St. Louis, Mo., March 1, 2010 – The Washington University in St. Louis baseball team scored eight unanswered runs and capitalized on a number of Greenville College miscues to win its 2011 home opener, 8-3, on Tuesday afternoon at Kelly Field.
The Bears trailed 3-0 through an inning and a half but managed to stay within striking distance thanks to several heads up defensive plays.
Greenville College had runners are second and third in the top of the first inning but did not come away with a run. Washington University starter Bryce Hrovat picked off Panther leadoff man Cole Lawson to end the early threat and the Bears went on to prevent three more runs with clutch force outs later in the game.
In the top of the third inning, Greenville's Kenny Trager hit what appeared to be an RBI double to left center field, but David Massengill failed to score on the play thanks to a crisp relay from centerfielder Kyle Billig to shortstop Greg Gleicher to catcher Joe Noon, who made the tag at the plate.
The Washington University defense prevented another run in the fifth inning. Massengill was on second base and Justin Hubbard stood at first when Kenny Trager singled to centerfield. Billig made a heads up play and caught Hubbard taking too large a turn a second base and threw him out before Massengill came around to score.
Again in the seventh inning the Red and Green prevented a score as first baseman Matt Skinner made a heads up play by fielding a Kyle Hobar grounder and throwing out Ben Brown at the plate.
Skinner also had a big day at the plate, going 2-for-4 with two RBIs and two runs scored. His leadoff double in the sixth inning led to a run to make the score 3-2, and he tied the game with a base hit through the right side of the infield in the seventh inning. The Bears went on to record three runs in the seventh and eighth innings to put the game out of reach.
Greenville committed four errors in the field and gave up just three earned runs in the loss. Wes Letizia started the game as the Panthers' designated hitter but moved to left field when Daniel Covert was brought in to pitch in the fifth inning. Letizia made two errors in left resulting in two Washington University runs.
Senior Zach Cain picked up the win for Washington University, relieving Hrovat in the fifth inning and pitching 4.1 innings of scoreless baseball. He gave up just three hits and one walk with two strikeouts in the winning effort.
Washington University (1-1) welcomes Westminster College to Kelly Field for a doubleheader on Wednesday, March 2. First pitch is scheduled for 12:30 p.m.