St. Louis, Mo., May 11, 2013 – The Washington University in St. Louis baseball team scored 23 runs on 32 hits to earn a doubleheader sweep against University of Chicago Saturday afternoon at Kelly Field. The Bears won game one 13-2, before taking game two 10-7 on Senior Day.
Washington U. (25-15) reached 25 wins for the third year in a row under third-year head coach Steve Duncan. The Bears will await the official announcement of qualifiers for the NCAA Division III Championship. Those qualifiers are scheduled to be announced in a press release at 10 a.m. (ET) Monday, May 13, on NCAA.com.
Game One – Washington U. 13, Chicago 2
Washington U. scored multiple runs in each of the first five innings, including jumping out to an 8-0 lead after three innings, en route to the game one victory. Sophomore Zack Kessinger drove in the Bears' first two runs of the game on a one-out, bases-loaded single in the bottom of the first. Washington U. took advantage of two walks and an error to score three runs in the bottom of the second inning to make it 5-0. In the bottom of the third, the Bears made it 8-0 with four-straight singles to lead off the inning, before scoring a pair of runs on an error to make it 8-0.
Chicago scored a run in the fourth and another in the top of the fifth, but the Bears answered with two runs in each of those innings to stretch their lead to 12-2. In the bottom of the eighth, senior Greg Gleicher reached on a one-out error, before coming around to score on a two-out double by senior David Madson to finish the scoring at 13-2.
Sophomore Dom Quaranta (7-0) kept his perfect record intact, getting the win in his eighth start of the season. He allowed two runs on five hits and five walks in six innings of work. Senior Ryan Furtick allowed one hit and struck out one in two innings of relief, while junior Matt Kenahan closed the game with a hitless inning of relief in the top of the ninth.
Kessinger had a monster game at the plate, finishing 4-for-5 with five RBIs, a run scored and a double. Freshman Max Golembo (3-for-5, two doubles and two runs) and senior Kevin Paule (2-for-2, two RBIs, run, walk) both had multiple hits for the Bears. Washington U. tallied 14 hits as a team, and also drew seven walks in the game.
Game Two – Washington U. 10, Chicago 7
Four errors by the Bears in the first three innings made it a 4-4 game, but Washington U. scored three runs in each of the fourth and fifth innings to open up a 10-4 lead. The Maroons closed the gap to 10-7, but senior Alan Komorowski got back-to-back strikeouts of the Maroon's second and third batters with the bases loaded in the top of the ninth to seal the win for the Bears.
After falling behind 1-0 on an unearned run in the top of the first inning, Washington U. scored three runs on five hits in the bottom of the inning to take a 3-1 lead. The first four batters of the inning got hits, including RBIs by sophomores Andrew Goldstick, Chris Lowery and Kessinger.
The Maroons got another unearned run in the top of the second to make it 3-2, but Washington U. scored in the bottom of the inning when Golembo hit a one-out double and came around to score on a wild pitch. Chicago answered with two runs in the top of the third to tie the game at 4-4. In the bottom of the fourth, Madson led off with a single, before Golembo walked and Goldstick singled to load the bases. Junior Kyle Billig hit a sacrifice fly to center field to put the Bears ahead 5-4. Lowery followed with an RBI single and Kessinger hit a sacrifice fly to center to make it 7-4.
In the bottom of the fifth, Paule hit a lead-off double and sophomore Noah Doppelt followed with a single. Washington U. scored on a sacrifice fly by Madson and RBI singles by Golembo and Billig to stretch the lead to 10-4. The Maroons scored on a wild pitch in the top of the seventh to make the score 10-5. Chicago added two more runs on four hits and a walk to make it 10-7 before Komorowski tallied strikeouts against Steven Schwabe and Jack Cinoman to end the game with the bases loaded.
Senior Stephen Bonser (7-3) picked up his 19th career victory, allowing three earned runs in 6.1 innings against Chicago. He scattered 10 hits, while recording four strikeouts in the win. Senior Taylor Berman threw two innings of relief, giving up two runs on five hits and a walk, while striking out four. Komorowski picked up his second save of the season with two strikeouts in 0.2 of an inning.
The Bears finished game two with a season-high 18 hits, and all nine batters in the game recorded at least one hit. Golembo (3-for-3, four runs, RBI, double, two steals), Paule (3-for-4, double, run) and Goldstick (3-for-5, RBI, two runs) led the way offensively with three hits each. Billig, Lowery and Kessinger all had two RBIs in the game.
Bear Notebook: Washington U.'s Class of 2013 – Seth Bensussen, Berman, Bonser, Furtick, Gleicher, Max Gordon, Komorowski, Madson, Paule, Matthew Polites and Matt Tracy – has helped Washington U. to a 99-61 record in the past four seasons … The Bears and Maroons split a four-game series in Chicago two weeks ago … Washington U. recorded double-digit hits in both games, the 23rd and 24th times the Bears have done so this season … The Bears finished the season 14-5 at Kelly Field … Kessinger extended his hitting streak to 18 games, while Billig's hitting streak is at 12 games … Kessinger recorded his 100th career hit and 70th career RBI during game two … Washington U. has a team fielding percentage of .958 in 2013, which ties the school record set in 2009 … Billig moved to eighth on Washington U.'s career hits list (164), second on the career runs scored list (149), and increased his career stolen bases record to 89 … Lowery is tied for sixth in WUSTL history with a .379 career batting average … Bonser moved into a tie for ninth on Washington U.'s career wins list (19) … He also moved into 10th on the career innings pitched list (210.2) … Bonser ranks ninth on WUSTL's career ERA leaderboard (2.99).