STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. – Rain and foggy weather did not deter the RV Washington University in St. Louis baseball team on Friday as it picked up a UAA doubleheader sweep of NYU to open a four-game series with the Violets. The game was played at Staten Island University Hospital Community Park with views of lower Manhattan in the background.

Game 1: WashU 13, NYU 6
The Bears took control early with a pair of runs in the top of the first. First-year Ryan Soong led off with a single to left and was followed by a double from senior Brandon Buday to left that pushed Soong to third. An error by the left fielder allowed Soong to come home on the next at bat, giving the Bears a 1-0 lead. Two batters later, graduate Colter Couillard-Rodak hit a single to left that allowed Buday to score and give WashU the 2-0 lead.

In the third, Soong would lead off again, this time with a double to center. Now with a stolen base and two outs, junior Shane Pellegrino singled to the shortstop allowing Soong to score the Bears' third run of the game. NYU got on the board in the bottom of the third after a couple of pitching miscues allowed a pair of runners to reach base with the trail runner eventually coming around to score, cutting the WashU lead down to 3-1.

The fourth inning continued the trend of one-for-one scoring by the two teams with the Bears scoring off a pair of singles and a wild pitch to go up 4-1. The Violets answered with a lone run in their half of the inning, keeping the lead to just two.

It would become just one in the fifth inning when NYU scored its third run in three frames.

After two completely scoreless frames, the Bears blasted the game wide open with six runs in the top of the eighth. Nearly hitting for the cycle as a team in the inning, WashU led off with a single by Pellegrino who reached third when Couillard-Rodak attempted to bunt him to second, but an error by the third baseman allowed Couillard-Rodak to not only reach first safely but advance to second on the error.

After a strikeout, graduate Will Yarbro tripled to center field scoring both Pellegrino and Couillard-Rodak. Senior Braden Mazone followed with a double to left that scored Yarbro giving WashU the 7-3 lead. Sophomore Anthony Equale was hit by a pitch and a walk to Soong loaded the bases. Buday was next, this time with another single that scored Mazone and kept the bases loaded.

Now with two outs, Pellegrino earned an RBI by getting a walk and scoring Equale. A wild pitch to Couillard-Rodak on his second at bat of the inning allowed all runners to advance a base and allowed Soong to score. This would give WashU a 10-3 lead.

In the bottom of the inning, NYU got some of the runs back scoring three times on three hits, including a two-run home run. The Bears wanted their seven-run advantage back and they got it in the top of the ninth with three runs off of three hits, including a pair of doubles from first-year Will Taigen and Mazone. A ground out, strikeout, and fly out in the bottom of the ninth ended the game 13-6 in favor of WashU.

Buday led the offense with a double and two singles while going 3-for-5 at the plate. He also finished with two RBIs and a run scored. Soong, Pellegrino, Taigen, Yarbro, and Mazone all recorded a multi-hit game.

Senior Hank Weiss (2-2) earned the win on the mound in 5? innings of work. He finished with 10 strikeouts and just one walk.

Game 2: WashU 6, NYU 4
It looked like WashU wanted a repeat of the beginning of the first game in game two. However, the Bears scored three times instead of twice in the opening frame. With one out, Buday singled and reached second on an error by the right fielder. He would come around and score after having stolen third and raced home on a single through the left side by graduate Noah Reichman.

Pellegrino then walked and Couillard-Rodak sacrifice bunted the runners over to second and third, now with two outs. Another error in right field allowed Taigen to reach and take second while scoring both Pellegrino and Reichman, giving WashU the 3-0 lead.

Two singles by Yarbro and Mazone led off the top of the fourth. A passed ball with Yarbro on third and Reichman on second saw both runners take a base, with Yarbro scoring, unearned, and putting the Bears ahead 4-0. The Violets answered immediately this time with their own run in the bottom of the fourth, cutting the lead back down to three, 4-1.

WashU once again answered right away with a run in the top of the fifth. With one out, Pellegrino walked and stole second. A single by Couillard-Rodak through the left allowed Pellegrino to advance to third. A sacrifice fly to right field allowed Pellegrino to score and give the Bears a four-run cushion, 5-1.

NYU attempted a comeback in the eighth and ninth innings, scoring three runs, but a run by the Bears in the top of the ninth kept the visitors ahead as WashU completed the Friday sweep with the 6-4 win.

Buday, Reichman, and Mazone all collected two hits in game two. Pellegrino reached first safely with three walks and scored twice.

Sophomore Anderson Gomez picked up his third win of the season in 3.0 innings of relief work. Classmate Parker Guthrie earned his first save of the season striking out the final out of the game.

WashU and the Violets will have a day off before playing a doubleheader on Sunday, April 13. First pitch is scheduled for 10 a.m. ET.