St. Louis, Mo., April 20, 2013 – Senior Stephen Bonser won his 17th career game to move into a tie for 10th on Washington U.'s career wins list, and junior Kyle Billig and sophomore Chris Lowery combined to go 11-for-13 at the plate as the Washington University in St. Louis baseball team swept Greenville College in a doubleheader Saturday at Kelly Field.
Washington U. won game one 13-2, before earning a 9-0 win in a seven-inning game two. It marked the first doubleheader sweep of the season for the Bears. Billig finished the day 6-for-8 at the plate with seven runs scored, four RBIs and three steals. Lowery went 5-for-5 with three runs, three RBIs and two sacrifice flies.
Washington U. 13, Greenville 2
Washington U. got on the board first with a two-out rally in the bottom of the first inning. Billig was hit by a pitch and Lowery reached on a walk, before sophomore Zack Kessinger hit the first pitch he saw to shallow right field for an RBI single that scored Billig and gave the Bears a 1-0 lead.
Greenville tied the game with an unearned run in the top of the third. In the bottom of the inning, Washington U. regained the lead with another two-out rally. Billig hit a single up the middle, and Lowery followed by lining a double to deep left field to score Billig and make it 2-1.
The Bears broke the game open with six runs on five hits in the bottom of the fourth to take an 8-1 lead. After junior Andrew Dwoskin and sophomore Noah Doppelt hit back-to-back singles to lead off the inning, senior David Madson lined a single to left-center to score Dwoskin. Freshman Max Golembo then hit a one-out single up the middle that scored Doppelt and made it 4-1. After sophomore Andrew Goldstick drew a walk to load the bases, Billig drove a bases-clearing triple off the right-field wall to extend the lead to 7-1. The triple was Billig's 10th of his career, tying him for ninth on Washington U.'s all-time career list. Lowery then hit a sacrifice fly to left field to finish the scoring in the inning for Washington U.
Washington U. added two more runs in the bottom of the fifth to make it 10-1. Dwoskin led off the inning with a single through the left side, and came around to score on a groundout, before Doppelt stole home on a double steal to extend the lead to nine runs. Billig and Lowery hit back-to-back singles to lead off the bottom of the sixth, and scored on an error later in the inning to make the score 12-1. Greenville scored another unearned run in the top of the seventh, before Kessinger lined an RBI single to left field in the bottom of the inning to finish the scoring in the game.
Bonser (5-2) earned the win on the mound for the Bears, allowing two runs, both unearned, in seven innings of work. After scattering five hits through the first three innings, he retired the next nine batters he faced, before giving up two hits in the top of the seventh. Bonser finished with five strikeouts in the game to bring his career total to 140. Senior Max Gordon and junior Matt Kenahan threw the final two innings, allowing just one hit while striking out three.
Washington U. 9, Greenville 0 (7 innings)
Sophomores Dom Quaranta, Lowery and Max Zhang combined to throw a seven-inning shutout as Washington U. won game two. Quaranta (5-0) remained unbeaten on the season, throwing five shutout innings to earn the win. He scattered four hits, while equaling his career high with seven strikeouts. Lowery and Zhang pitched the final two innings, combining for three strikeouts.
The Bears again struck in the first inning, scoring three runs on three hits. Washington U. had five-straight batters reach base with two outs to take the 3-0 lead. In the bottom of the third, Billig and Lowery hit back-to-back singles to lead off the inning. Billig scored on a double play, and Lowery scored on a wild pitch to extend the lead to 5-0.
A four-run fourth inning pushed the Bears' lead to 9-0. Golembo singled to left-center field and Goldstick reached on a walk, before Billig hit an RBI single up the middle. After Goldstick and Billig stole second and third, Lowery hit a sacrifice fly to center field to make it 7-0. Billig stole third and Kessinger was hit by a pitch before stealing second. Billig and Kessinger then both scored on a throwing error by the Greenville shortstop to give the Bears the 9-0 lead.
Washington U. (19-11) is scheduled to be back in action with a game against No. 10 Webster University at 3 p.m. Tuesday, April 23, at Kelly Field. The Bears are 2-1 against the Gorloks this season.
Bear Notebook: Washington U. recorded double-digit hits (14) in game one to extend that streak to six games, before finishing with nine hits in game two … The Bears had seven steals in game two, their second-highest single-game total of the season … Billig came around to score all seven times he reached base in the two games … In addition to moving into a tie for ninth on WUSTL's career triples list, Billig also moved into a tie for sixth in career runs scored (138) and added to his school-record career stolen bases total (83) … Kessinger extended his hitting streak to nine games … Goldstick has reached base in 24-straight games.