A late night walk-off win over Spalding University in the elimination game of the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SLIAC) Tournament keeps the Westminster baseball team's hopes alive. The Westminster Blue Jays defeated Spalding in the elminiation game 6-5. They lost their first game of the tournament to Greenville College with a score of 10-7.
The Blue Jays will continue their trek in the tournament with another elimination game on Friday, May 8. They will face either Webster or Greenville at 3:00 p.m.
Spalding led off the elimination game with a run scored on an overthrow by the Blue Jays, but the Blue Jays knotted up the game in the second inning. Sophomore Connor Hager went to steal second, and while the Spalding Golden Eagles went to throw him out, senior Tim Chambliss came home. Spalding quickly took back the lead with a RBI triple and a sacrifice fly in the third inning.
In the bottom of the fourth the Blue Jays grabbed their first lead. Junior Tyler Branneky started off the inning with a single, followed by a double by Chambliss. The Golden Eagles walked freshman Nick Bohlmann to load up the bases with designated hitter Hager up next. Hager hit a two RBI single to the outfield, bringing in Chambliss and Branneky. Two plays later, junior A.C. Long reached on an overthrow and Hager went home to grab the lead, 4-3.
Leading off the sixth inning, the Golden Eagles hit a homerun over the center field fence. They then took 5-4 the lead in the eighth inning with a run scored on a balk.
The Blue Jays bounced back from the rough top of the inning and tied the game yet again with a Hager RBI double down the right field line to bring in Bohlmann. They held the Golden Eagles to three quick outs before heading to the bottom of the ninth inning.
Long was hit by a pitch to start the inning and freshman Blake Strebler came in to pinch run. Backes moved him over with a sacrifice bunt and freshman Adam Mundle brought him in with a RBI single to shortstop to win the game.
Hager went 4-4 from the plate with three RBI.
Junior pitcher Collin Brinker was credited with the win. He pitched the final inning and struck out two. Junior pitcher Will Miller pitched the first eight innings and struck out six.
In the first game of the tournament, the Blue Jays started with a bang. In the first inning they had three runs scored on four hits, but Greenville quickly tied up the game in the bottom of the inning with three runs scored of their own.
In the second inning, Greenville took the lead with an unearned run, but the Blue Jays took back the lead in the fourth inning. Chambliss went to steal third when the Greenville Panthers overthrew. Chambliss headed home while freshman Adam Mundle advanced to third, and Long then grounded out to third, bringing in Mundle.
The Blue Jays added another run in the sixth inning with a Long RBI single to right field to bring in Mundle again.
Greenville jumped back in the lead with a three-run homerun in the bottom of the sixth inning, 7-6. They added three more in the seventh and eighth innings to take a 10-6 lead.
In the top of the ninth, the Blue Jays brought in a run off a sacrifice fly by Bohlmann, but a double play ended the game before they were able to add any more runs.
Chambliss, Mundle and Long each had two hits.
Junior Deion Hughes pitched the first seven innings. He struck out seven. Brinker came in as relief and pitched the final inning. He struck out three.
