Webster Explodes for 11 Runs in NCAA Opener
Webster University opened up play here Friday morning in the NCAA Division III Baseball Tournament by posting an 11-2 win over fourth-seeded Bethany Lutheran in the first game of the Whitewater, Wis., Regional hosted by the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater and held at Prucha Field at James B. Miller Stadium.
With the victory, the top-seeded and 18th-ranked Gorloks extended its win streak to seven straight games and improved its record to 33-10 overall, while Bethany Lutheran fell to 23-17 on the year. The win advances Webster to a winner's bracket match-up on Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m. against No. 2 seed Wisconsin-Whitewater, who picked up a 9-2 win over No. 3 seeded North Central (Ill.) College in Friday's second game of the Whitewater Regional.
Friday's victory was keyed by an offense that collected 15 hits and scored 11 runs and was also aided by the strong starting pitching of junior Matt Mulhearn (Chicago Heights, Ill./Marian Catholic), who pitched seven innings and allowed five hits and two runs, while walking one and striking out eight in his 121 pitch outing to improve to 11-2 on the season.
The 11 wins this season by Mulhearn sets a new single-season record for pitching wins as he was tied on the list with both Isaac Behme and Steven Dooley, who each won 10 games in 2013. Mulhearn also won 10 games a season ago as a sophomore. Additionally, the eight strikeouts pushed his season total to 94, which is third on the school's single-season chart. Current Double-A Montgomery Biscuits pitcher Josh Fleming holds the single-season school record for strikeouts with 115 in 2017.
Webster's offense got things started in Friday's game by sending nine hitters to the plate and scoring five runs on six hits to take a 5-0 lead. The inning began with a single by junior All-American first baseman Kyler Kent (Pottsboro, Texas/Pottsboro) and after the Gorloks loaded the bases on a hit by pitch and a single by junior catcher Joe Swanson(Park Ridge, Ill./Maine West), sophomore shortstop Matt Staker (El Cajon, Calif./Saint Augustine) brought home two runs on his single to left. Senior second baseman Danny Strohm (St. Louis, Mo./Greenville University) followed with a sacrifice fly to right center to bring home the third run of the inning. The next two runs came home on RBI singles by junior centerfielder Aron Hopp (Lincoln, Ill./Lincoln College) and sophomore third baseman Ben Swords (Freeport, Ill./Freeport).
Swords led the Gorloks with three hits and 2 RBI, while Hopp, Kent, Swanson, Staker and senior right fielder Nate Tholl(Tinley Park, Ill./John A. Logan CC) each added two hits in the win, while Staker and Strohm each had 3 RBI.
BLC would record its first hit off of Mulhearn in the fourth inning on a single by Ross Beumer, which snapped a streak of six in a row retired by Mulhearn since he walked Brady Schuster to lead off the second.
In the fifth, the Vikings, who earned the automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament after winning the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference Tournament, would break up Mulhearn's bid for a shutout as they used three hits, two balks by Mulhearn and an error by Mulhearn on a failed pickoff attempt to plate two runs and drop WU's lead to 5-2. After striking out the first two batters in the order, Mulhearn allowed three straight singles, including an RBI single by Ben Boran with two on base. Following Boran's single, Mulhearn's balk put runners on second and third and on a failed pickoff attempt of Boran at second, allowed Grant Becher to score an unearned run from third. The next balk by Mulhearn put Boran on third, but Mulhearn would leave Boran on third after striking out Beumer to end the inning.
The Gorloks got those two runs back in the bottom of the sixth as they used three hits to plate two runs to push WU's lead to 7-2. In the inning, sophomore designated hitter Kellen Quigley (Bolingbrook, Ill./Bolingbrook) drove home a run on his single through the left side and later in the inning, Staker delivered an RBI single to left off of BLC starting pitcher Dallas McBroom.
McBroom (4-3) took the loss for the Vikings, who were playing in their third ever NCAA Tournament game, tossed six innings and allowed 11 hits and seven runs while walking one and fanning two.
Webster would plate two more runs in the seventh thanks to a 2-run single by Strohm off of BLC reliever Brandon Freitag, who relieved Beau Babcock after he walked Kent and Quigley in the inning and then committed a balk to put runners on second and third. Freitag then walked the first batter he faced, Staker, to load the bases, before Strohm's 2-run single. Freitag, though, would get out the inning by picking off Strohm at second.
In the eighth, sophomore Jake Anderson (Bolingbrook, Ill./Bolingbrook), who relieved Mulhearn on the mound, put two runners on base thanks to a walk and single with two outs, before forcing Conner Side to line out to short.
The Gorloks pushed its lead to 11-2 in the bottom of the eighth thanks to three hits and an error. In the inning, Hopp led off with an infield single, moved to third on a hit-and-run single by Tholl and then Swords followed with a sacrifice fly to score Hopp from third. With Smith at the plate, Tholl stole second, then stole third and would score after BLC catcher Nick Caldeen committed a throwing error on Tholl's steal of third. Smith would then get on base after being hit by a pitch and eventually reached third on a single by Kent, but those two runners were left stranded after Freitag forced sophomore pinch hitter Jake Knoebel (Plainfield, Ill./Plainfield East) to foul out and then induced Swanson to line out back to Freitag.
In the ninth, senior Jay Blake (Imperial, Mo./Mineral Area CC) relieved Anderson and also put two runners on base thanks to a walk and single, but he would retire the next two Vikings in order to seal the Gorloks win.
Every starter, but Smith, recorded a hit in the game for the Gorloks. In addition, every starter, but Strohm, scored a run in the game.
BLC finished with seven hits, including two hits from Becher.
STORY COURTESY OF WEBSTER UNIVERSITY SPORTS INFORMATION
