3/29/2026 Fulton, MO– The Westminster Blue Jays, after nearly two months and 21 games on the road, played their long-awaited home opener this past weekend against the conference powerhouse Webster Gorloks. Webster entered the series on the back of a six-game win streak, the Jays on a four-game losing streak.
Game 1. L 5-10
Jack Page would take the mound for the first time at Saucier Field for the Jays. The sophomore righty entered this campaign fourth in SLIAC with 36 strikeouts. His outing did not start perfectly, though; a pair of walks in the first led to Webster taking a quick 2-0 lead. The Blue Jays showed some offense of their own as
Domenic Nordmann tripled in a run and later scored the tying run from a sacrifice fly. Webster's bats wouldn't quit, as they scored one in the fifth from a wild pitch, and two more in the sixth against Page, forcing the Blue Jays to go to the bullpen. That proved to make no difference; Webster scored two in the seventh and three in the eighth off
Dawson Willard and
Max Blackburn. The Jays mounted a rally in the bottom of the eighth, scoring three runs on RBIs from
Aden Pecka and
Domenic Nordmann, but it was not enough. The Jays lost their home opener 5-10.
Game 2. L 2-7
In the second game of the doubleheader, senior Derek Archer got the start, looking to silence the deadly Webster offense. Archer was great until he wasn't. Over the first four innings, the righty didn't give up a single run and struck out four. In the fifth inning, his dominance ended. A lead off homer put the Gorloks on the board, and Archer would give up a double and two singles, totaling three runs in the inning. Archer retired Webster in order in the next inning, but in the seventh, with a pitch count steadily increasing to triple digits, he would give up a three-run homer, putting the Jays behind by five. On the offensive side, the Jays' bats were silent, only managing two runs all game, one of them unearned. The Blue Jays lost this one, 2-7, and looked to avoid the sweep at home the following day.
Game 3. L 4-16
Looking to avoid the sweep, the Blue Jays turned to lefty Blake Althuisuis. Althuisuis gave the Jays 3.2 innings while allowing three runs, only one earned. His issue in this game was the six walks he allowed. Not only did two of those walks score, but it taxed his pitch count tremendously. This time, the Blue Jay bats had his back, scoring right away after Webster's first run with two of their own. Both runs came from some small ball: a fielder's choice and a groundout from
Troy Romero and
Aden Pecka, respectively. After another Webster run to tie it, the Jays scored two once again,this time, both runs were unearned, to retake the lead 4-3. This would be the last time the Jays led the game, though.
Colyn Wright came in out of the bullpen and immediately gave up a solo homer before settling in until the eighth inning. There are bad innings, and then there is the eighth inning of this series finale. Wright was chased after allowing four of the first five batters to reach. It took the Blue Jays six pitchers to record the next two outs of the inning, one of those outs on the base paths. Nine hits and twelve runs later, the Jays were looking at a 4-16 deficit. They would fail to score in the bottom half of the inning and lose by the mercy rule, 4-16.
This mercy-rule loss epitomized the brutal home-opening weekend for the Jays. Westminster, now on a seven-game losing streak, will look to get back on track on the road against another SLIAC powerhouse in Spalding next weekend in Louisville, Kentucky.
