Blake Strebler went 4-5 with four home runs in game two of a doubleheader against Spalding, including a grand slam, to hand the Golden Eagles their first loss. The four home runs in a single game is a new gameday record at Westminster.
The Blue Jays move to 13-10 overall and 8-4 in the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.
In game one, Westminster got on the board first with a solo home run from Nick Bohlmann to start the game. Brandon Beeler then added a single to center field to score Blake Strebler, making the score 2-0 after the first three outs.
The Golden Eagles answered in the second inning by adding three runs of their own to take the lead, but Westminster answered in the third. Ryan Clavin hit a double to right field to score Strebler again and advance Mason Price to third. Price then scored on a wild pitch to tie the game. Adam Mundle stepped up to the plate to score Clavin on a sacrifice fly and take the lead after three innings.
The next four innings were all Golden Eagles, adding four runs to end the game 7-5. Skyler Dickneite pitched all seven innings for the Blue Jays, giving up nine hits and five earned runs, striking out three.
In game two, the Westminster offense continued to stay strong. After Spalding scored on a fielder's choice in the first inning, Strebler hit his first home run of the game to tie the game at one run apiece.
The next inning, it was Will Stonecipher who drove in a run on a sacrifice fly to center field, scoring Zach Stiles, to go up 2-1.
In the third, Strebler stepped up to the plate to hit another home run, his second of the game, to put Westminster up 3-1.
The runs kept coming in the fourth with more RBI from Beeler and Mundle. The Golden Eagles answered by scoring two more runs in the top of the fifth to decrease the Westminster lead to 5-3, but Strebler and Clavin hit back-to-back homers in the fifth to answer.
Spalding tied the game in the sixth with three runs, making it a tie game at seven runs apiece.
In the eighth, Mundle was the first base-runner by reaching on a walk. Ryan Klimkiewicz singled through the right side on a successful pinch-hit to advance Mundle to second, and Bohlmann was hit by a pitch to load the bases for Strebler.
Strebler hit his fourth homerun of the game and his first grand slam this season to score four runs and give the Blue Jays the 11-7 lead with one inning to play. The home run was Strebler's fifth of the year and 17th RBI this season.
Spalding recovered one run in the ninth, but the Blue Jays took the win to hand Spalding their first conference loss of the season.
Ryan Clavin started for Westminster and pitched 5.1 innings, giving up seven runs on six hits. Andrew Boessen picked up the win to improve to 3-2 on the year, pitching 2.2 innings and giving up one run on three hits.
The Blue Jays travel to MacMurray Wednesday to continue conference play.
