ST. LOUIS, Mo. – Starting their season a day later than they first thought did not deter the Washington University in St. Louis baseball team as the Bears opened the 2025 season with a double-header sweep of Aurora on Sunday, 6-1 and 4-1.
Game 1: WashU 6, Aurora 1
After a scoreless first inning, the Spartans got on the board first with a lone run who scored from second off a single to centerfield.
It was in the bottom of the third that the Bears scored and took the lead. Sophomore Anthony Equale led off with a single through the left side before first-year Kevin Stephens was hit by pitch to put two runners aboard. A sacrifice bunt by senior Brandon Buday put both runners in scoring position with just one out. Junior Shane Pellegrino followed up with a double to right center scoring both Equale and Stephens and giving WashU the 2-1 lead.
Buday led off the fifth inning, this time with his first triple of the season to right field. Pelligrino was then hit by a pitch to put runners on the corners and no outs. A deep foul flyout by graduate Colter Couillard-Rodak scored Buday from third, adding an insurance run for WashU. Graduate Noah Reichman then hit a deep double to left center that scored Pellegrino from second and giving the Bears the 4-1 lead.
Graduate Will Yarbro led off the bottom of the sixth with a walk and would reach third on a groundout by Equale and a single to center by Stephens. Buday collected the first of two RBIs in the game on a groundout to the shortstop, putting WashU up 5-1.
Buday added his second RBI in the bottom of the eighth when first-year Will Taigen scored on Buday's double down the left field line. Taigen had led off the inning with a single through the left signed and was bunted over to second by Equale. The run put the Bears ahead by five, 6-1 with the defense shutting down Aurora in the top of the ninth for the win.
Sophomore Anderson Gomez got his first win of the season after pitching the fifth, sixth and seventh innings while picking up a pair of strikeouts.
Game 2: WashU 4, Aurora 1
Scoring was at a premium in game two with the Bears scoring first in the bottom of the third inning. With two outs to start their half of the frame, WashU got a single from Equale through the left side. All it took as the next batter as Buday hit is second triple of the day scoring Equale from first and giving the Bears a 1-0 lead.
It looked like the Spartans would tie the game up in the top of the seventh when they had runners and second and third with one out. The pinch hitter hit a deep enough ball to center field, who made the catch and fired home, but was late as the runner appeared to have crossed home plate. However, the Bears threw down to third base and appealed that the runner had left before the catch in left center was made and that call was confirmed for the third out of the inning, disallowing the run at home plate.
However, it did not take long for Aurora to finally the tie score up in the top of the eighth after their second batter reached on a walk and eventually scored on a single through the right side, tying the score at 1-1.
WashU immediately answered in the bottom of the eighth as Pellegrino led off with a deep single to the shortstop and reached second after Couillard-Rodak followed with a single through the right side. After showing bunt on the first pitch of his at bat, Reichman slammed a home run on the third deep over the field in left scoring both Pellegrino and Couillard-Rodak, putting the Bears back in front 4-1.
Senior Miles Quemuel-Labrador, who came into pitch in the seventh inning, struck out three of the four batters he faced in the top of the ninth to get his first win of the season.
WashU returns to Kelly Field on Wednesday, Feb. 26 when they welcome neighbor Fontbonne for a single game with first pitch scheduled for 2 p.m.
