BABSON PARK, Fla. (April 23, 2019) – During its final game of the 2019 regular season, the No. 19 Webber International University baseball team defeated nationally-recognized Warner University 6-1 on the Heart of Florida Baseball Field to avoid finishing in a three-way tie for third place in The Sun Conference standings.

In addition to serving as the Warriors' final game before the Sun Conference Tournament starting on Thursday, May 2, it was also the final home game for Webber's Head Baseball Coach Brad Niethammer, who is in his 26th and final season leading the Warriors and was honored before the start of the game. Coach Niethammer, who has accumulated over 750 career wins (760-655), has been the only head coach in the history of the Webber baseball program.

Webber finished the regular season with an overall record of 33-18 and a Sun Conference mark of 14-10, one game better than nationally-recognized Keiser University (31-18, 13-11) in fourth place and two games ahead of Warner (32-19, 12-12) in fifth.

In addition to scoring two runs in the bottom of the third inning and four in the bottom of the sixth, a big part of the Warriors' victory on Tuesday was a great starting pitching performance by senior John Shutrump (3-2), who held the Royals to zero runs, zero walks and only four hits over the first seven innings of the ballgame. It was the first time all season Shutrump pitched over two innings while not allowing any runs.

Relief pitcher Gerig Blackman did not allow any hits, runs or walks over his 1.2 innings as well.

The first run of the game for the Warriors in the third inning came off the bat of Willie Carter, who smacked a one-out single up the middle to score Garrett Martin. The RBI was Carter's 57th of the season, which is a new single-season record in RBI's for the Warriors, breaking the old mark of 56 set originally by Brian Hill in 1999 and then tied by Sjaghbar Martis in 2017.

The next batter after Carter was Marcus Begg, who came up with a sacrifice fly to center field to score Norberto Navarro and make it 2-0 Warriors. It was Begg's 56th RBI of the season as it will be a race until the end of the season between Carter and Begg to see who becomes the Warriors' new single season-RBI record holder.

In the sixth inning, Webber added four more runs all with one out on a two-RBI hit through the left side by Rougie Odor scoring Quirino Esquivel and Carlo Mancillas, an RBI single to left field by Cristian Rivera scoring Odor, and a sacrifice fly to center by Martin to bring in Hunter Jones.

Coach Niethammer said, "Shu stepped up and pitched a very good game when we needed a good pitching performance. You combine that with good team offense, and you get a victory. Now it's time to get prepared for the TSC tournament."

Next up, The Sun Conference Tournament will start in a week and a half on Thursday, May 2, at FITTEAM Ballpark of the Palm Beaches in West Palm Beach, Florida, and will go until Sunday, May 5. During the first round of the tournament, the Warriors appear likely to matchup with Keiser, a team Webber earned a three-game sweep over back in late March in Babson Park, Florida.