St. Louis, Mo., April 28, 2011 – Junior Brandon Rogalski went 4-for-5 with six RBIs to lead the Washington University in St. Louis baseball team past Millikin University in a high scoring affair on Thursday afternoon at Irv Utz Stadium in St. Louis, Mo.
Washington University appeared to be in firm control of the game after jumping out to an 8-0 lead through two innings and extending that advantage to 13-1 through five.
Millikin rallied from its 12-run deficit by scoring eight times in the top of the sixth and the Big Blue came within one score when left-fielder David Peters sent a three-run homer to right field in the seventh.
With its lead down to just one run, Washington University got out to a fast start offensively in the bottom of the seventh and took advantage of a pair of Millikin errors to score five times and extend its lead back to six. Junior Stephen Bonser and freshman Dylan Reid led off the inning with back-to-back singles and both scored when Rogalski screeched a single to center.
Senior Eric Myjak and sophomore Greg Gleicher also registered RBI base hits in the five-run seventh and Rogalski came in to pitch the eighth and ninth innings for the Bears, holding Millikin without a base to go along with just one walk and a game-ending strikeout.
Senior Adam Merzel worked the first four innings of the game on the mound for Washington University and picked up a win to improve to 5-3 on the year. He gave up just three hits to go along with four strikeouts to stymie the Millikin offense and left the game with the Bears comfortably ahead 10-0.
Freshman Kyle Billig led off the bottom of the first with a soaring home run to right center field, his first of the year, to spark the Red and Green's hot offensive start. Freshman designated hitter Andrew Dwoskin hit a double to lead off the second and scored thanks to a Ben Ingell base hit up the middle.
Rogalski made it 5-0 in favor of the home team with an RBI triple to right-center field and after Millikin's Max Couch issued a walk to senior Matt Skinner, senior Travis May blasted a three-run homer to right field to put his team ahead by eight.
Rogalski added RBI base hits in the fourth and fifth innings as part of his monster day at the dish. With 50 RBIs on the year he now sits just two behind the school record of 52, shared by three former Bears, and his 50 runners driven in is the most since Alan Germano tied the record of 52 in 2006. Rogalski is also only four hits shy of tying Ryan Corning's school record of 70, also set in 2006.
May finished the game 1-for-2 at the plate with five RBIs to see his 2011 tally rise to 36, and sophomore Seth Bensussen was 2-for-2 with a pair of RBIs. Seven of the Bears' nine starters recorded at least one base hit and 20 different players saw playing time in the win with 12 total players registering at least one hit.
Washington U. (26-16) returns to action on Saturday, April 30, when it heads to Greencastle, Ind., for a double header with DePauw University starting at 12:30 p.m. (ET).