TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – In its lone true road non-conference game of the season, the No. 6 Washington University in St. Louis baseball team dropped a heartbreaker to Rose-Hulman, 9-8, after a late comeback was not enough to overcome an early deficit.
After a scoreless first inning, the Fightin' Engineers got on the board quickly in the bottom of the second. RHIT loaded the bases with three singles before Matthew Furtado came to the plate and hit a one-out grand slam to put the home team up 4-0.
The Fightin' Engineers added three more runs in the bottom of the third and two more in the bottom of the fourth to take a 9-0 lead.
The Bears began to answer in the top of the fifth. First-year
Chance Cromer hit a one-out single to right field and sophomore
Kevin Stephens followed with a single to center as WashU loaded the bases; sophomore
Miles Birke had walked earlier as well.
First-year
Jacob Witte reached on an error by the third baseman that allowed both Cromer and Birke to score, cutting the lead down to 9-2.
However, it was the top of the sixth where WashU made a major push back into the contest. Sophomore
Ryan Soong led off with a double to left before sophomore Will Taigan flied out to right field, allowing Soong to reach third. Sophomore
Cooper Greene hit a single to left, scoring Soong and trimming the lead down to six.
Birke was next with a single of his own to left and Cromer walked to load the bases. After RHIT induced an infield fly for the second out, junior
Anthony Equale took the first pitch he saw deep over the fence in left-center for his first grand slam and second home run of the season. Immediately, the Bears were within two runs of the Fightin' Engineers.
The top of the seventh saw Soong lead off by getting hit by a pitch. After advancing to second on a groundout and stealing third, Soong came in and scored on a Greene sacrifice fly to right field, cutting the run difference to just one with WashU trailing, 9-8.
Unfortunately, RHIT was able to force the Bears into a three-up/three-down situation in both the eighth and ninth innings to hold on and escape with the one-run victory.
Equale went 3-for-5 at the plate with his grand slam and two singles. Birke also had a multi-hit game, going 2-for-3 at the plate with a walk and two runs scored.
Junior
Owen Block (1-1) took the loss after starting and going 1.1 innings. Both senior
Miles Quemuel-Labrador and junior
Parker Guthrie each collected two strikeouts in relief work against the Fightin' Engineers.
WashU is back home for its next 21 contests, starting this weekend as the Bears host a three-game series against Transylvania on March 13-15. First pitch this Friday is scheduled for 2 p.m. at Kelley Field at Irv Utz Stadium.
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