Baseball Splits Final Two Games at 2011 UAA Championship on Monday

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Sanford, Fla., March 14, 2011 – The Washington University in St. Louis baseball team split its final two games at the 2011 University Athletic Association (UAA) Championship on Monday, March 14, at Sanford Memorial Stadium in Sanford, Fla.

The Bears opened the day by picking up an 8-6 win over Brandeis University and had a chance to force a three-way tie for the UAA title if it could defeat Emory University in the second game of its doubleheader. However, Emory erased a 7-0 deficit to pick up a 9-8 victory to capture the outright conference championship. Emory finished with a 5-1 mark at the UAA Championship while the Bears came in third with a 3-3 record.

Washington University took an 8-2 lead over Brandeis with three runs in the top of the eighth inning and withstood a late four-run rally by the Judges to come away with a win. Freshman Kyle Billig, junior Brandon Rogalski and sophomore David Madson each recorded an RBI in the big inning that provided the Red and Green with a six-run lead.

Brandeis scored once in the bottom of the eighth and nearly came all the way back in the bottom of the ninth, but Washington University senior H.T. Flanagan came in with two outs and two runners on base and recorded the final out to preserve the victory and pick up save number three on the season.

Senior Travis May and Rogalski were both 2-for-4 with two RBI’s in the win over Brandeis while senior Miguel Davis was 2-for-4 with two runs. Senior David Liebman started and threw four innings, giving up two runs with two strikeouts, but sophomore Stephen Bonser came away with the win after 4.2 innings of middle relief work.

Emory scored nine runs over the final four innings to comeback from a 7-0 hole. Washington University starter Adam Merzel was in a groove to start the game against the Eagles, yielding just three hits and no runs through the first five innings of work. He ran into trouble in the sixth with he allowed the first three batters to reach base, which led to an Andrew Cohn grand slam that brought the score to 7-4.

After Emory scored again in the bottom of the seventh to make it 7-6, Davis led off the eighth with a double to centerfield and scored two batters later when Rogalski hit an infield RBI-single to short.

Flanagan came in in the bottom of the eighth to record the final five outs of the game and appeared to be on track for his second save of the day until Emory ended the game with one swing of the bat in the ninth. One run had already come in when Patrick Riebsame came to the plate with a runner on first and he sent the game-winning two-run walk-off home run to left center field to clinch the UAA title for the Emory Eagles.

Rogalski and Davis continued their impressive days at the plate against Emory, with Rogalski going 4-for-5 with two RBI’s and Davis hitting 3-for-4 with an RBI and two runs.

Washington University (6-8, 3-3 UAA) returns to action at home on Wednesday, March 16, when it hosts Dominican University in a doubleheader at Kelly Field starting at 12:30 p.m.