ST. LOUIS, Mo. – Playing in their fourth game in three days, the RV Washington University in St. Louis baseball team dropped an early week contest to Coe College on Monday afternoon at Kelly Field at Irv Utz Stadium, 9-8. The Bears scored two runs in the bottom of the ninth and had a runner on third but could not push across any more runs as the Kohawks escaped with the win.
Coe got on the board first with a pair of runs in the top of the second inning to take their first lead of the game. The Bears answered back immediately when first-year Cooper Greene led off the bottom of the inning with a home run over the fence in right field, cutting the Kohawks' lead in half, 2-1.
In the bottom of the first, senior Braden Mazone led off by reaching first base after he was hit by a pitch. With one out, a throwing error by the pitcher attempting to get out graduate Colter Couillard-Rodak allowed Mazone to not only reach second but continue onto third base. A hard-hit ball behind the shortstop saw first-year Kevin Stephens reach on an infield single and allowed Mazone to score, tying the teams up at 2-2.
With one out in the bottom of the fifth, Greene followed up his home run with a triple to center field that nearly went over, but did allow him to slide into third safely. Two batters later, sophomore Anthony Equale snuck a single through the left side, allowing Greene to come in and score and give the Bears a 3-2 lead after five complete.
The seventh inning saw both teams score three runs, keeping the score in favor of WashU by one.
After Coe scored its three in the top of the frame, the Bears used a pair of throwing errors on Kohawks to eventually bring around their three runs, retaking the lead, 6-5.
However, Coe would score three runs in back-to-back innings and take the lead for the third time in the contest, 8-6. The Kohawks used three-straight singles and a double to score their first two runs and followed up with a groundout RBI to give themselves a two-run lead, 8-6.
After a scoreless bottom of the eighth for the Bears, the Kohawks led off the top of the ninth with a solo home run that extended their lead to nine. And it turned out to be a needed run for Coe as WashU was able to use a pair of singles and a fielding error to push two runs across to trail by just one, 9-8. Couillard-Rodak, who reached on the single to left then stole second base and reached third on a wild pitch. However, the Kohawks induced a ground out to the shortstop to end the game and escape with the 9-8 victory.
First-year Will Taigen led the Bears at the plate going 3-for-5, including a double and two runs scored. Greene was right behind him with his triple and home run, going 2-for-4 with three runs scored and an RBI. Equale finished the day going 1-for-4 but had three RBIs and a run scored.
Sophomore Anderson Gomez (2-1) took the loss in relief for the Bears, giving up five hits and four earned runs. Junior Miles Quemuel-Labrador came into the game in relief in the second inning and gave up just one hit but had five strikeouts in 3.2 innings of work.
WashU is back at Kelly Field on Wednesday, March 12 when it plays its rescheduled game from a week ago against Westminster. Game time with the Blue Jays is scheduled for 2 p.m.
