From Washington University Athletics
The No. 15-ranked Washington University in St. Louis baseball team kept its winning streak alive with a doubleheader sweep of University of Chicago on Saturday, beating the Maroons 10-0 and 8-5 at Kelly Field.
The Bears have strung together seven consecutive victories improving their record to 25-8 overall while dropping the Maroons to 22-14 on the season. WashU optimized its offense on Saturday converting 25 hits into 18 runs between the two games, while relying on solid starts from sophomore John Howard and senior Scott Nelson.
Game 1: WashU 10 – Chicago 0
Howard made quick work of the Maroons in the first inning, three-up and three-down before senior Ben Browdy crushed his fourth home run of the season in the bottom half of the inning for the winning run.
After Howard retired Chicago in order during the second inning, the Bears offense erupted with four runs. Senior Ted Daley and sophomore Ethan Kuehl got things started with back-to-back hits before senior Tate Maider cashed in Daley with a sacrifice fly.
Sophomore Evan Nagel doubled to right center allowing Kuehl to score but was tagged out at third for the innings first out. Senior Austin Darmawan got the offense started back up with a double before junior Auggie Mense was hit by a pitch. Browdy knocked in another run with a single before senior Christian Santos capped the scoring off with a single.
The Bears offense continued with three more runs in the third, including a run scoring single by Daley before Nagel connected on a pitch for his first career home run. Daley knocked in junior Conor O'Hara for the second time in the game during the fifth before Maider pushed the Bears advantage to 10 runs with a sac fly.
Howard threw all seven innings allowing just four hits while totaling seven strikeouts with zero walks. With the victory, he evened his record on the season to 3-3.
O'Hara and Daley led the Bears with three hits apiece, while Daley scored three runs and knocked in two others on the day. Nagel led WashU during game one with three runs batted in with a 2-for-3 performance.
Game 2: WashU 8 – Chicago 5
Chicago took the lead in the third inning on a home run by Connor Hickey but WashU answered in the bottom half of the frame with two runs of its own. Mense knocked in Maider on a bunt single before Browdy knocked in another run on a groundout to the shortstop.
After a perfect fourth inning for Nelson, the Maroons scored two on a double by Max Larsen in the fifth. The two-run double gave Chicago the 3-2 lead temporarily.
The Bears offense once again wasted little time in supporting Nelson by scoring five runs in the bottom half of the fifth. WashU was opportunistic and took advantage of two errors with four hits in pushing its lead to 7-3.
Santos knocked in the first run on a grounder before a run scoring single by O'Hara. Kuehl also had a run scoring single while Maider added his third run scoring sacrifice fly of the day.
Nelson kept the Maroons off the scoreboard in his final two innings of work while Santos added another run to the Bears total with a run scoring single in the sixth. Nelson was relieved by senior Bill Heisler in the eighth inning.
Chicago had four players reach base to start the inning before senior Jake Mintz entered the action. He induced a groundball double play, with one run scoring before ending the threat by striking out Chicago's Max Brzostowski.
Despite two Maroons getting on base in the ninth inning, Mintz worked around the base runners with two strikeouts to close out the game and increase his season saves total to four.
Nelson improved to 3-2 on the season while increasing his career win total to 18. He pitched seven innings allowing three runs on five hits while striking out six. Mintz pitched two innings for the save allowing one hit and striking out three.
Darmawan led the Bears with a 3-for-5 performance at the plate while also stealing two bases. He is now tied with Max Golembo for fourth place on the all-time career stolen bases list at WashU. On the weekend Darmawan has also moved into ninth place all-time in career runs scored with 135.
During game two, Browdy also moved ahead of Joe Kelly in the WashU record book with his 36th career double. Browdy now has sole possession of 10th place all-time. He is trailing Kelly in the all-time runs batted in spot on the WashU record book 10th position as Kelly's total of 120 career RBIs is five ahead of Browdy's career total.
The Bears close out the regular season action Sunday at 11 a.m. with a pre-game ceremony to celebrate the careers of 10 senior baseball members: Ben Browdy, Matt Clohisy, Ted Daley, Austin Darmawan, Bill Heisler, Tate Maider, Brad Margolin, Jake Mintz, Scott Nelson and Christian Santos.