ALTON, Ill. – After getting rained out on Saturday, the Alton Regional continued play today as the second game of the day featured the Webster (Mo.) University Gorloks and the Bethel (Minn.) University Royals. The Royals defeated the Gorloks by a final score of 7-5 to advance to the championship game of the Alton Regional. With the loss, the Gorloks will face the College of Wooster (Ohio) Fighting Scots tonight in an elimination game.
The Royals finished the game with 14 hits and one error while the Gorloks recorded eight hits and three errors in the contest.
The Gorloks got off to a quick start in this one as Ben Swords hit a solo homerun in his first at-bat for the second straight game to give Webster a 1-0 lead. They added to their lead in the top of the second when Nathaniel Martinez hit a solo homerun to give Webster a 2-0 advantage.
The Royals offense came alive in the bottom of the third when they rallied for four runs in the inning to take a 4-2 advantage. They added to their lead in the bottom of the fourth on an RBI single from Matthew Carlson and held a 5-2 lead heading into the fifth.
Webster bounced back in the top of the sixth as they rallied for two runs, including an RBI single from Parker Wielt, to cut the Royals lead to 5-4. The Royals extended their lead back out to 6-4 on a solo homerun from Justin Winterfeldt in the bottom of the seventh, but a solo homerun from Parker Wielt in the top of the eighth cut the lead to 6-5 late in the game.
The Royals added an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth and closed out the Gorloks in the final inning of the game to solidify their spot in the Alton Regional Championship.
Ty Koehn (5-0) was the starting pitcher for the Royals in this one as he allowed seven hits and three earned runs while striking out four in 5.2 innings. Blake Williams pitched in relief as he allowed just one hit and one earned run in the final 3.1 innings of the game.
Justin Winterfeldt led the way at the plate for the Royals as he went 3-for-4 with two RBI and a solo homerun. Matthew Carlson also had a nice game as he went 2-for-5 with two RBI. In addition, Tommy Friesen went 1-for-4 with two RBI, Keenan Hodge went 2-for-4 with an RBI, and Nick Kulseth went 4-for-4 with two runs scored.
Jordan Smevoll (6-2) was the starting pitcher for Webster in this one as he allowed 12 hits and five earned runs while striking out three in 6.1 innings. Ben Kowalski pitched in relief as he allowed two hits in the final 1.2 innings of the game.
Parker Wielt led the way at the plate for Webster as he went 2-for-4 with a solo homerun and two RBI. In addition, Ben Swords went 2-for-4 with a solo homerun, and Nathaniel Martinez went 1-for-4 with a solo homerun.
The Royals will advance to the Alton Regional Championship tomorrow at 10:30 a.m. at Lloyd Hopkins Field in Alton, Illinois. They will face the winner of the final game of the day between the Webster (Mo.) University Gorloks and the College of Wooster (Ohio) Fighting Scots.