From Washington University Athletics
The No. 20 Washington University in St. Louis salvaged a rain shortened series with multiple victories over Brandeis University Sunday morning, defeating the Judges 1-0 in the early morning before closing out an 8-0 victory in the early afternoon at Monan Park.
WashU improved to 20-8 overall and 8-2 within the UAA while dropping Brandeis to 4-18 (2-12 UAA). The Bears relied on the pitching of senior Brad Margolin and sophomore John Howard as both starting pitchers went the distance for complete game (seven inning) shutout victories.
Game 1: WashU 1 – Brandeis 0
Margolin tossed his third consecutive shutout against UAA competition during a 1-0 win over Brandeis to increase his record to 7-0 on the season. He previously shutout Emory and Case Western in his two most recent outings. The Northbrook, Ill.-native has strung together 30 consecutive scoreless innings.
WashU managed four hits against the Judges' starting pitcher, Sean O'Neill, and scored the only run of the game in the third inning. Seniors Tate Maider and Scott Nelson both singled in back-to-back plate appearances to lead off the inning. Senior Austin Darmawan advanced both runners a single base with a sacrifice bunt before junior Auggie Mense's groundout to second base plated Maider for the lone run of the action.
Nelson led the Bears with two hits, including a bunt single in the third, while senior Christian Santos was the only other Bear to contribute hit. Senior Ben Browdy's consecutive games reaching base streak came to an end, as the second baseman previously reached base in 45 consecutive games.
Margolin allowed just two hits and one walk with three strikeouts in the victory. He increased his career victory total to 21, which ties him for sixth all-time in school history with Thor Larsen (1995-98) and Kirt Ervin (1991-94). He also moved within one inning of the top-10 career innings pitched as he has now totaled 213.1, just behind George Schmidt's 214.1 (1972-75).
Game 2: WashU 8 – Brandeis 0
Howard finished the second game of the doubleheader with his first collegiate complete game shutout, holding the Judges to three hits with no walks and seven strikeouts over seven innings pitched. The Bears wasted little time in providing Howard with the winning support as WashU scored three runs in the top of the first.
Darmawan reached first base on a hit-by-pitch and stole second and third base before scoring on a single to centerfield by Santos. Santos also stole second base and scored on junior Conor O'Hara's single to right field and scored on senior Ted Daley's double to put the Bears ahead 3-0 before Howard threw his first pitch.
The Judges threatened in the bottom of the first inning when Tim Lopez was struck by a pitch and advanced to second on a wild pitch, but Howard retired the next two batters to keep Brandeis off the scoreboard. The Judges did not have a runner reach second base the remainder of the game.
Santos clobbered his second homerun of the season past the left field fence in the third inning to increase WashU's lead to 4-0. The Bears also added a run in the sixth and three more in the seventh. Daley knocked in O'Hara with a sacrifice fly after O'Hara led off the sixth with a triple.
WashU loaded the bases in the seventh with three straight base-on-balls by sophomore Evan Nagel, Darmawan and freshman John Brinkman. Browdy's hit-by-pitch increased the Bears lead to 6-0 before Santos singled up the middle to knock in the final two runs of the game.
Santos concluded the second game with four RBIs while going 3-for-4 and scoring two runs. O'Hara and Daley also collected multi-hit games as O'Hara scored twice and Daley plated two runners to help Howard improve to 2-3 on the season.