ST. LOUIS, Mo. – The Webster University baseball team was back in action yesterday when they traveled across town to take on the Fontbonne (Mo.) University Griffins for a SLIAC doubleheader. The Gorloks swept the doubleheader as they won the first game by a final score of 11-4 and the second game by a final score of 9-6 to improve to 18-16 on the season and 10-6 in conference play. With the sweep, Fontbonne drops to 13-23 on the season.
Webster got off to a great start in the first game of the day as they scored a run in the top of the first to take a 1-0 lead. The Griffins would answer with two runs in the bottom of the third, but solo homeruns from
Nathaniel Martinez (10) and
R.J. LaRocco (2) in the top of the fourth gave Webster a 3-2 advantage. They would push their 6-2 with three runs in the top of the fifth, but two runs from Fontbonne in the bottom of the frame would cut the lead to 6-4 heading into the sixth. The Gorloks would go on to score five more runs in the final innings and closed out the Griffins down the stretch to solidify the win.
Ryan Greifelt (3-3) was the starting pitcher for the Gorloks as he allowed nine hits and four earned runs while striking out four in 6.0 innings.
Caleb Zbrozek picked up the save as he allowed just one hit while striking out two in 3.0 scoreless innings.
Webster tallied 13 hits in the game.
Nathaniel Martinez led the way as he went 4-for-4 with three solo homeruns (12) and four runs scored.
Parker Murrow and
Zach Goodman also recorded multi-hit games as Murrow went 2-for-5 with a two-run homerun (5) and three RBI while Goodman went 2-for-3 with an RBI. Lastly,
R.J. LaRocco went 1-for-3 with a solo homerun while
James Theodore went 1-for-4 with an RBI.
The Gorloks carried over their momentum into the second game as they scored three runs in the first three innings, including solo homeruns from
Nathaniel Martinez (13) and
Evan Evola (5), to jump out to a 3-0 lead. The Griffins would tie the game with three runs in the bottom of the fourth, but five runs over the next three innings would put Webster up 8-3 in the game. The Griffins would cut the lead to 8-4 in the bottom of the seventh, but a second homerun from
Evan Evola (6) in the top of the eighth put the Gorloks up 9-4 late in the contest. Fontbonne would go on to score two more runs in the final innings but Webster was able to capture the final outs of the game to solidify the sweep.
Kevin Corcoran (4-4) was the starting pitcher in this one as he allowed seven hits and three earned runs while striking out four in 5.2 innings.
Caleb Zbrozek notched his second save of the day as he allowed nine hits and three earned runs while striking out one in the final 3.1 innings of the game.
Webster rallied for 16 hits in the contest.
Evan Evola led the way as he went 2-for-4 with two homeruns (6) and three RBI.
Zach Goodman,
Karl Peters, and
Nathaniel Martinez also had great games as Goodman went 2-for-5 with three RBI, Peters went 3-for-6 with two runs scored, and Martinez went 2-for-4 with a homerun (13) and two RBI. In addition,
Parker Murrow went 2-for-5 with a run scored,
R.J. LaRocco went 2-for-4 with a run scored, and
James Theodore went 1-for-6 with an RBI.
Webster returns to the diamond this afternoon when they host Transylvania (Ky.) University for a nonconference matchup. The game is set to start at 2 p.m. at Grizzles Ballpark in Sauget, Illinois.
