Chicago, Ill., April 28, 2013 – The Washington University in St. Louis baseball team earned a 10-5 win in game one, but gave up a pair of unearned runs in a 2-1 loss in game two of a doubleheader split at University of Chicago Sunday afternoon.
Game One – Washington U. 10, Chicago 5
A pair of two-out hits put Washington U. ahead 2-0 in the top of the first inning. Freshman Max Golembo drew a walk to leadoff the game. With two outs, sophomore Chris Lowery singled through the left side of the infield, and sophomore Zack Kessinger lined a double to right-center field for a pair of RBIs to give the Bears the lead.
Chicago scored a run on a pair of hits and a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the second to cut the Bears' lead to 2-1. Washington U. answered with a big third inning, scoring four runs on four hits to extend the lead to 6-1. Golembo led off with a single to left field, then stole second before scoring on a single up the middle by sophomore Andrew Goldstick. Goldstick stole second base and moved to third on a single to second by junior Kyle Billig. Goldstick made it 4-1 when he slid under the tag on a steal of home when the Chicago catcher tried to pick Billig off at first. Lowery followed with an RBI double to left field, and he advanced to third on the throw to home. Kessinger then got his third RBI of the day with a sacrifice fly to deep right field that gave the Bears the 6-1 lead.
Kessinger hit his second homerun of the season, a shot over the right-field fence, to extend Washington U.'s lead to 7-1 in the top of the fifth. Senior Matt Tracy limited the Maroons to three hits through the first four innings, but Chicago got its bats going in the bottom of the fifth to score four runs on five hits and cut the lead to 7-5. After the Maroons hit three-straight singles to drive in the four runs, Tracy got J.R. Lopez to ground into a 5-4-3 double play to end the inning.
In the top of the sixth, Washington U. got two runs back on a two-out two-RBI triple to right field by Lowery to make the score 9-5. The Bears added a run in the top of the seventh. The Bears got the bases loaded with a hit-by-pitch and two walks, before Goldstick singled on a bunt to score Doppelt and make it 10-5.
Tracy (3-3) threw his third complete game of the season to get the win. He allowed five runs on 10 hits and a walk, while striking out three. Kessinger (2-for-3, double, homerun, four RBIs, run), Lowery (3-for-4, double, triple, three RBIs, two runs) and Goldstick (4-for-5, two RBIs, two runs) led the Bears offensively in the win.
Game Two – Chicago 2, Washington U. 1
Chicago got on the scoreboard first in game two, scoring an unearned run in the bottom of the first inning. The Maroons threatened to add to their lead in the bottom of the third, getting runners to second and third with two outs, but Goldstick made a great play on a grounder to end the inning. Chicago again got runners on second and third with one out in the bottom of the fifth, but senior Taylor Berman got a pair of groundouts to end the inning and keep the score 1-0.
The Bears strung together three-straight singles to tie the game in the top of the sixth. Billig led off with a single up the middle, then stole second and third before scoring on a single deep in the hole at shortstop by Lowery. Kessinger followed with a single up the middle. Lowery and Kessinger moved to second and third on a sacrifice bunt by junior Andrew Dwoskin, but a strikeout and a line out ended the inning with the score tied 1-1. In the bottom of the sixth, Lopez reached on an error to lead off the inning and came around to score the winning run on back-to-back wild pitches by senior Alan Komorowski with two outs.
Berman (3-3) took the loss despite not allowing an earned run on four hits in 5 1/3 innings of work. Komorowski struck out one in 2/3 of an inning. Washington U. out-hit Chicago 7-4 in the game, led by Billig (2-for-4, run).
Washington U. (22-14) returns to action against Benedictine University (Ill.) Tuesday, April 30. First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m. at Illinois Wesleyan University's stadium in Bloomington, Ill.
Bear Notebook: Washington U. recorded double-digit hits (12) in game one Sunday, marking the 20th double-digit hit game of the season … As of April 21, Chicago was ranked fourth in NCAA Division III with 9.7 runs scored per game, but was held to 11 runs in the four-game series against the Bears … Washington U. also out-hit Chicago 32-27 on the weekend after the Maroons entered the week leading NCAA Division III in batting average (.374) … Kessinger extended his team-leading hitting streak to 14 games … Billig's two runs scored on the day moved him into third on the Washington U. all-time list (143), and he also increased his school-record stolen base total to 86.