5/2/2026 Greenville, IL – As the season comes to a close, the Westminster Blue Jays have been playing their best brand of baseball. This great play comes just in time as the SLIAC tournament is in the coming days, and the Jays have played their way into a playoff spot. They looked to continue their winning ways on the road against the Greenville University Panthers.  

 

 

In game one of the series, the Blue Jays used their three best pitchers to work through Greenville's offense. Blake Althuisuis got the start, and he carved through the Panther offense for three innings, not allowing any hits and just one unearned run. While Althuisuis was working on the mound, Aden Pecka got the scoring started. In the top of the third, Pecka singled home Brett Montgomery and Braden Eye. The Blue Jays picked up another run in the fourth, a Braden Eye RBI single, and two more in the fifth from Troy Romero and Donovan Bohler RBI knocks. Relieving Althuisuis was Derek Archer, who has been dominating as of late. Archer didn't skip a beat, throwing three shutout innings of his own, striking out four in the process. The final pitcher of the Friday three-headed monster was sophomore Jack Page. Page, like both his predecessors, pitched very well, giving the Jays 2.2 innings while giving up just one run. With two runners on and two outs in the ninth, Tayden Harlow completed the pitching masterpiece. He faced just one batter, inducing a pop-up, to seal the 6-2 win.   

 

 

Brayden Knittel started the second game of the series for the Jays. The senior was roughed up by Greenville's offense right away, giving up four first-inning runs before a call to the bullpen was made. Facing an early deficit and having no momentum, freshman Maddox Christenberry gave the Jays exactly what they needed to fight back. The righty pitched the next 3.2 innings, giving up only one hit and no runs in the process. While Christenberry was dazzling, the Jays' bats were not. The Blue Jays did not record a hit until the fifth inning, after Greenville had scored two more runs against the new arm, Max Blackburn. In the fifth, not only did the Jays collect their first hit, but they were able to bring in two runs, one coming from a Brett Montgomery single, the other from a Beno Ballard sac fly. The Jays scored two more in the next inning, but that was all they could string together for the rest of the game, losing this one 4-6.  

 

 

Needing a win to secure the series win, Colyn Wright was handed the ball. The righty has shown great signs of potential throughout the season, but has not found consistent success. Saturday's start against Greenville was different, though. Wright pitched the best game of his young career, pitching 6.2 innings of one-run ball, striking out five Panther batters. The offense picked up their starting pitcher's efforts, scoring runs in the second, third, and fourth, highlighted by a Cam Schlegl homer. The lefty has been white hot to finish the season. Westminster scored two more unearned runs in the seventh, followed by another set of runs in the eighth, and the combination of Tayden Harlow and Salvador Moncada closed out this one, sealing the road series win.  

 

With this win, the Jays will go on the road to play MUW in the quarter final game for the SLIAC tournament on Tuesday, May 9. The Jays lost the series against MUW earlier in the year at home, but played solid baseball throughout, having a couple of bad innings cost them the series. The Jays go into the playoffs playing as well as anyone, winners of three straight series. "Don't let the Jays get hot," has been said over and over by the team. Now they're hot and have aspirations of a SLIAC title.