Webster Miscues Costly as Gorloks Lose, 5-3, in Regional
The Webster University baseball team fell into the elimination
bracket of the Augustana/Central NCAA DIII Regional with a 5-3 loss
to host Augustana College on May 16 in Moline, Ill. The Gorloks
gave up four unearned runs while committing six errors in the
contest. Webster now faces a win or go home situation for the
remainder of the Regional.
In a match-up of Gorlok ace starter Steven Dooley vs. Augustana
freshman Chris Sauer, who had pitched only 17.2 innings in 2013,
Webster looked to have an edge on paper. Dooley did his part,
allowing six hits and one earned run in his six innings of
work.
But two unearned runs scored off Dooley after two Gorlok errors
with two outs in the sixth, and two more unearned runs on three
Webster errors in the eighth, proved to be its undoing.
After an Alex Kazmierski solo home run in the sixth, his second
home run in two days, Webster grabbed a short-lived 2-1 lead.
Kazmierski becomes just the second Webster player to hit two home
runs in a Regional, tying Victor Valdez, who had two in the 2010
Regional at Moline. The Vikings came back in the bottom of the
inning, scoring its first two unearned runs, to take a 3-2
lead.
Cody Stevenson reached on a fielder's choice in the top of the
seventh, stole second, and scored on a two-out single by Corey
Lasky to tie the game at 3-3. But then the ugly eighth came.
In the top half of the inning, with one out, Webster had Max
Morohashi at second and Kazmierski at third. Augustana looked to be
intentionally walking Mitchell Bonds to load the bases. Viking
pitcher Darwin Townsend unleashed a wild pitch over catcher Jim
Sandberg's head, as he stood to receive the pitch, which hit the
backstop and caromed back to him.
Sandberg threw to third base, just missing Kazmierski diving back
to the bag, but Viking third baseman Kyle Lenihan alertly spotted
Morohashi caught between the bases and fired to the second baseman,
who tagged him out. Bonds flew out to left to end the rally.
In the Augustana half of the eighth, Jason Gray came on in relief
of Brett Buchanan after
the lead-off runner reached on an infield error. Three more Gorlok
infield errors led to both Viking runs as they took a 5-3 lead.
Lasky was two for five, with a stolen base and an RBI. Kazmierski
was one for two, with a home run, RBI, run scored, a walk, and a
hit by pitch. Gray took the loss for Webster and is 2-1 on the
year.
Webster is 33-10 overall and will face the loser of the
Concordia-Chicago/Wartburg College game at 12:00 p.m. on May 17. A
win will keep the Gorloks alive and they would have a second game
on May 17 at 7:00 p.m.
Courtesy Webster University sports information