St. Louis, Mo., March 6, 2021 – The No. 7 Washington University in St. Louis baseball team opened the 2021 season with a doubleheader sweep over Illinois Wesleyan.

WashU improved to 2-0 while IWU dipped to 3-2 in overall season records.

No. 7 WashU 5, IWU 1 – Game 1

The Bears made it on the board in the second inning when Johnny LaMantia's single to right gave Collin Kahal the chance to score from second. 

The following inning, Caleb Durbin's single pushed Henry Singer home from third. Durbin then stole second and found his way home off of two defensive errors. 

The fifth inning gave Durbin more opportunities as he stole second and third on two separate plays before beating the throw home and giving the Bears a 4-0 lead.

Starting pitcher Ryan Loutos held off the Titans by only allowing three hits in his five innings at the mound. 

The Titans scored off an RBI triple, but Fong was able to keep the offense at bay, striking out his first batter before the next popped up to center. 

Tim Van Kirk's triple led him to score the final run of the game, after a wild pitch gave him an opening to make it to home plate.

No. 7 WashU 10, IWU 5 – Game 2

WashU scored two in the first inning, when Van Kirk's single turned into an RBI when a throwing error gave Henry Singer a chance to make it home. 

Van Kirk singled again in the third, and Troy Bauer's RBI double sent Van Kirk home. Bauer then scored off of LaMantia's single to right field.

The Titans found four runs in the sixth with some big hits. Tim Tague held them off for the remainder of the inning with a strikeout and no hits. Durbin hit an RBI single in the bottom of seventh to extend the lead to 6-4.

WashU's most dominant inning was the eighth with Van Kirk hitting a two-RBI single, followed by Durbin's clutch three-RBI home run immediately following, putting the Bears up 10-4.

The Bears are back in action against IWU for the third game of the series on Sunday, March 7 at noon.