O'FALLON, Mo. – The Spalding baseball team fell to Webster, 3-2, in today's opener, but downed Greeville, 9-3, to advance to the SLIAC championship. The Eagles will meet the Gorloks Saturday at 1:00 p.m. ET at Car Shield Field in O'Fallon, Mo. Spalding will need to win two games to dethrone the Gorloks to earn the SLIAC's automatic bid to the NCAA Regional.
 
Webster 3 – Spalding 2
What started out as a pitcher's duel between Webster University hurler Jordan Smevoll and Spalding University's Garrett Matthews turned into a 3-2 win for Webster, securing a spot into tomorrow's SLIAC championship game. There was just one hit combined through the game's first 4 1/2 innings with Spalding thrower Matthews sitting down the first 12 Gorlok batters he faced.
 
Evan Evola became the first Gorlok to reach base, drawing a lead-off walk in the bottom of the 5th inning. Two batters later it was Malik Wirges that picked up his team's first hit, ripping a two-run shot over the leftfield fence to put Webster up 2-0. The Gorloks added another run in the 6th when Ben Swords doubled in Adam Lovell. 
 
Smevoll meanwhile continued to flummox the Eagles lineup, going seven scoreless innings, and limiting SU to just one hit while striking out eight. Spalding put together a two-out threat in the 9th frame when Jacob Spanyer doubled home Michael Newsom to make it a 3-1 game and Hunter Strong followed with an RBI know of his own, but the Eagles rally fell short when Matt McDowell grounded out to end the game.
 
Spalding 9 – Greenville 3
The Eagles got on the board quickly when Michael Newsom scored on an RBI groundout in the first inning. Spalding opened the game with a five-run third inning. It was Newsom that again started things, reaching on a hit-by-pitch. Michael Speck tripled and after another hit-by-pitch and walk Matt McDowell singled home two runs. Another walk loaded the bases again and Ethan Tuttle cleared the bases with a double for a 6-0 Spalding lead.
 
Greenville got on the board in the fourth when Mark Islas singled home Trent Morgenstern and added runs in the sixth and eighth innings. However, the Eagles responded with runs of their own in the bottom half of each of those innings and carried a 9-3 lead into the final inning. Wesley Clark worked 5 2/3 innings and allowed two runs and just three hits while striking out five to pick up the win.