The Webster University baseball team advanced in the winner's bracket of the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tournament, with a 7-3 win over Spalding University (KY) on May 7 in Greenville, IL. 

Webster, the #1 seed in the West Division, will face host Greenville College, the #1 seed in the East Division, in a 12:00 p.m. game on May 8.  Greenville advanced with a 10-7 win over Westminster College.

The potent Gorlok offense got a lot of help from the Golden Eagle defense, which made seven errors in the contest.  Webster banged out 11 hits, including two doubles and a home run, and got a serviceable start from pitcher Josh Fleming, who picked up his seventh win of the season, tops on the Gorlok staff.

Fleming (Columbia, IL/Columbia HS) went 7 1/3 innings, giving up three runs on nine hits and a walk, while striking out four.  Fleming was named the SLIAC Baseball Newcomer of the Year and First Team All-Conference before the start of the contest in the All-Star Sports Award Ceremony.  Fleming is now 7-2 on the year with the win.

Webster built up a 5-0 lead after three innings.  In the first, Max Fecske (SO, North Hollywood, CA/Notre Dame HS) reached on an error.  Kyle Uhrich (SO, St. Louis, MO/Webster Groves HS) singled, and Jeff Kammer (SR, Chesterfield, MO/Lafayette HS) singled Fecske home.

The Gorloks picked up another run in the second when Adam Naliwajko (SO, Mt. Prospect, IL/St. Viator HS) reached  on a two-base error.  Matt Wollnik (SO, Naperville, IL/Neuqua Valley HS) bunted him over and Naliwajko scored on a Charlie Gandolfi (SR, Mundelein, IL/Mundelein HS) bunt.

A three-run Webster third broke it open.  Blake Thomas (JR, Troy, IL/Triad HS) singled and Kammer doubled him home.  Kammer stole third and scored on a bunt by Dylan Rajkovich (JR, Orland Park, IL/Carl Sandburg HS).  After a Naliwajko walk, Wollnik drove him in with a double to give Webster a 5-0 lead.

In the seventh, Fleming gave up a double and home run to cut Webster's lead to 5-2 but the Gorloks answered with a long ball of their own in the bottom half.   After Thomas was hit by a pitch to lead off, Uhrich followed with his 16th home run of the year to pad the Webster lead to five again, 7-2.

With 16 home runs, Uhrich tied the Webster single season record, held by Victor Valdez, who hit 16 round-trippers also in 2010.  Uhrich is second nationally in the NCAA III in home runs.
 
After Fleming got into a jam in the eighth, Dylan Dean Smith (SR, Albion, IL/Edwards County HS) came on to record the final two outs and pitched a scoreless ninth.  Smith went an inning and a third, gave up one hit and struck out two.

Uhrich was 2-5 with a home run, two RBIs and a run scored.  Kammer was 2-5 with a double, two RBIs and a run scored.  Wollnik went 2-4 with a double and an RBI, and Thomas and Naliwajko were each 1-3 with two runs scored.

With a win over Greenville on the 8th, Webster would advance to the championship game on May 9.  A loss would drop them into the loser's bracket for an 8:00 p.m. game vs. the winner of the Spalding/Westminster fourth place contest.

The #22 ranked Gorloks improved to 30-11 on the season with the win.  This is the sixth straight season Webster has won 30 or more games.  The Gorloks are gunning for their sixth straight tournament championship.