Greencastle, Ind., April 30, 2011 – Washington University in St. Louis baseball junior Brandon Rogalski went 5-for-10 with two home runs, six RBIs and four runs scored and etched his name into the school record book as the Bears split at double header with DePauw University on Saturday afternoon in Greencastle, Ind.
Saturday afternoon's first game was a tumultuous affair, with Washington University erasing an eight-run deficit to come back and force extra innings before ultimately falling 14-13 in the 11th. The Bears bounced back to win the second game 6-4.
With five hits Rogalski set a new Washington University single-season record with 71 this season, and he also set a new WUSTL single-season RBI mark with 56 in 2011. For the year he is batting .433 with a .707 slugging percentage, five home runs and 28 stolen bases.
DePauw led 6-0 in game one before Washington University recorded its first hit of the game, but it was a big one with Rogalski crushing an RBI double to left-center field in the top of the third to put this team on the scoreboard. Rogalski's base hit started what turned into a four-run inning for the Bears as they cut the DePauw lead down to 6-4.
DePauw quickly rebuilt its lead and then some, with the Tigers sending 11 batters to the plate in the fourth en route to a six-run inning that left them with a 12-4 lead.
In the sixth it was Washington University's turn to string together a big inning as the Bears tallied seven hits to plate six runs with five different players recording an RBI.
The Bears still trailed by two in the seventh when they moved two runners into scoring position with one out, allowing senior Ben Ingell to chop a base hit up the middle that hit off the back of second base to take a strange hop into centerfield, allowing seniors Matt Bayer and Joe Noon to tie the game at 12-12.
WUSTL reliever H.T. Flanagan kept the Tiger offense at bay in the bottom half of the seven to send the game into extra innings and in the top half of the eighth the Bears managed to take their first lead of the game as Rogalski skied a solo home run over the wall in left-center field.
Flanagan retired the first two batters he faced in the bottom of the eighth but with DePauw down to its last out, senior second baseman Travis May mishandled a Chris Forbringer pop fly to extend the inning. Flanagan walked the next two batters, bringing the tying run in Brendon Pashia across the plate before getting Ben Gardner to ground out to short to end the inning.
Neither team managed to find any more offense until DePauw manufactured the winning run in the bottom of the 11th. Sam Swafford singled to lead off the inning, moved over to second thanks to a sacrifice bunt and advanced to third on a wild pitch. With two outs Rob McPike sent a bloop single into right field, scoring Swafford to end the game.
Flanagan received the loss for Washington University despite coming up with one of his best performances of the year. He allowed just four hits and one earned run with three strikeouts in 5.2 innings of work. Prior to Saturday his longest appearance of the year lasted four innings in win over the University of Wisconsin-Platteville on March 24.
Rogalski homered again in the top of the first inning of game two to give the Bears an early 2-0 lead. DePauw came back to tied the game 2-2 with two runs in the second and the Tigers led 4-3 through four.
Sophomore Greg Gleicher delivered the game-tying base hit for Washington U. in sixth, smacking an RBI double to left-center field to score Bayer from second base. Gleicher came in to score on the next play, with Noon pinch hitting and scorching a single past DePauw shortstop Ben Gardner to put his team back in front.
Senior David Liebman started the second game and gave up four runs through 4.1 innings with a strikeout before being relieved by freshman Michael Rielly. Rielly threw the final 2.2 frames and retired eight of the nine batters he faced, yielding just a single base hit with two strikeouts to pick up his second win of the year.
Washington U. (27-17) wraps up the 2011 regular season with a double header against Fontbonne University on Sunday, May 1, at Irv Utz Stadium in St. Louis, Mo., beginning at 12 p.m.
Bear Notebook: Washington University tallied 14 hits in each of Saturday's games … The first game lasted 3:27 but game two was a speedy two hours even … Sophomore Taylor Berman started game one for the Bears but gave up four runs on four hits in one inning; Washington U. used a total of four pitchers in the first game with sophomores Max Gordon and Seth Bensussen also seeing action on the mound … Gleicher was 2-for-3 with two RBIs in the second game including the game-tying base hit and the game-winning score.