5/7/2026 O'Fallon, MO--Westminster entered this semifinal matchup against the Webster Gorloks as the underdogs. Webster won the tournament the previous year, had only lost three conference games all season, and had swept Westminster earlier in the year. All of that as a result of 12 All-Conference players and the SLIAC Coach of the Year. However, the Blue Jays were hot and came into this matchup playing their best brand of baseball.
That brand of baseball was evident immediately.
Troy Romero led off the game with a triple, was later driven in by a groundout, and
Cameron Schlegl followed with a mammoth two-run shot to bring the Jays' first-inning run total to three. However, Webster continued to play its #1 seed style of baseball. In the bottom of the first inning, the Gorloks got to starter Blake Alhtuisuis, batting around and tagging him for five runs. After eight combined runs in the first inning, both pitching staffs settled in. Webster starting pitcher Carter Hunt didn't allow another run the rest of his outing before being pulled in the seventh. Althuisuis gave up one more run in the third, but was relieved by
Tayden Harlow, who threw 2.1 stellar innings. Following Harlow were
Dawson Willard and
Colyn Wright, neither of whom allowed a run in their relief appearances. The Blue Jays' bats began to claw back after Hunt was out of the game.
Troy Romero singled in
Beno Ballard in the seventh, who had doubled earlier in the inning. They scored another run in the eighth, an inning that seemed poised for a crooked number when the Jays loaded the bases with
Troy Romero up to hit. But Romero lined out to second, ending the inning. Westminster was not able to rekindle that momentum and went 1-2-3 in the ninth to drop this one 5-6.
Following this heartbreaker, the Jays will play #2 seed Spalding in the elimination round of the bracket on May 8th in Carshield. Spalding was 19-5 in conference this year, but just came off a loss to Lyon in which they gave up a record-setting 21 runs. If Westminster loses, they are out; if they win, they take on the loser of the Webster-Lyon matchup.
