The Webster University baseball team fell into the elimination bracket of the Augustana/Central NCAA III Regional with a 5-3 loss to host Augustana College on May 16 in Moline, IL. 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 (SR, Oran HS, MO) 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 (SR, Triton College, IL) 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 (SR, Centralia HS, IL) reached on a fielder's choice in the top of the seventh, stole second, and scored on a two-out single by Corey Lasky (JR, College of Lake County, IL) 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 (FR, Campbell Hall, CA) at second and Kazmierski at third. Augustana looked to be intentionally walking Mitchell Bonds (SR, Kankakee CC, IL) 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 (JR, North Central CC, MO) came on in relief of Brett Buchanan (JR, Willowbrook HS, IL) 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 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.