The 8th ranked Webster University baseball team started the 2014 season in fine fashion, defeating Aurora University, 9-1, in Auburndale, FL, on March 8. Dylan Dean Smith (SR, Albion, IL/Edwards County HS) got the start and went seven strong innings in the Gorloks' win.
Smith, who went 4-2 in 2013 after missing the 2012 season with an injury, went seven innings, allowing just four hits and a walk, one earned run, and striking out four. Smith was 4-0 as a freshman in 2011.
Webster got on the board quick to start the game, as Corey Lasky (SR, Vernon Hills, IL/Adlai E Stevenson HS) tripled to lead off. He scored on a Taylor Stoulp (SR, St. Louis, MO/St. Mary's HS) single with one out to give the Gorloks a 1-0 lead.
The Gorloks broke the game open with a five-run fifth. Catcher Ian Foege (SR, Eureka, MO/Eureka HS) doubled, freshman Matt Wollnik (Naperville, IL/Neuqua Valley HS) singled, and Lasky singled, scoring Foege. After a Lasky steal of second and a Charlie Gandolfi (JR, Mundelein, IL/Mundelein HS) walk to load the bases, Stoulp walked in Wollnik.
Jeff Kammer (JR, Chesterfield, MO/Jefferson College) hit a sac fly, scoring Lasky. With two down, Jared Turner (SR, Springfield, IL/Chatham Glenwood HS) walked, loading the bases up again. After an Aurora pitching change, Kevin Kojs (SR, New Lenox, IL/Lincoln Way Central HS) singled Gandolfi and Stoulp in to make it 6-0.
Webster added three more in the seventh as Stoulp led off with a double, Kammer singled, and DH Joe Winckel (SR, Bonne Terre, MO/North County HS) singled in Stoulp. Kammer scored on a wild pitch, with Winckel moving to third. A Kojs sac fly plated Winckel for the Gorloks ninth run.
Senior pitcher Jack Bensinger, who sat out the 2013 season with an injury, came on in relief of Smith in the eighth and had a 1-2-3 inning. In the ninth, Bensinger loaded the bases with one down, but got out of the jam unscathed with a bouncer backer to the mound and a ground out to third to end the game. Bensinger was 3-0 in 2012 in his first season for the Gorloks.
Webster will play 10th ranked SUNY-Cortland State on March 9. Cortland is already off to a good start, going 5-1 in their first six spring games, including two wins over 13th ranked Salibury University (MD).