St. Louis, Mo., April 28, 2019 – No. 13 Washington University in St. Louis baseball earned a pair of victories Sunday evening at Kelly Field defeating Monmouth College in two pitcher duels, including a ninth inning 2-1 rally in game one and a 4-2 victory in game two.
With the nonconference doubleheader sweep the Bears improved to 29-5-1 on the year while Monmouth fell to 20-11 on the season. WashU and the Fighting Scots finished with the same amount of hits but the Bears pitching staff induced 25 strikeouts.
Game 1: WashU 2 – Monmouth 1
Junior starting pitcher Ryan Loutos was locked into a pitcher's duel with Monmouth's Tyler McDonald for nearly the entirety of the contest as each pitcher blanked the opponents for five innings in a row. Loutos routinely struck out two batters per inning early on before the Fighting Scots tallied the first run of the game in the sixth inning.
After a leadoff double for the Bears in the first inning by freshman shortstop Caleb Durbin and a hit-by-pitch received by senior second baseman Evan Nagel, McDonald recorded 25 straight outs. The streak was ended by a slow rolling infield hit by sophomore left fielder Henry Singer with one-out in the ninth inning.
He advanced to third base on a hard hit ball by Durbin to the third baseman that escaped the fielder's glove and rolled to the shortstop. The shortstop attempted to secure the out at first base but overthrew the ball which allowed Durbin and Singer into scoring position.
Monmouth elected to intentionally walk Nagel to load the bases which brought up the three-hole hitter, junior first baseman John Brinkman. McDonald got into a favorable 1-2 pitcher's count against Brinkman before the reigning University Athletic Association (UAA) Hitter of the Week fought off an outside pitch for a looping two-run scoring game-winning hit into right field.
Freshman Matt Lopes earned his third win of the season by recording one out in the ninth inning to extinguish a scoring opportunity for the Fighting Scots. Lopes entered the contest with runners on first and third before inducing an inning ending fielder's choice to Durbin.
Loutos recorded a personal-best 15 strikeouts which marks the seventh time in his career that he has reached double figures. The 15 strikeouts are the most by a Bear since 2010 when Jeremy Rogoff matched the output against Webster University (4/29/2010).
Game 2: WashU 4 – Monmouth 2
After being three-hit in the game one victory, WashU tallied nine in game two. Junior pitcher Matt Ashbaugh picked up his sixth victory of the season holding Monmouth scoreless through 5.1 innings pitched. Ashbaugh recorded six strikeouts while limiting the Fighting Scots to three hits and three walks.
Singer knocked in the first run of the game during the second inning with two outs. He barreled up a 1-1 pitch driving it off the left field fence to plate junior center fielder John Ostrander.
Brinkman increased the Bears lead to 2-0 in the fifth inning with a double to left center which allowed Nagel to score. After a single by freshman right fielder Jackson Gray put runners on first and third a double steal by Gray and Brinkman added to the Bears advantage.
WashU tacked on one more run in the seventh inning. Junior catcher Thomas Gardner singled through the left side of the infield to put the Bears ahead 4-0.
The Fighting Scots closed the gap to within two runs by scoring two in the eighth inning. Brinkman shifted to the mound in the ninth inning and picked up his fifth save of the year after closing out Monmouth. He struck out the final two batters in a three-up, three-down inning.
The Bears are scheduled to travel to Knox College on Saturday, May 4 with a doubleheader starting at 1 p.m. Be sure to stay up to date on all your Bears scores and awards by following @WashUBears on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.