ST. LOUIS, Mo. – Continuing its hot start to the season, the Washington University in St. Louis baseball team picked up a doubleheader sweep on Saturday over visiting Illinois Wesleyan at Kelly Field at Irv Utz Stadium. The Bears came from behind in game 1 to win, 3-2, before closing out the day with an 8-3 victory.
Game 1: WashU 3, IWU 2
Scoring was at a premium throughout the first game as both teams struggled to put together a string of base runners that would eventually score.
The Titans got on the board first in the top of the fourth inning. With one out, JP Ferraro hit a deep ball over the fence in right field, giving IWU a 1-0 lead.
It was in the bottom of the fifth when the Bears tied the score up, 1-1. With two outs, junior Shane Pellegrino hit a deep triple to left center. Graduate Colter Couillard-Rodak followed up with a single to shallow left that was just deep enough to allow Pellegrino to score.
IWU retook the lead in the top of the seventh as the Titans led off with a walk that would eventually come around to score on a Bears' field error. It looked like WashU would answer in the bottom of the eight with runners on the corners and no outs, but a fly out and a double play allowed IWU to maintain their lead.
The Titans loaded the bases with two outs in the top of the ninth, but junior Isaac Zhang came into the game in relief and induced a ground out to first to end the threat.
First-year Ryan Soong led off the bottom of the ninth with a double down the right field line. After a foul, pop-up, senior Brandon Buday hit his fourth triple in as many games that scored Soong and tied the game up at 2-2. Pellegrino followed and walked before stealing second putting runners on second and third.
As Couillard-Rodak, who was the next batter, took a pitch, a balk was called, but he hit a deep ball to center. Buday just calmly walked down to home plate. As not all runners, including the batter reached one base safely, the balk was enforced as the WashU picked up the 3-2 walk-off on a balk win over the Titans.
Both sophomore Townsend Stevenson and junior Miles Quemuel-Labrador each pitched 4.1 winnings for the Bears as they recorded seven and six strikeouts, respectively. Zhang earned the win in just 0.1 innings of relief.
Graduate Noah Reichman went 3-for-3 at the plate with a double while both Buday and Pellegrino went 2-for-4, each with a walk.
Game 2: WashU 8, IWU 3
Much like the first game of the day, neither team seemed to be able to put together enough players on base to score early in the second contest of the day.
It was once again the fourth inning that saw the first run appear on the board. However, this time it was the Bears that added one first. Reichman led off being hit by a pitch before stealing second base. Senior Braden Mazone followed up with a full count walk before Soong hit a single to center that loaded the bases with no outs. It began a string of five-straight singles for WashU as graduate Will Yarbro, sophomore Miles Birke, and first-year Kevin Stephens all collected hits off the starting Titan pitcher as Reichman, Mazone and Yarbro all came around and scored before IWU changed pitchers.
Buday closed out the singles with one through the right side that once again loaded the bases. Pellegrino was patient at the plate and picked up a walk that scored Birke, giving the Bears a 5-0 lead. On a ground out by Couillard-Rodak to second base, Stephens was able to give WashU one more run in the inning, taking a 6-0 lead into the fifth frame.
In the sixth inning, with two outs, Reichman and Mazone hit back-to-back doubles that allowed Reichman to score, putting the Bears ahead, 7-0.
IWU did not go away quietly, scoring three runs in the top of the seventh inning, all unearned as the Bears committed a pair of errors in the frame.
WashU got back one of the runs in the bottom of the eighth inning when Pellegrino came around to score after leading off the inning with a double, as the Bears picked up the game two win, 8-3.
Reichman went 3-for-4 at the plate with two runs scored in game two. Buday, Birke, and Stephens all collected multiple hits as well.
Sophomore Anderson Gomez picked up his second win of the season in as many appearances striking out a pair while going 4.2 innings.
WashU and the Titans will wrap up their weekend series on Sunday, Mar. 2 at Kelly Field. First pitch is scheduled for 12 p.m.
