From Washington University Athletics
The Washington University in St. Louis baseball team had 10 different players get hits as the Bears finished with a season-high 21 hits in their 15-10 win at Iowa Wesleyan College Wednesday evening.
WashU improved to 20-11 overall with the win, while Iowa Wesleyan dropped to 12-15. The Bears are scheduled to return home for a four-game homestand beginning with a 3 p.m. game against Webster University Friday, April 17, at Kelly Field.
The Bears' offense got a huge jumpstart in the first inning when junior Max Golembo hit a leadoff homerun, the first round-tripper of his career. Senior Chris Lowery reached on a one-out error, and senior Zack Kessinger singled through the right side before a fielder's choice by sophomore CJ Price put runners on the corners for WashU. Senior Brandon Deger followed with a two-out RBI single to left field to quickly make it 2-0 in favor of the Bears.
WashU sent 10 batters to the plate in a six-run second inning that extended its lead to 8-0. Senior Stewart Martens hit a one-out single to right field and stole second before moving to third on a groundout. Sophomore Austin Darmawan hit an RBI single, stole second and advanced to third on a wild pitch before scoring when Lowery again reached on an error. With a four-run lead, Kessinger drew a walk and Price followed with an RBI single to score Lowery and make it 5-0. Deger then drove in two more runs with his sixth double of the season, and came around to score the Bears' eighth run when sophomore Christian Santosreached on Iowa Wesleyan's third error of the game.
The Tigers got on the scoreboard in the bottom of the inning with a two-run homer after a leadoff walk, cutting WashU's lead to 8-2. Lowery led off the top of the fourth with a single, the 216th hit of his career, which tied him with Brandon Rogalski (2009-12) as WashU's all-time career hits leader. Kessinger followed with his third hit of the game, but a double play and a fly out kept the Bears off the scoreboard in the fourth. Iowa Wesleyan turned a leadoff single into a run in the bottom of the fourth to make the score 8-3 in favor of WashU.
In the top of the fifth, senior Andrew Goldstick drew a one-out walk and eventually scored on a passed ball to regain a six-run lead for the Bears. WashU added three runs in the top of the sixth. Kessinger, Price and Deger loaded the bases with three straight singles, and Santos hit a sacrifice fly to center field to put the Bears ahead 10-3. Goldstick followed with a single and Price scored on an error on the play, and Golembo hit a two-out single to center field to score Deger and extend WashU's lead to 12-3. Iowa Wesleyan got a run back in the bottom of the sixth, but an RBI single by Santos made the score 13-4 in favor of WashU in the top of the seventh. The Bears added another run in the top of the eighth on an RBI double by freshman Conor O'Hara to gain a 10-run advantage.
Iowa Wesleyan cut into WashU's lead with four runs on five hits in the bottom of the eighth, before junior Cameron Adams retired three straight batters to make the score 14-8 heading to the ninth inning. The Bears took advantage of an error by Iowa Wesleyan to score a run in the top of the ninth, making it 15-8. In the bottom of the ninth, the Tigers got a leadoff single and a two-run homerun to trim WashU's lead to 15-10, but managed just one more baserunner as Adams got Tanner Ander to popup to end the game.
WashU outhit Iowa Wesleyan 21-15, including multiple-hit games by seven different players for the Bears. Deger had his first four-hit game of the season, finishing 4-for-5 with three RBIs and three runs scored. Kessinger reached base safely in all five at-bats, finishing 4-for-4 with two runs scored. Golembo (2-for-5, two RBIs, run), Darmawan (2-for-6, RBI, run), Price (2-for-6, RBI, three runs) and Martens (2-for-5, two runs) added two hits each. All 11 players who batted for the Bears in the game reached base safely at least once.
Senior Dom Quaranta (2-1) picked up the win on the mound for WashU. He allowed four runs on six hits and five walks, while recording one strikeout in five innings of work. Junior Spencer Neal gave up just two hits and recorded a strikeout in two innings of relief. Junior Billy Meyerallowed four runs on four hits and a walk before being replaced by Adams. He threw the final two innings for the Bears, allowing two runs on three hits and a walk, while recording the first two strikeouts of his career.
Bear Notebook: The Bears improved to 6-1 in road games this season … Kessinger increased his career hits total to 208, passing Cornell Foggie (1985-88) for fourth on WashU's all-time hits leaderboard … Deger and Goldstick both extended their hitting streaks to five games … Kessinger has reached base safely in all 31 games this season and extended his reached-base streak to 36 games, dating to April 30, 2014.