St. Louis, Mo., April 1, 2011 – The Washington University in St. Louis baseball team won its fourth game in a row as the Bears picked up a 9-5 victory over Greenville College on Friday afternoon at Kelly Field in St. Louis, Mo.

Washington University is now 9-2 over its last 11 games and the win over Greenville (2-12) is the second of the season for the Red and Green; Washington U. defeated Greenville 8-3 in the second game of the season on March 1.

Thanks to timely hitting aggressive running along the base paths the Bears manufactured big innings in the first in the eighth to secure their fourth-straight win. Three different players recorded an RBI base hit in the bottom of the first as Washington University jumped out to a 3-0 lead.

From there Washington University starter Adam Merzel was in complete control. He allowed just two Greenville hits through the first seven innings, striking out nine batters over that span. He improved his record to 2-2 on the year and has now struck out a team-leading 27 batters this season.

Merzel gave up a double to Cole Lawson and walked David Massengill to start the eighth inning, leading to a pair of Greenville runs and just a 5-4 lead for the Bears heading into the bottom half of the frame. Washington University took advantage of three Panther errors in the field to bring four more runs across the plate and put the game out of reach.

The Bears had three steals during their big eighth inning, with senior Miguel Davis, senior Travis May and junior Brandon Rogalski each swiping a base. Base stealing played a big part in Washington University's offense throughout the game as the Red and Green ended up a perfect 10-for-10 in stolen bases.

Washington University is closing in on the single-season school record of 93 steals, having already picked up 71-of-80 stolen base attempts so far this year.

Freshman Matt Kenahan came in to relieve Merzel with one out in the eighth and gave up three hits and just one run over the final 1.2 innings to pick up the first save of his career.

Leadoff man Kyle Billig finished the day batting 3-for-5 with two RBIs and two runs scored. May, Rogalski and senior Matt Skinner also recorded multi-hit days for the Bears with each of them going 2-for-5 with an RBI.

Washington U. (15-11) returns to action on Saturday, April 2, for two more games against Greenville College. The Bears will play at doubleheader against the Panthers in Greenville, Ill., starting at 12 p.m.

Bear Notebook: Merzel recorded at least one strikeout in each of the first five innings and retired Greenville College in order three times … Freshman Kyle Billig has 20 steals so far this year and is just nine shy of tying the single-season Washington University record.