St. Louis, Mo. – The Washington University in St. Louis baseball team split with Gustavus Adolphus on Sunday afternoon, falling in game one before coming back to win the second game. The Bears are now 12-4 on the season.
Game 1: Gustavus Adolphus 9, WashU 8
The Bears had a hot start, scoring two runs in the bottom of the first inning.
Chris Jacinto drew a one-out walk and stole second.
Clayton Miller also drew a walk and both runners scored on a
Braden Mazone single down the left field line for a 2-0 lead.
WashU added another run in the bottom of the second. With two outs,
Hunter Goldberg drew a walk and stole second.
Brandon Buday reached base on a left fielder error, scoring Goldberg to give WashU a 3-0 edge.
Gustavus Adolphus got on the board in the top of the third inning. Tomas Nelson singled to short and Bryce Novak drew a two-out walk. Jack Hanson drew a walk to load the bases and Gavin Baker singled up the middle to score Nelson. Chris Knowles followed with a walk to walk in Novak and cut the Bears' lead to 3-2.
WashU responded in the bottom of the third with another run. Miller led off with a walk and moved up on a Mazone single through the right side.
Broghan O'Connor reached on a fielder's choice, advancing Miller to third. Miller scored on a
Shane Pellegrino ground out to short.
The Gusties came out to tie the game and take a lead in the top of the fourth inning. Nick Azar and Mitch Casperson drew back-to-back walks and Sam Schneider was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Novak reached on a fielder's choice and Azar scored. A single from Hanson scored Schneider, tying the game at 4-4 and a Baker single to left brought in Novak to give Gustavus Adolphus the 5-4 edge.
Gustavus Adolphus put up another two runs in the top of the fifth inning. Logan Bjorkman drew a lead-off walk and Azar reached base on an error. With two outs, Nelson drew a walk to put Azar in scoring position. Schneider drove in Azar with a single through the right side and Nelson went on to score on a Novak single up the middle to give the Gusties a 7-4 lead over the Bears.
WashU scored a run in the bottom of the sixth inning, starting with a
Magnus Dunn walk. With two outs, Dunn stole second and scored on a Buday single through the left side to make it a 7-5 game with the Gusties in the lead.
The Bears came out in the bottom of the seventh to tie things up and take a one-run lead.
Miller led off with a double to left center and moved up to third on a wild pitch before scoring on an O'Connor single up the middle. Pellegrino followed with a double to left to score O'Connor and Pellegrino scored on a Dunn single down the left field line.
The Gusties secured the win in the top of the ninth. Novak reached on a throwing error and Baker drilled a homer to left center to take a 9-8 lead which held until the end.
Mazone went 2-for-4 with two RBI while Buday finished 2-for-5 with two RBI. Pellegrino went 1-for-4 with two RBI and Dunn finished 1-for-3 with one run scored, one RBI and two walks.
Kyle Coates took the loss on the mound with two runs – one earned – and three strikeouts in two innings of work.
Game 2: WashU 6, Gustavus Adolphus 2
The Bears put up the first run of the game in the bottom of the first inning. Jacinto hit a one-out double to left center and scored on a Miller double to left center to take the 1-0 lead over the Gusties.
Gustavus Adolphus came out in the top of the third to score two runs and take a 2-1 lead. Novak singled up the middle and Baker hit his second homer of the game to give the Gusties the lead.
WashU grabbed the lead back in the bottom of the fifth inning.
Harry Mauterer singled to right center and Buday drew a walk. Jacinto was hit by a pitch to load the bases and Miller drove in Mauterer to tie the game at 2-2. Mazone then singled to right field to score Buday and put the Bears up 3-2.
In the bottom of the seventh inning, Buday drew a lead-off walk and scored as Miller drilled a triple down the right field line to put WashU up 4-2. Miller then scored on a wild pitch during O'Connor's at-bat.
WashU added another run in the bottom of the eighth inning.
Pellegrino led off with a single to right center and advanced to second on a wild pitch. With two outs, Mauterer singled down the left field line, scoring Pellegrino for a 6-2 Bears' lead.
Miller went 2-for-4 with two RBI and one RBI while Pellegrino finished 2-for-3 with one run score. Mauterer went 2-for-4 with one run and one RBI and Bruday finished 1-for-3 with two runs scored.
Will Henkel earned the win on the mound, going 5.1 innings with four strikeouts.
Miles Quemuel-Labrador notched the save with 3.2 innings of work with three strikeouts and no hits.
The Bears close out the series with Gustavus Adolphus tomorrow afternoon at 3 p.m.
