The #3 ranked Webster University baseball team won a doubleheader at Greenville College (IL), 9-5 and 11-7, running its winning streak to 16. The Gorlok bats rattled for 24 hits and 20 runs in the double dip.
In game one, Webster held a 1-0 lead when it tacked on four runs in the third inning, all with two out. Ryan Hall (SR, Chesterfield, MO/Eureka) singled, advanced on a passed ball, and scored on a Taylor Stoulp (SR, St. Louis, MO/St. Mary's HS) single.
Jeff Kammer (JR, Chesterfield, MO/Lafayette HS) singled, and a Joe Winckel (SR, Bonne Terre, MO/North County HS) single scored Stoulp. Charlie Gandolfi (JR, Mundelein, IL/Mundelein HS) reached on an E5 as Kammer scored. Kevin Kojs (SR, New Lenox, IL/Lincoln Way Central HS) singled to score Winckel and make it 5-0.
Webster added four more in the top of the sixth. Freshman Matt Wollnik (Naperville, IL/Neuqua Valley HS), Lasky, and Hall all singled, with Wollnik scoring. Stoulp bunted for a hit to load the bases. Winckel singled in Lasky and Hall. Gandolfi laid down a sacrifice squeeze to score Stoulp and Webster led, 9-1.
Isaac Behme (JR, Harrisburg, IL/Harrisburg HS) started and won his third game of the year. After allowing a single run in the fourth, Behme was touched for a double and home run in the sixth, then gave up a single and two walks before Mitch Stefani (SO, Aurora, IL/Waubonsie Valley HS) relieved. A pick off at second ended the rally.
Behme wound up going 5 2/3 innings, giving up five hits, four walks, and three runs. He struck out seven as he improved to 3-0.
A two-out error on the Gorloks contributed to a Panther rally against Stefani in the seventh. With two runners on and two runs in, Jason Gray (SR, St. Louis, MO/Eureka) was needed to put out the fire and needed just two pitches to coax a ground out to end the game, picking up his fifth save of the season.
The five saves by Gray match his 2013 total, which is the second highest single season total in Webster history. Steven Dooley holds the record with seven saves in 2012.
Winckel was 4-4, with three RBIs and a run scored. Hall was 3-3, with two runs scored, a double, and an RBI. Taylor Stoulp was 2-4, with two runs and an RBI.
In game two, Webster grabbed a 4-0 lead in the first. Lasky doubled and Hall was hit by a pitch. After a Taylor Stoulp sacrifice bunt, an error on a ball hit to third by Kammer scored Lasky. Winckel then doubled home Hall and Kammer. Max Morohashi (SO, Encino, CA/Campbell Hall) walked and stole second. Winckel scored on an error on the throw by the catcher.
Greenville scored single runs in the second and fourth to cut the lead to 4-2 but Webster got those two back in the fifth. Hall was hit by a pitch and Stoulp singled, with both moving up on a wild pitch. Kammer grounded out to score Hall, and Stoulp scored on a ground out by Winckel to make it 6-2.
Webster padded the lead with four more in the sixth. Kojs walked and catcher Zach Allam (SO, Bloomington, IN/Edgewood HS) singled. Wollnik singled, scoring Kojs and Lasky followed with a single to score Allam. With one out, Taylor Stoulp singled to load the bases, and Wollnik came home on a Kammer sacrifice fly. Lasky stole third, then swiped home as Stoulp was caught in a run down between first and second, making it 10-2.
Brett Buchanan (SR, Villa Park, IL/Willowbrook HS) took over in the seventh for C.J. Lee. The Panthers closed the gap with four runs, to 10-7, aided in part by errors on Hall and Buchanan. Freshman Matt Goro (Wildwood, MO/Lafayette HS) relieved Buchanan and got the last two outs after allowing a single.
Lasky tripled to start off the eighth and scored on a ground out by Hall to add an insurance run to make it 11-7 Gorloks. Goro threw the final 2 2/3 innings, allowing two hits and striking out one.
C.J. Lee got the start (FR, Aurora, IL/Waubonsie Valley HS) and went six innings, allowing six hits, three run, a walk, and striking out six. He improves to 3-0 on the season with the win.
Taylor Stoulp was 3-4, with a run, and was 5-8 on the afternoon. Winckel `was 1-4, with three RBIs and was 5-8 with six RBIs for the doubleheader. Kammer went 0-2 with three RBIs, and a run scored. Lasky was 5-10, with four runs and two stolen bases for the day.
With the series sweep of the Panthers, the Gorloks have a firm grasp on first place in the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference at 14-0. Webster is 22-3 overall on the season. The team travels to Normal, IL, on April 13, to take on the Illinois State University. The Redbirds, a member of the Missouri Valley Conference, are an NCAA I member.