Webster into Championship Game, Westminster Eliminated in Day One

Webster University advanced to the 2019 SLIAC Baseball Championship game with two wins while Westminster College was eliminated on day one of the tournament. Greenville University and Spalding University each went 1-1 and will play in Saturday's first game to decide Webster's opponent. Saturday's games will begin at 4 p.m. with Greenville facing Spalding and will conclude with the winner facing Webster at 7 p.m.

Game 1 - Spalding 3, Westminster 2

Summary: Spalding took advantage of Westminster miscues in the tournament's opening game. Spalding got on the board in the 3rd inning when Quenton Brownlee scored on a sacrifice fly by Cody Milliner. But the play would not be over as an errant throw to get another runner at second base went into centerfield and allowed Eric Meyer to race to the plate for a 2-0 Spalding lead. After getting two hits in their first two at-bats Westminster only had one base runner, a walk, in their next 15 at-bats. However, Zach Eisenreich led off the 6th with a triple and would score on an RBI ground out from Branden Beeler that put the Blue Jays on the board. Ryan Klimkiewicz singled in Hayden Hirshvogel to draw the game even four batters later.  But it would be miscues that would cost Westminster. Jason Ochoa led the bottom of the 9th inning off with a single for Spalding and would move to second on a sacrifice bunt. An error allowed Ochoa to get to third and after a walk to load the bases to set up a double play chance, Brownlee would deliver the walk-off single, giving Spalding the 3-2 win.

Game 2 - Webster 11, Greenville 1

Summary: Webster wasted no time in taking control of their game against Greenville, plating 5 runs on six hits in the 2nd inning. The Gorloks opened the inning with three straight hits including back-to-back RBI hits by Kellen Quigley and Joe Swanson. Nate Tholl added an RBI single later in the inning while Ben Swords ripped a two-run single that gave the Gorloks an early lead. Greenville cracked the scoreboard in the 4th on a Klaiton Wolff solo home run but Webster responded in the bottom frame with two more runs. Webster pushed their lead to 10-1 with a three-run 5th and tacked on an additional run in the 7th before closing out the game for an 11-1 win. Webster finished with 16 hits in the game, led by three hits each from Ben Swords and Joe Swanson.

Game 3 - Greenville 8, Westminster 2

Summary: Greenville knocked Westminster out of the double-elimination tournament with an 8-2 win in game three. Greenville tallied three runs in the bottom of the 1st inning, taking advantage of three Blue Jay errors. Three more runs crossed the plate for Greenville in the 4th inning when Wolff hit his second home run of the day, a three-run bomb to left field. Greenville pushed across two more in the 8th before Westminster was able to break the shutout with two runs in the top of the 9th for the final score of 8-2.

Game 4 - Webster 8, Spalding 1

Summary: Both teams threatened in the 1st inning but the game remained scoreless until the top of the 3rd inning when Webster got on the board with a four-run frame. Danny Strohm led the inning off with a double and three batters later Ben Swords would drive him in to start the scoring. A Kyler Kent single scored two more runs while Kellen Quigley laid down a perfect squeeze play that made the score 4-0 in favor of Webster. Cody Milliner started the bottom of the inning off with a single for Spalding and proceeded to swipe second base. Evan Trentman singled to drive in Milliner and cut the score to 4-1. A single from Eric Meyer and walk to Quenton Brownlee would load the bases and put the tying run on base. However, a fly out to left ended the Spalding threat and Webster grabbed ahold of the momentum. Webster added two more runs in the 4th to take a 6-1 lead and Gorlok pitcher Sean Beaver would then set down the next eight Golden Eagle batters. He would strike out five batters in a row through the late innings. 

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