EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. – A
Quenton Brownlee walkoff single pushed the Golden Eagle Nine past Westminster, 3-2, in the opening round of the SLIAC tournament. With the win, Spalding improves to 30-10 marking the second straight 30-win season for the Golden Eagles. Spalding now moves into the winner's bracket where they will take on the Webster Gorloks, the #1 seed from the west division, who defeated Greenville, 11-1, in their opening round game.
THE BASICS
SCORES: Spalding 3 – Westminster 2
LOCATION: Roy E. Lee Field | Edwardsville, Ill.
RECORDS: Spalding 30-10 | Westminster 17-14
HIGHLIGHTS
After a scoreless first 2.5 innings, the Golden Eagles struck first, plating a pair of runs in the bottom of the third inning. With bases loaded,
Cody Milliner lifted a ball into center field, and
Evan Trentman tagged and came home. The Westminster pitcher cutoff the throw from center and attempted to throw out
Eric Meyer at second, but the throw missed its mark going into left center, Meyer took off, rounded third and raced home to put SU in front, 2-0. The Blue Jays evened it up with a pair of runs in the top of the sixth. The game remained tied heading into the ninth. Senior reliever
Lane Staples and the Golden Eagles defense forced the Blue Jays to go three-up, three-down sending the game into the ninth tied, 2-2.
Jason Ochoa led off with a single to right and moved to second on a
Zane Baker sacrifice bunt.
Garrett Wilson then reached on an error and the Blue Jays elected to intentionally walk Meyer loading the bases for Brownlee. The senior wasted no time, lining the first pitch into left field bringing Ochoa across the plate for the game-winning run.
NOTABLE STATS
Staples (6-1) earned the win holding the Blue Jays hitless in the ninth. Starter,
Dillon Sievert, pitched a solid game holding the Blue Jays to two runs, on six hits, while striking out eight batters and walking two.
Evan Trentman led SU at the plate going 2-for-5 and scored a run. Brownlee, Johnson, Meyer and Spalding each finished with one hit each, while Brownlee and Milliner each had a RBI.
UP NEXT
The Eagles take on Webster in the winner's bracket game tonight at approximately 7:00 pm ET in Greenville, Ill.
