St. Louis, Mo., April 4, 2012 – Junior Stephen Bonser picked up his second shutout of the season as the Washington University in St. Louis baseball team earned a 7-0 win over Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology on Wednesday afternoon at Kelly Field.
In his ninth start of the season, Bonser scattered eight hits, while striking out three, to earn the complete-game shutout win and improve to 5-1. The win was No. 50 for Washington University second-year head coach Steve Duncan (50-23). Washington U. finished with 10 hits in the game, led by freshman Chris Lowery's 3-for-4 day. Sophomore Kyle Billig and senior Brandon Rogalski finished with two hits each, and freshman Andrew Goldstick had a team-best two RBIs.
Washington U. jumped on the Fightin' Engineers early as the Bears' first five batters of the game recorded base hits and came around to score in the bottom of the first inning. Billig hit a lead-off single and Goldstick followed with an RBI double down the left-field line. Goldstick advanced to third on the play, and scored on an RBI single through the left side of the infield by Rogalski. Freshman Zack Kessinger singled to right field after the Rose-Hulman failed to catch a foul popup. Lowery then hit an RBI double to left-center field to score Rogalski. The Bears added two more runs on a fielder's choice error to make it 5-0 after one inning.
In the second inning, Billig hit his second single of the day through the right side of the infield and advanced to third on an error by the Rose-Hulman right fielder. Goldstick picked up his second RBI with a groundout to the shortstop that scored Billig to make it 6-0. Washington U. made it 7-0 in the bottom of the seventh with a one-out RBI single by junior David Madson that scored Rogalski who had led-off the inning with a single.
Washington U. (21-6) closes its 12-game homestand by hosting a three-game series against Hendrix College on Friday and Saturday at Kelly Field. The Bears and Warriors will square off in a single game beginning at 3 p.m. on Friday, before playing a doubleheader starting at 11 a.m. on Saturday.
Bear Notebook: It was Washington U.'s ninth-straight win … Lowery's RBI double in the first inning extended his team-best hitting streak to 11 games, while Billig has recorded hits in the last 10 games for the Bears … Rogalski brought his Division III-leading hits total to 53 with two against Rose-Hulman, marking his 18th multiple-hit game of the year.