St. Louis, Mo., March 24, 2011 – The Washington University in St. Louis baseball team used a pair of strong pitching performances to sweep a doubleheader against the University of Wisconsin-Platteville on Thursday afternoon at Kelly Field in St. Louis, Mo.
Washington University won the first game 12-0 as sophomore Taylor Berman threw seven scoreless innings to pick up his second complete-game shutout victory of the season. In the second game, senior H.T. Flanagan was unhittable in four innings of relief work as the Bears held on for a 5-3 win.
Washington University improved to 13-11 overall and moves two games above .500 for the first time this year; the Bears are 7-2 over their last nine games.
Berman gave up just one hit through the first five innings in his game-one victory. UW-Platteville loaded the bases with one out in the top of the sixth, but Berman got Aaron Hopson to ground into a force out at the plate and struck out Brett Benesh to escape the jam and preserve the shutout.
Berman allowed just six hits with six strikeouts and only one walk against the Pioneers. He improves to 3-0 on the year and lowered his team-leading earned run average to 1.71.
Washington University provided Berman with plenty of run support, staking claim to a 6-0 lead through two innings. Aggressive base running and several Wisconsin-Platteville miscues in the field led to the large early lead. The Bears scored their first run of the game on a double steal at first and third, with freshman Kyle Billig coming home and senior Miguel Davis ending up safe at second.
Senior Brandon Rogalski singled to center field to score Davis from second, and after moving over to third on a Travis May base hit, came in to make it 3-0 when Platteville catcher Kevin Fessler made an errant throw to second as on a successful May steal attempt.
Rogalski ended the game going 3-for-3 with two RBIs and three runs scored. May was 2-for-2 at the plate with two RBIs and junior catcher Joe Noon went 2-for-3 while recording three RBIs.
Washington University jumped on UW-Platteville early on in the second game, scoring three times in the first and twice more in the second. Pioneer starter Trevor Hall faced just eight batters before leaving the game with an apparent injury in the bottom of the first. He gave up just two hits, but walked four in two-thirds of inning.
Flanagan relieved WUSTL starter Max Gordon with the bases loaded and no outs in the top of the fourth and the Pioneers scored only two runs that inning because of his ability to force a pair of RBI groundouts before striking out Fessler to end the inning.
Flanagan retired 12 of the 13 batters he faced, recording five strikeouts and picking up his first win of the year. Senior Matt Skinner was 2-for-3 with two RBIs and Rogalski went 1-for-4, extending his current hitting streak to 12-straight games.
Washington U. (13-11) returns to action on Sunday, March 27, when it hosts No. 23 Carthage College for a doubleheader at Kelly Field in St. Louis, Mo., starting at 11 a.m.