Sanford, Fla., March 14, 2012 – The Washington University in St. Louis baseball team added two wins on Wednesday at the University Athletic Association (UAA) Championship Tournament to move into first place in the UAA standings. The Bears beat Emory University 10-1, before holding on for a 5-3 win over Brandeis University.
Washington University improved to 12-3 overall and 5-0 in the UAA with the two wins, stretching its win streak to 12 games. The Bears took a one-game lead over Emory in the UAA standings with Wednesday's two wins. Washington U. will face Case Western Reserve University at 6 p.m. (ET) on Thursday. The Bears rallied for a 3-2 win in 10 innings over the Spartans on Tuesday.
Washington U. 10, Emory University 1
The Bears jumped on top of Emory early, scoring two runs in the top of the first inning. Sophomore Kyle Billig drew a lead-off walk to start the game, and came around to score when senior Brandon Rogalski tripled to the right-field corner. Freshman Zack Kessinger followed with a sacrifice fly to make it 2-0. Emory loaded the bases in the bottom of the third inning, but a fielder's choice got the Bears out of the inning without allowing any runs.
Washington U. broke the game open in the top of the fourth with five runs all scored with two outs. Junior Matthew Polites drew a two-out walk to keep the inning alive, and freshmen Noah Doppelt, Andrew Goldstick and Billig hit three-straight RBI singles to extend the lead to 5-0. Sophomore Dylan Reid was hit by a pitch, bringing Rogalski to the plate. He smacked a two-RBI double to make the score 7-0 in favor of Washington U. Billig singled in the top of the sixth, and stole second and third. Reid was hit by a pitch for the second time in the game. As Reid stole second base, the Emory catcher made a bad throw in an attempt to throw him out, which allowed Billig to score and Reid to advance to third. Reid then scored on a wild pitch to extend the WU lead to 9-0.
Emory ended the shutout with a run on two hits in the bottom of the eighth inning, which made the score 9-1. The Bears answered with their 10th run of the game on a bases-loaded walk by Doppelt in the top of the ninth to make the final score 10-1. Sophomore Taylor Berman earned his first victory of the season, throwing a complete-game for the Bears. Berman allowed just five hits and one earned run, while striking out a season-high nine batters in the win.
Rogalski went 2-for-5 with three RBIs and a run, while Billig was 2-for-4 with an RBI and three runs scored. Goldstick (3-for-5) and junior David Madson (2-for-5) also had multiple hits for Washington U., who finished with 11 hits in the game.
Washington U. 5, Brandeis University 3
After three scoreless innings, Brandeis took advantage of a Washington U. error to take a 1-0 lead on an RBI single in the top of the fourth inning. The Bears evened the score at 1-1 in the bottom half of the inning. Rogalski singled up the middle, and sophomore Andrew Dwoskin followed with a single, but an error on the play allowed Rogalski to score the tying run.
Polites drew a walk in the bottom of the fifth and Doppelt hit a bunt single to get on base. A pick-off attempt by the Brandeis pitcher got away, allowing Polites and Doppelt to each move up a base. Goldstick then hit an RBI single through the right side of the infield and Billig hit a sacrifice fly to make it 3-1.
In the bottom of the sixth inning, Kessinger hit a lead-off double to left-center field, and advanced to third on a wild pitch. Dwoskin was hit by a pitch, before freshman Chris Lowery singled down the left-field line to score Kessinger. Polites hit a sacrifice bunt to move Dwoskin and Lowery to second and third, and Doppelt hit a sacrifice fly that scored Dwoskin before Lowery was thrown out at third to end the inning.
Junior Max Gordon pitched eight innings for the Bears, allowing just one unearned run before giving way in the ninth inning to freshman Brian Cizek. Brandeis had one batter reach on a walk and another was hit by a pitch, before back-to-back RBI singles by the Judges cut Washington U.'s lead to 5-3. Freshman Max Zhang came in to pitch for the Bears, and got a groundout and a fly out to end the game and earn his first-career save. Gordon recorded five strikeouts and allowed six hits, improving to 2-1 with the win.
Bear Notebook: Wednesday's game against Brandeis was the first time this season that Washington U. has not had a stolen base … In the win over Emory, the Bears recorded double-digit runs (10) for the seventh time this season and double-digit hits (11) for the 10th time … Through the first five UAA games, the Bears' starting pitchers have combined to throw 39.2 of 45 innings, and allowed just three earned runs … Berman was the third starter for Washington U. to throw a complete game at the UAA Tournament … Billig recorded hits in both games Wednesday to extend his hitting streak to eight games … With his triple and three RBIs against Emory, Rogalski moved into eighth on Washington U.'s all-time career RBIs list (116) and a tie for eighth on the career triples list (10).