ST. LOUIS, Mo. – The No. 23 Washington University in St. Louis baseball team split its Saturday doubleheader with Case Western Reserve at Kelly Field at Irv Utz Stadium. It was the final two games of the opening weekend of UAA action for both teams.

After dropping a tight contest in game one of the day, 11-9, the Bears rebounded to close out the weekend with a 14-1 victory over the Spartans in game two.

Game 1: CWRU 11, WashU 9
The only inning that neither team scored was the first. After that, there were only five half-innings where at least one run wasn't scored.

The Spartans jumped out to a 5-0 lead through the top of the third inning. WashU began its comeback in the bottom half of the third with a pair of runs. After two walks to start, senior Brandon Buday singled through the right side, scoring graduate Will Yarbro who had walked to lead off the inning. Sophomore Anthony Equale also scored after reaching on a walk, cutting the deficit down to 5-2.

In its half of the fourth, WashU saw first-year Will Taigen reach on a single before making it to third on a throwing error by the shortstop. He would come around and score on a graduate Josh Erpenbeck fielder's choice.

Erpenbeck would score after having reached second earlier, before a tag-out was made at second. This brought WashU back within just one run.

The next two innings saw both teams score a run in their half of the frame before the Bears tied it up in the bottom of the seventh.

With one out, Buday walked and then stole second base. After a strikeout, graduate Noah Reichman singled through the left side that allowed a speedy Buday to race home and tie the game up at 7-7 after seven innings.

Unfortunately, the Spartans responded with four runs in the top of the eighth to retake the lead 11-7. The two-out rally by the Bears in the bottom of the ninth fell short despite WashU getting three hits in the frame. Both Buday and graduate Colter Couillard-Rodak scored in the inning to provide for the 11-9 final score.

Reichman finished the game with three hits, including a home run, three RBIs, and a run scored.

Sophomore Owen Block (0-2) took the loss in relief.

Game 2: WashU 14, CWRU 1
Runs and hits were aplenty for the Bears in game two while the Spartans committed four errors that saw WashU pull away quickly for the run-rule win in seven innings.

Buday led off with a single in the bottom of the first before Couillard-Rodak singled to left. Reichman then earned a walk to load the bases. A single by junior Shane Pellegrino to first base, scored Buday. Taigen followed with the fourth hit of the inning for WashU and Couillard-Rodak scored for the 2-0 lead.

The Bears added two more runs in the second. With one out, first-year Kevin Stephens singled to third and then was able to advance two more bases due to a throwing error over to first. Buday followed with a walk and Couillard-Rodak got the second hit of the inning on a single through the left side that scored Stephens. A double-steal by Couillard-Rodak and Buday saw an overthrow in the attempt to get Buday out, but he ended up scoring instead. It put WashU ahead 4-0.

The lone Spartan run came in the top of the third off of two hits, cutting the lead down to just three, 4-1.

WashU would only score in two more innings, but it proved to be too much for CWRU.

The Bears nearly doubled their lead in the third with four runs on three hits, forcing a pitching change in the middle of the inning, taking an 8-1 lead.

But it was the bottom of the fifth inning that saw the most damage by WashU, with the Bears scoring six runs on four hits and a pair of Spartan errors. Sophomore Cooper Greene led off with a single to left before reaching third on a throwing error on a failed pick-off attempt. Senior Braden Mazone followed with a single, scoring Greene before Stephens reached on the second CWRU error.

Buday then singled up the middle scoring Mazone. Couillard-Rodak loaded the bases with a walk before Reichman was hit by a pitch to score Stephens and putting WashU ahead by 10, 11-1. After getting an out, Taigen was hit by a pitch that scored another run, followed by a single from first-year Ryan Soong that scored Couillard-Rodak. A sacrifice fly by Greene allowed Reichman to score the sixth run of the inning and the 14th run of the contest.
Both teams went scoreless in the sixth and the Spartans could not get back within less than 10 runs, so the game ended in the 14-1, 7-inning run-rule contest.

Buday went a perfect 4-for-4 with three runs scored and a pair of RBIs. Couillard-Rodak was nearly perfect at the plate with three hits on four at-bats with two runs scored and a pair of RBIs.

Block (1-2) got his second decision in as many games, this time picking up a win in 3.0 innings of work with three strikeouts.

WashU plays its final non-conference contest of the regular season on Wednesday, April 2 when it hosts Webster in a game rescheduled from a weather-postponed game on March 19. First pitch with the Gorloks is scheduled for 2 p.m.