St. Louis, Mo., March 31, 2012 – The Washington University in St. Louis baseball team extended its winning streak to seven games with a pair of hard-fought wins over St. Norbert College on Saturday afternoon. Freshman Zack Kessinger drove in the game-winning run in the bottom of the seventh to give the Bears a 3-2 win in game one of the doubleheader, before WU earned an 8-6 win in game two.
Game One - Washington U. 3, St. Norbert 2
The Bears took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first when sophomore Kyle Billig led-off the game with a single and came around to score on a groundout to the shortstop by senior Brandon Rogalski. In the bottom of the third, freshman Andrew Goldstick drew a two-out walk and Rogalski followed with a triple to deep center field to make the score 2-0 in favor of Washington U.
St. Norbert took advantage of a one-out error by the Bears to score a run in the top of the sixth and cut the lead to 2-1. The Green Knights put together another two-out rally in the top of the seventh of the seven-inning game, with a walk and two-straight singles that tied the game at 2-2 before a strikeout ended the inning. In the bottom of the inning, freshman Chris Lowery was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning. Billig and Goldstick were intentionally walked to load the bases, and with two outs and two strikes, Kessinger lined a ball to right field to score the game-winning run for the Bears in the 3-2 victory.
Junior Stephen Bonser (4-1) threw his third complete game of the season, allowing just three hits and one earned run in seven innings, while striking out seven batters in the win.
Game Two - Washington U. 8, St. Norbert 6
St. Norbert grabbed an early 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning on a one-out double and an RBI single. The bears answered in the bottom of the inning when Goldstick singled through the left side of the infield and Rogalski hit a one-out RBI double to right-center field to make it 1-1.
The Bears took their first lead of the game, 2-1, when Billig hit a one-out single to the shortstop and came around to score on an error by the St. Norbert catcher during a run-down between third base and home. The Green Knights regained the lead with two runs on a pair of errors by the Bears in the top of the sixth.
Washington U. answered with two runs in the bottom of the sixth to take a 4-3 lead. Lowery hit a lead-off double off the fence in left field and advanced to third on a wild pitch before scoring on a single down the right-field line by senior Kevin Paule. Junior Greg Gleicher singled through the left side and Billig hit a two-out, RBI double down the left-field line to give the Bears the lead.
After St. Norbert took the lead again (5-4) with two runs on three hits and an error in the top of the seventh, Rogalski led off the bottom half of the inning with a single through the left side of the infield. After advancing to second on a balk and to third on a fly out, Rogalski scored on a double-steal by him and Lowery to tie the game. Gleicher then hit a two-out two-RBI double to deep left-center field to give WU a 7-5 lead.
Billig singled down the left-field line and came around to score on a single to right-center by Lowery to extend the lead to 8-5. The Green Knights got another two-out rally going in the top of the ninth with a two-out error and back-to-back singles to score an unearned run, but on the final RBI single, Rogalski made a quick throw to second from right field to get the batter out and end the game.
Freshman Max Zhang earned the win for Washington U., scattering five hits and allowing just one unearned run in three innings of relief. Junior Taylor Berman scattered eight hits and allowed three earned runs in six innings of work as the Bears' starter.
Billig finished 5-for-8 at the plate to lead the Bears offensively on Saturday. Washington U. (19-6) finishes its three-game series against St. Norbert with a single game beginning at 11 a.m. at Kelly Field on Sunday.
Bear Notebook: Washington U., who entered Saturday ranked fourth in NCAA Division III with 75 stolen bases this season, recorded seven stolen bases in Saturday's doubleheader … Rogalski entered the doubleheader with a Division III-best 44 hits this season, and recorded four more on Saturday … Rogalski's triple to center moved him into a tie for sixth on the WU career triples list (11).