Webster University Baseball Program Continues to Ascend

Webster University’s baseball team on Wednesday, May 18, recorded one of the program’s most impressive wins when the Gorloks crushed Christopher Newport University, 11-1, in the opening game of the NCAA Division III tournament.

Christopher Newport was ranked No. 1 in the American Baseball Coaches Association poll entering the tournament.

But two days after the landmark victory, Webster saw its season come to an end. The Gorloks lost, 10-1, to Salisbury University—which has since advanced to the College World Series—and 2-1 to Piedmont College. The loss to Piedmont knocked Webster out of the NCAA championship bracket.

Even though the Gorloks fell short of their goals to make the College World Series, and, ultimately, win the national championship, the program continued taking positive steps. Webster won the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference regular season title with a 21-3 SLIAC record.

And, as a result of beating Greenville College, 9-3, in the championship game of the SLIAC postseason tournament on May 14, Webster earned an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. The Gorloks have advanced to the NCAA tourney six of the past seven years.

“This season was a great experience,” said freshman starting pitcher Zach Schneider. “We really became good friends on and off the field. We had each other’s backs; it was a brotherhood that we created in just one year. It was unfortunate it ended early, but while it was running, it was a great time.”

Schneider had a tremendous first season for Webster, as he finished the year with a 7-4 record and a 1.86 ERA. He allowed only 16 earned runs in 77 1/3 innings pitched.

When Webster coach Bill Kurich needed him the most, Schneider came up big. Kurich called on Schneider to start the game against Christopher Newport, and the freshman lefthander responded by allowing only one run on five hits in nine innings of work.

“Going into the regional, I didn’t think I was going to start game one,” Schneider said. “Getting game one as a freshman was a neat experience for me. We all went into the game as if it’s just another game. We didn’t psyche ourselves out thinking, ‘Oh no, it’s the No. 1 team in the country.’ We just went out and did what we do.”

Schneider was one of 13 freshmen on the Gorloks’ roster, which featured only four seniors—Anthony Genna, Nathan Shelton, Paul Kienker and Craig Schaefer. But all four seniors were starting position players and put up big numbers for the Gorloks. Genna, Shelton and Kienker were named to the all-conference first team, while Schaefer made it to the second team.

“We’re losing four good players,” Kurich said. “We’ve got some good incoming players, and we’ve got a couple of guys we’ve still got to land in order to fill those shoes.”

Like the other three seniors, Genna will be very difficult for Kurich to replace, as the infielder started every game for a Webster team that finished the season with a 32-13 record. Genna had a .367 batting average and drove in a team-high 51 RBI en route to being named the SLIAC Player of the Year and the SLIAC postseason tournament MVP.

“I couldn’t ask for a better senior season,” Genna said. “Next year, I think they’ll have about the same record, hopefully even better. It’s just they have to know that they’ve got to win the right games, and definitely learn from the mistakes that happened this past week. They’re going to be impressive.”

The Gorloks will return all 10 members of their pitching staff. Collectively, the staff had a 3.12 ERA and allowed opponents to hit for a .227 average. Schneider thinks the team’s pitching experience will be a huge strength next year.

“That is really helpful. It allows a coach to put more focus on other aspects of the game that we need to work on,” Schneider said. “We’re going to be capable of a lot of things next year. If we can get the bats and offense, I don’t know who can stop us.”

Kurich, who has compiled a 157-68 record in five seasons at the helm, will try to lead the Gorloks to their first College World Series appearance next year. But with such a young team, Kurich knows Webster has a chance to be contenders for the next several years.

“It was a good year; I certainly was pleased with how the season ended up,” Kurich said. “In terms of the big picture, we obviously didn’t get to where we wanted to. But they laid the groundwork. We keep taking steps. One of these years we’re going to win our first regional, we’re going to get the monkey off our back and we’re going to keep progressing as a program.

“The expectations for next year are the same. Every year since the year I got here, our expectation is that we’ve got steps to take. Winning the conference is a step. Getting to regionals is a step, then winning the regional is the next step after that. I don’t want to put too much emphasis on next year being the year. We’re going to be good here for quite a few years.”