ST. LOUIS, Mo. – With a cloudless sky, the No. 14 Washington University in St. Louis baseball team saw the runs keep pouring in as the Bears closed out the UAA series with NYU with an 11-1 win in seven innings. WashU improves to 21-6 and 5-3 in the UAA.
The Bears got on the board first in the bottom of the first to take a quick lead over the Violets. First-year
Chance Cromer led off with a walk before a single by senior
Shane Pellegrino to left center to put runners on first and second. After a double play, WashU had a runner, Cromer, on third with two outs. A wild pitch by NYU allowed Cromer to come home standing as the Bears took a 1-0 lead.
Sophomore
Cooper Greene then walked on four straight pitches before stealing second. A single by first-year
Jacob Witte put runners on the corners. After Witte stole second, junior
Anthony Equale singled to left field deep enough to not only score Greene, but Witte as he slid into home to put WashU up 3-0 after one inning.
The Violets got one run back in the top of the third. NYU got a leadoff triple to right center before the run came in and scored on a wild pitch. It trimmed the WashU lead down to 3-1.
The score remained at 3-1 until the bottom of the fifth. Greene led off with a single through the left side and a stolen base. A groundout by Witte allowed Greene to take third. Equale then hit a bloop double to right field that allowed Greene to score. Another groundout by the Bears would see Equale reach third before scoring on a single through the left side by sophomore
Miles Birke as WashU went up 5-1.
In the bottom of the sixth, Cromer led off with a single straight up the middle. A groundout allowed him to advance to second before Soong hit a single to right field through a large gap between first and second. Cromer took advantage and rounded third and scored as the Bears took a 6-1 lead.
After Soong stole second, he advanced to third on a single by Greene to left field. A sacrifice fly by Witte to left allowed Soong to come in and give WashU the 7-1 lead.
In the bottom of the seventh, Stephens led off with a four-pitch walk before a double from Birke allowed Stephens to score and put WashU ahead 8-1. Graduate student
Josh Erpenbeck came in to pinch hit and had a bunt single to the pitcher that put runners on first and third. After a fly out and a pitching change, Erpenbeck stole second before Pellegrino doubled down the left field line, scoring both Birke and Erpenbeck as the Bears led 10-1.
Soong was then walked before a double steal put runners on second and third. Cromer was intentionally walked. That decision came back to haunt the Violets as Witte was hit by a pitch to walk in the run-rule run as WashU claimed the 11-1 win in seven innings.
Junior
Parker Guthrie (3-0) earned the win in his first start of the season. He pitched 5.0 innings and collected eight strikeouts with just one walk.
Pellegrino finished the game going 3-for-5 at the plate with a pair of RBIs. Equale finished 2-for-4 at the plate with three RBIs.
WashU will be back in action next weekend when it takes on Emory for a four-game UAA series at Kelly Field. The first game will be on Friday, April 10 with a 3 p.m. start time. The game will serve as the team's Hardy Strong game. The teams will then play a doubleheader on Saturday, April 11 beginning at 12 p.m. before closing out the series with a single game on Sunday, April 12 at 11 a.m.
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