Baseball Swept in Twinbill with California State-East Bay

BOX 1 | BOX 2

St. Louis, Mo., May 2, 2008 – The Washington University baseball team was swept in a doubleheader with California State-East Bay at Kelly Field in St. Louis, Mo., on Friday afternoon. The Bears fell in game one, 5-4, and dropped the second contest, 9-6.

Washington University’s last-inning comeback attempt in game one of the doubleheader fell just short, as the Bears lost by a single run. East Bay scored runs in the first and third innings, and put two on the board with back-to-back base hits from Jesus Muela and Mark Marelich in the fifth inning to take a 4-0 lead.

Still ahead by four runs in the top of the seventh inning, the Pioneers (25-14) scored a seemingly innocuous unearned run to take a 5-0 lead heading into the last of the seventh. However, that run ended up counting as the game winner.

Junior Gregg Kennedy led off for Washington U. in the seventh, sending a double to left center field. Junior Zander Lehmann came up next and hit WU’s second-straight double to score Kennedy. Junior Andy Webb made it three-straight Bears to record a base hit, knocking a single up the middle to score Lehmann and cut his team’s deficit to 5-2.

Two batters later, junior Scott Kennedy reached base on a fielder’s choice and came around to score when freshman Miguel Davis hit is first-career triple, a shot to deep left-center field. Davis’ three-base hit signaled the end of the day for East Bay starting pitcher Matt Vieira, as the Pioneers went to the bullpen to bring in closer Cody Hazen. Hazen had an inauspicious start on the mound, as he was called for a balk, dropping the ball from the set position before throwing a pitch, to bring Davis home.

However, Hazen retired the next two Washington U. batters to pick up the save, his 10th of the year. Sophomore Jeremy Rogoff pitched all seven innings for the Red and Green, giving up four earned runs on six hits and striking out seven.

East Bay scored in the top of the first inning of game two, but Washington U. took a 3-1 lead in the bottom of the second. Davis doubled to left-center field to score freshman Matt Skinner and sophomore Nick Vom Brack. He came around to scored the Bears’ third run of the frame by advancing to third on a wild pitch by the Pioneers’ Kyle Dunn, and went home when East Bay catcher Steven Shinkwin threw the ball into left field attempting to throw him out after the wild pitch.

The Red and Green remained in front until East Bay’s offense got on track in the top half of sixth, a three-run Pioneer inning. Michael Thomasson ended an 0-for-5 slump at the plate by hitting a two-run shot to straight-away center field, and Shinkwin tallied the team’s other RBI of the inning, scoring Marelich.

Down by three runs in the seventh, Washington U. came back to tie the game, but East Bay regained the lead in top half of the eighth. Dunn had a rough start to the seventh, issuing three walks and an RBI single before being relieved by Adam Halper. Halper came into the game with the bases loaded and faced just three batters, striking out senior Dave Working but walking the next two, which allowed the Red and Green to tie the game.

Hazen made his second pitching appearance of the day, replacing Halper, and got freshman Matt Bayer to fly out to center field to end the inning. The Pioneers scored one run in the eighth and secured a victory by putting up two more runs in the ninth. Hazen was the pitcher of record for East Bay, picking up the win, while freshman Adam Merzel was credited with loss, as he allowed the go-ahead run on a bloop RBI single in the eighth.

Washington U. (15-13) will host Greenville College on Saturday, May 3, for its season finale at Kelly Field in St. Louis, Mo. Game time is scheduled for 3 p.m.