ST. LOUIS, Mo. – Playing in their fifth game in as many days, the RV Washington University in St. Louis baseball team picked up their ninth win of the season with a 13-3 run-rule contest against Westminster on Wednesday afternoon at Kelly Field.
It looked like it would be trouble for the Bears early on, as Westminster took advantage of a fielding error to start the game, getting a base runner who eventually came around and scored, giving the Blue Jays a 1-0 lead.
Thankfully, WashU responded in the bottom of the first with their own run. With two outs, graduate Noah Reichman doubled down the left field line and scored on the next batter when junior Shane Pellegrino singled to deep left center, tying the score at 1-1 after one complete.
The Blue Jays followed suit and sent seven batters to the plate in the top of the second, and had a runner on second with two outs. Westminster retook the lead on a second fielding error by the Bears, 2-1. The runner that reached on the fielding error eventually came around and scored after the Blue Jays got back-to-back singles. The runs put the visitors ahead 3-1 after two innings.
Cutting into the lead, WashU scored their own runs with two outs in the bottom of the third. Sandwiched between a ground out and pop up, sophomore Anthony Equale reached on a single to the shortstop and then stole second base. Graduate Colter Couillard-Rodak followed with his first double of the season, scoring Equale and cutting the lead in half, 3-2.
A scoreless fourth led the Bears to show their strength in their half of the fifth. A new pitcher came in for Westminster and lasted just two batters as both Reichman and Pellegrino reached base on a hit by pitch and a walk, respectively. First-year Will Taigen was then the second batter to be hit in the inning, loading the bases. First-year Cooper Green nearly cleared the bases with a double down the right field line that scored both Reichman and Pellegrino, putting runners on second and third with no outs and giving the Bears the lead 4-3.
Another pitcher came in for the Blue Jays and immediately walked senior Braden Mazone. Equale followed with a sacrifice fly to right center that allowed Taigen to come home and advanced Green to third. First-year Kevin Stephens continued the on-base trend for the Bears with his 12th hit of the season on a bunt single to the pitcher. All runners advanced one base on a wild pitch, scoring Green and putting WashU up on the scoreboard 6-3.
The final run of the inning for the Bears came when Mazone was able to run the last 90 feet of the base path to home on a sacrifice fly by graduate Josh Erpenbeck to center field, allowing the Bears to take a 7-3 lead into the sixth inning.
Another scoreless inning for both teams led to a dominating and game-ending seventh inning for the Bears. Mazone led off with a single with first-year Tyler Phillips coming in to pinch run for him. A double for Equale saw Phillips take third with no outs. Stephens notched his 13th hit of the season with a single to right center that scored Phillips and put WashU ahead 8-3. Another wild pitch by the Blue Jays' pitching staff allowed all runners to advance and Equale to score the ninth run of the day for WashU.
Westminster finally collected the first out on a grounder to second, but Stephens was still able to advance to third. Graduate Will Yarbro came into the game as a pinch hitter and singled through the right side, scoring Stephens and putting WashU up 10-3.
It did not matter that Yarbro was able to steal second as Reichman homered a deep ball over the fence in left field, which landed on Forsyth Blvd., scoring two more runs for the Bears, 12-3. After Pellegrino flied out to right center, sophomore Carson Cleage pinch-hit a double to center that nearly cleared the wall itself. Senior Justin Zachary closed out the game with a double down the right field line that Cleage came around and scored on, giving WashU a 13-3, run-rule win.
Stephens led the team in hits on the day, going 3-for-4 at the plate with an RBI and a run scored. Reichman, Taigen, Green, and Equale all notched two hits in the contest.
Extra-base hits were the norm of the day as Couillard-Rodak, Reichman, Cleage, Green, Zachary, Equale, and Stephens were all able to use their power and speed to hit and reach second safely on the same play.
Senior Sebastian Guzman earned his third win of the season, pitching the final five innings in relief. He finished with four strikeouts, one walk, and no runs against.
WashU has two days to prepare for the start of a four-game series against visiting Gustavus Adolphus. The Bears and Gusties will play a doubleheader on Saturday, March 15, beginning at 12 p.m. The two teams then return to the field the next morning with another doubleheader, this time starting at 11 a.m.
