Baseball splits tourney games on Friday; five honored as all-conference

Baseball splits tourney games on Friday; five honored as all-conference

GREENVILLE, Ill. - The baseball team fell to Webster in the first round of the SLIAC tournament on Friday at Robert E. Smith Field, but they rebounded for an 8-2 win over Westminster in an elimination game later in the afternoon.

In GU's opening game, the Panthers slipped behind Webster 5-0 after two innings, 7-1 after four, and 10-1 following the sixth.  The game ended with Greenville losing by an 11-1 final score.

Klaiton Wolff went 2-for-2 with a home run and two walks to provide nearly all of GU's offense.

Jonah Moore was tagged with the loss as he went five innings and permitted 10 runs, eight earned.

Upon completion of their game against Webster, the SLIAC announced its all-conference team.  Five members of the GU squad earned a selection to the all-conference team.

Greenville had four members of the second team - pitcher Moore, first baseman Sam Hodges, shortstop Ryan Taylor, and utility player Wolff.  Additionally, Adam Lamb was announced as the Panther representative on the all-sportsmanship team.

Game two against Westminster went the Panthers way from the beginning as GU took a 3-0 first inning lead and bumped the Blue Jays from the tourney.

The Panthers expanded the lead to 6-0 in the fourth and eventually 8-0 in the eighth before WC added two ninth inning runs.

Wolff had another big game with a 2-for-4 performance at the plate including his second round-tripper of the day.  He drove in three runs.

Sam Alender nearly posted the nine inning complete game shut out, but runners got on base in the ninth inning and scored twice.  He did not permit an earned run in 8.2 innings.  Austin Rexroad struck out the only batter he faced to end the game. 

The Panthers (23-16) face another elimination game on Saturday at 4 p.m. against Spalding.  The winner will play Webster at 7 p.m. for the championship.