After staving off elimination twice, the Westminster Blue Jays' offense ran out of bullets in its quest for a St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference tournament championship.
The No. 2 seeded Blue Jays and top-seeded Greenville (Ill.) College Panthers both registered five hits, but the Panthers made theirs count in blanking Westminster 3-0 in a winner-take-all SLIAC tournament championship game on Saturday.
The Blue Jays (24-12) needed three wins to clinch the conference championship on an afternoon - and weekend - marred by rain delays.
Greenville knocked in the decisive run on catcher Travis Ralls' drove in the winning run on two-out single to left to score designated hitter Trevor Montgomery in the bottom of the fourth.
Ralls doubled in left fielder Tim Osborne with two outs in the sixth to extend the Panthers' advantage. Greenville rounded out its scoring in the seventh when third baseman Josh Wheeler scored on a one-out double by right fielder Tyler Whitworth.
Westminster sophomore starter Jake Lund struck out seven, but took the loss in five innings. Lund (2-3) allowed two runs (one earned) on three hits and walked two.
Junior right fielder Tyler Branneky finished 2-for-4 to spark the Blue Jays' offense. Senior second baseman Cam Backes was 1-for-3 with a double, freshman shortstop Adam Mundle also went 1-for-3 and sophomore right fielder Tanner Branneky was 1-for-4.
Senior Jake Rule tossed a four-hit shutout, allowing Westminster to roll past the Panthers 11-0 to force the decisive contest.
Rule (3-1) struck out five and yielded a walk in a nine-inning effort.
Backes' one-out, RBI single to plate freshman designated hitter Connor Hager produced the game's first run in the top of the third.
Hager kicked off the Blue Jays' four-run fourth with a one-out single to drive in Tyler Branneky. Tanner Branneky plated Hager and freshman center fielder Nick Bohlmann with a two-out double to center to up Westminster's advantage to 3-0.
Backes' RBI single allowed Tanner Branneky to score and close out the Blue Jays' frame. Bohlman and Hager each singled in runs in the fifth, before rain suspended play in the top of the sixth.
Junior left fielder Deion Hughes reached on an eighth-inning error to drive in Tanner Branneky and extend Westminster to a 8-0 cushion.
Hager doubled in a run to start the Blue Jays' three-run ninth. He would score when Tyler Branneky reached base on a Greenville miscue, while Mundle singled in the game's final run.
Mundle was 4-for-6 to direct Westminster's 15-hit assault. Hager went 3-for-4, while Backes and Bohlmann each finished 3-for-5.
Hughes' two-out single in the top of the eighth supplied the go-ahead run in helping the Blue Jays edge past the No. 3 Webster University Gorloks 7-6 in Saturday's first game.
The contest was originally scheduled for Friday, but was pushed back due to rainfall.
Down 6-4 to start the eighth, Mundle reached on a one-out fielder's choice that forced out Backes at second, but an error in the Gorloks' infield allowed Hager and Tanner Branneky to score and knot the game at 6-all.
Mundle trotted home on the Hughes single to supply the decisive tally.
Lund threw two spotless innings of relief to pick up the victory. Junior Collin Brinker (North Callaway) let the tying run aboard with a one-out single in the ninth, before retiring Webster to collect his third save of the year.
Hager went 3-for-5, drove in two runs, scored twice and added a double. Hughes and Tyler Branneky each finished 2-for-5 as Westminster out-hit the Gorloks 12-11.
Mundle hit a two-out, walk-off single to lift the Blue Jays past the No. 4 Spalding (Ky.) University Golden Eagles in an elimination game late Thursday evening.