St. Louis, Mo., April 14, 2011 – Junior Brandon Rogalski laced a two RBI double down the third base line with two outs in the bottom of the seventh to break a 3-3 tie and lift the Washington University in St. Louis baseball team to a 5-4 win over Webster University on Thursday afternoon at Kelly Field in St. Louis, Mo.
Sophomore Stephen Bonser hurled his second-straight complete game to pick up the victory on the mound for the Red and Green, improving his 2011 record to 5-0.
Bonser's final line was nine innings pitched, with eight hits and three earned runs allowed while fanning a career-high nine batters. He has won four of his last five starts and leads Washington University with a 2.82 earned run average in 38.1 innings of work.
Trailing 2-0 in the bottom of the third, Washington University got one run back when freshman designated hitter Andrew Dwoskin hammered a home run to left field, the first of his career in just his second career start.
Webster (16-6) took advantage of an errant throw down to second on a Matt Crader steal in the top half of the fifth, with Anthony Genna picking up an RBI on a hard hit ball just past Kyle Billig at short to score Crader from third.
In the sixth it was Washington University taking advantage of a Webster fielding error to score two runs and knot the game up at 3-3. The Bears had their first two batters of the inning reach base as senior Miguel Davis drew a walk and Rogalski singled to left field.
Senior Travis May scored Davis from third with a sacrifice fly to deep centerfield, allowing Rogalski to reach third on the same play. With two outs senior Matt Bayer to hit a grounder to Genna at short, but with Bayer hustling down the line Genna's throw bounced past first baseman Tom Henke, extending the inning while Rogalski came in to score from third.
Bonser retired the Gorloks in order in the eighth and with a two run lead came back out to pitch the ninth. Webster scored one run on two hits to cut the WUSTL lead to 5-4, but Bonser got pinch hitter Michael Aaron to fly out to left field to end the game.
Washington U. (22-13) returns to action on Saturday, April 16, when it hosts Principia College in St. Louis, Mo., at 11 a.m.
Washington University will be hosting an alumni reunion and stadium dedication ceremony in conjunction with Saturday's game. The Bears' baseball stadium will be renamed to Utz Stadium, to honor former head baseball coach and Washington University Sports Hall of Fame member Irv Utz.