St. Louis, Mo. – The Washington University in St. Louis baseball team split with Case Western Reserve University on Saturday afternoon to open up UAA play. The Bears are now 14-5 on the year with a 1-1 mark in conference play.
Game 1: CWRU 5, WashU 4
The Spartans got on the board first with a run in the top of the first inning. Jack Anderson reached base on an error and Nick Harms drew a walk. Zack Carinci loaded the bases with a single to the catcher and Anderson went on to score as Kevin Mackenzie singled to right center.
The Spartans added another run in the top of the second, starting with a Logan Andreyko single to second. Tim Demetris reached on a fielder's choice moved on an Anderson single to second. Harms was hit by a pitch and Carinici hit a sac fly to score Demetris.
WashU rallied for three runs in the bottom of the third inning.
Clayton Miller singled up the middle and scored on a
Shane Pellegrino triple to center.
Broghan O'Connor was hit by a pitch and
Braden Mazone singled through the right side to score Pellegrino.
Kaden Bernhard singled to center, scoring O'Connor for a 3-2 Bears' lead.
CWRU tied things up in the top of the fourth inning. Andreyko was hit by a pitch and stole second. With two outs, Anderson singled to left field, bringing in Andreyko.
A Harms' homer to center in the top of the fifth inning gave the Spartans a 4-3 lead. CWRU went on to add another run in the top of the seventh inning. Anderson drew a one-out walk and advanced to second on a passed ball. Carinci doubled to left field, bringing in Anderson for the 5-3 edge.
The Bears scored one more in the bottom of the ninth inning but could not score the tying or go-ahead run.
Brandon Buday reached base on an error and advanced to second, then advanced to third on a
Chris Jacinto sac fly. Miller singled to left field, bringing in Buday for the 5-4 game, but CWRU got the final out to end the game.
Miller finished 3-for-5 with one run and one RBI while both Mazone and Bernhard both went 2-for-4 with one RBI.
Matt Lopes took the loss on the mound, going 6.1 innings with four earned runs and three walks to go with six strikeouts.
Game 2: WashU 10, CWRU 0 (7 innings)
The Bears put up two runs in the bottom of the first inning. With one out, Pellegrino reached on an error to the short stop and Miller drilled a two-run homer for the 2-0 lead.
WashU added another run in the bottom of the third inning. Pellegrino hit a two-out single through the left side and advanced to second on a passed ball. Miller drew a walk and O'Connor singled through the left side to score Pellegrino and give the Bears a 3-0 edge.
The Bears posted a three-run fifth inning. Buday led off with a triple to center and Pellegrino drew a walk. O'Connor put down a sac bunt to advance Pellegrino and put two runners in scoring position. Mazone struck out but reached first on a passed ball, scoring Buday. Bernhard drove in both Pellegrino and Mazone with a single to right center to make it a 6-0 game.
Another run crossed the plate for WashU in the bottom of the sixth inning. With one out,
Hunter Goldberg singled to center field and then advanced to third on a failed pickoff attempt. Goldberg went on to score on a passed ball for a 7-0 lead.
In the bottom of the seventh, the Bears put up three runs to force the mercy rule.
Mazone was hit by a pitch and Jacinto hit a two-out single up the middle.
Justin Zachery was also hit by a pitch to load the bases, and Mazone scored as Goldberg was also hit by a pitch. Buday reached on a throwing error by the short stop, scoring both Jacinto and Zachery and ending the game.
Pellegrino finished 2-for-3 with three runs scored while Bernhard went 2-for-4 with two RBI. Miller finished 1-for-3 with two RBI, one run scored and a walk.
Will Henkel notched his fourth win of the year, going all seven innings with five hits, no runs and six strikeouts.
The Bears wrap up the series against CWRU tomorrow with games at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m.
