Cedar Rapids, Iowa, April 10, 2011 – The Washington University in St. Louis baseball team split a pair of games with Coe College on Sunday afternoon in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The Bears won the first game 8-3 then dropped the second game by the same score.
A pair of first-inning home runs allowed Washington University to jump ahead 4-0 in game one while providing plenty of run support for starter Adam Merzel, who picked up his third win of the year.
Junior Brandon Rogalski hit the first blast, a two-run shot to left field off Coe College's Rob Voges, to make the score 2-0. After Voges issued a walk to senior Travis May, senior Matt Bayer hammered another two-run homer, this time to right, putting the Red and Green ahead by four.
Merzel was in control on the hill, scattering eight hits and giving up just three earned runs in 6.1 innings of work. He ran into a bit of trouble in the bottom of the sixth, loading the bases with a two out walk to John Delaplane, but he struck out pinch hitter Caleb Armbruster to end the threat and prevent Coe from cutting into the Bears' five-run lead.
Washington U. featured a balanced attack on offense with six different players recording a pair of base hits. Senior Joe Noon finished the game 0-for-2 but picked up a pair of RBIs with a groundout to short in the third and a chopper back to pitcher Alex Korth in the sixth, scoring senior Matt Skinner from third.
Manufacturing runs in the first and third innings of game two, the Bears led 2-1 through two and a half innings before Coe came back to grab its first lead of the day. Leadoff hitter Kyle Billig doubled to start the game and after senior Miguel Davis bunted him over to third, came in to score on a Skinner sacrifice fly to right.
Billig scored again in the third, thanks to another lead off double to center field. This time he moved himself over to third with a steal and came home when Coe catcher Kevin Schuver's throw down on the steal was in the dirt and wide of third baseman Ryan Velvick's reach.
Coe scored a pair of unearned runs in the bottom half of the third to pull ahead, 3-2, then tacked on two more scores in the fourth, and three runs in the sixth.
Billig was 3-for-4 with three runs scored in the second game while Skinner picked up a pair of RBIs. Senior David Liebman started on the mound for the Bears but gave up three unearned runs in 2.1 innings to drop his record to 2-2.
Washington University finished the day with four stolen bases, increasing its season tally to 90, just one shy of the school single-season record.
Washington U. (21-13) returns to action on Friday, April 15, when it hosts Webster University for a single game at Kelly Field in St. Louis, Mo., at 3 p.m.