St. Louis, March 7, 2012 - The Washington University in St. Louis baseball team recorded 16 hits and a season-high 12 stolen bases to earn a 15-6 win over Westminster College on Wednesday afternoon at Kelly Field.
The win was the seventh in a row for Washington U. (7-3), who finished its season-opening 10-game homestand. Westminster dropped to 2-5 with the loss.
Westminster jumped on top of the Bears early with a three-run homer in the top of the first inning. Sophomores Kyle Billig and Dylan Reid each reached on walks to lead off the bottom of the inning. Billig scored on a balk, before Reid made it 2-0 on a single by freshman Zack Kessinger. The Bears tied the score in the bottom of the second inning on a sacrifice fly by freshman Noah Doppelt to score junior Matthew Polites.
The Blue Jays took advantage of two wild pitches to regain a three-run lead in the top of the second inning, 6-3. In the bottom of the inning, Reid and senior Brandon Rogalski led off the inning with back-to-back singles, and Kessinger hit his second RBI single of the game to make it 6-4. Later in the inning, Rogalski scored on a double steal, and Kessinger scored on an error by the first baseman trying to pickoff freshman Chris Lowery on a steal attempt. Polites finished the scoring in the inning with an RBI double to the gap in right-center field to give the Bears a 7-6 lead. Washington U. tallied six stolen bases in the third inning.
Washington U. broke the game open with four runs on four hits in the bottom of the fourth inning to take an 11-6 lead. The Bears also took advantage of three wild pitches in the inning. In the bottom of the sixth, Kessinger line a one-out single to left field. Two batters later, freshman Brian Cizek drove a ball out of the park in left field for the Bears' first over-the-fence homerun of the season to make it 13-6. The next inning, Billig was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning, and Rogalski hit a one-out RBI triple to the gap in left-center field. Rogalski then scored as Kessinger grounded out to second base for his fourth RBI of the game to make the final score 15-6.
Sophomore Michael Rielly pitched five shutout innings of relief to earn his first win of the season. He allowed just four hits while recording three strikeouts. Rogalski and Kessinger both finished 3-for-5 at the plate for the Bears, while Polites was 3-for-4. Kessinger had two runs scored and four RBIs to increase his team-leading season total to 15. Cizek finished 2-for-4 with three RBIs and two runs, while Rogalski and Billig each scored three runs.
Washington U. travels to Sanford, Fla., for the University Athletic Association (UAA) tournament Sunday, March 11-Saturday, March 17. The Bears begin the eight-game UAA schedule by facing University of Rochester at 2:30 p.m. (ET) on Sunday.
Bear Notebook: Wednesday's game was the sixth in a row and eighth overall that Washington U. has recorded 10 or more hits … The Bears had a season-high seven extra-base hits … Billig and Rogalski each recorded three stolen bases against Westminster, moving Billig to fourth (42) and Rogalski to sixth (37) on Washington U.'s all-time career stolen bases list … Rogalski also moved up to eighth on the career hits list as his three hits against the Blue Jays brought his career total to 158.