greenville (Ill.) University Panthers for the final two games of the three-game set. The doubleheader is set to start at 11 a.m. at GCS Credit Union Ballpark in Sauget, Illinois.