aMEMPHIS, Tenn. – The Webster University baseball team kicked off their season this morning when they traveled to Memphis, Tennessee, to take on the North Central (Ill.) College Cardinals for a nonconference matchup. The Gorloks defeated the Cardinals by a final score of 7-6 to improve to 1-0 on the season. With the loss, North Central drops to 0-1 on the year.

The Gorloks got on the board first in this one as R.J. LaRocco hit a sacrifice fly to score Karl Peters in the bottom of the first to give Webster a 1-0 lead. Webster would add three more runs in the bottom of the third and held a 4-0 advantage heading into the fourth. The Cardinals would bounce back in the top of the fourth and cut the Gorloks lead in half with two runs in the inning to make the score 4-2. Karl Peters would extend Webster's lead back out to three with an RBI double in the bottom of the fourth, but two runs from the Cardinals over the next three innigns would put Webster ahead by just one late in the game. Zach Goodman would add to the Gorloks lead in the bottom of the eighth as he hit a two-run homerun to give the Gorloks a 7-4 advantage heading into the final frame. North Central would cut the lead to one in the top of the ninth, but the Gorloks were able to pick up the final outs of the game to solidify the win.

Jordan Smevoll was the starting pitcher for Webster in this one as he allowed four hits and two earned runs while striking out three in 3.1 innings. Joel Arsenault (1-0) pitched the next 2.2 innings for Webster as he allowed two hits and an earned run while striking out two. Caleb Zbrozek, Ethan Luzum, and Michael Ellis came in for the next 2.1 innings as the three combined to allow six hits and three earned runs while striking out three. Sebastian Barrera picked up the save for Webster as he recorded the final two outs of the game.

Webster rallied for nine hits in the contest. Karl Peters had a great debut for the Gorloks as he went 4-for-5 with two runs scored and an RBI. Zach Goodman also had a good game as he went 1-for-3 with a two-run homerun and two runs scored. In addition, James Theodore, R.J. LaRocco, and Parker Murrow all recorded a RBI for the Gorloks.

The Gorloks will return to the diamond tomorrow, February 24^th when they take on the Franklin (Ind.) College Grizzlies for a nonconference matchup. The game is set to start at 10:30 a.m. in Memphis at Rhodes (Tenn.) College.