From Washington University Athletics
The Washington University in St. Louis baseball team's offense erupted with 25 runs during a pair of wins over Buena Vista University Saturday afternoon, defeating the Beavers 10-0 and 15-4 on Kelly Field at the Irv Utz Stadium.
The pair of victories evened the Bears record at 3-3 on the year as Buena Vista fell in its opening two games of the season. WashU's batters remained patient with the bats, totaling 14 walks in addition to 21 hits while the Red & Green's pitching staff did not allow a single earned run.
Game 1: WashU 10 – Buena Vista 0 (Seven innings)
The Bears jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in the first inning to back junior John Howard's scoreless first inning. Sophomore AJ Dunham drove in sophomore Thomas Gardner with an infield single before sophomore John Ostrander provided a two-run single down the left field line.
The three runs would be all that WashU needed as Howard shut down the Beavers. He pitched a complete game shutout while only allowing one hit in the the fourth inning. Buena Vista's Devin Wagenman reached first on an infield single with a well hit ball deep in the left side hole.
The Bears offense exploded for seven runs in the bottom of the fifth inning with five hits. Sophomore Brian Schutter, Ostrander and sophomore Andrew Kleiboeker provided run scoring singles while three additional runs were scored on wild pitches.
Howard improved to 2-0 on the year while tying a career-high with seven strikeouts. In addition, he only provided one walk during his seven scoreless innings.
Game 2: WashU 15 – Buena Vista 4 (Seven innings)
Five Bears had multi hit games for the Bears during the 15-4 victory. Senior Auggie Mense and freshman Henry Singer went a perfect 4-for-4 at the plate combined including three runs batted in and scored by Mense.
Sophomore John Brinkman went 2-for-3 with two doubles while driving in four runs as sophomore John Ostranderand freshman Mitchell Black were the other two batters to achieve multiple hits.
Freshman Tim Tague finished the game with a total of three-innings pitched, two hits allowed and three strikeouts while picking up his first collegiate victory. He relieved Matt Ashbaugh who threw four innings, allowing four hits, four runs (all unearned) and fanning three batters.
The Beavers struck first with a run scoring double but the Bears answered the call in the bottom half of the inning on a double by Brinkman that scored Gardner. Buena Vista tacked on three additional unearned runs in the top of the second but WashU totaled four runs in the bottom half of the frame including a two-run single by Mense and another RBI double by Brinkman.
An eight run fourth inning put the game out of reach for Buena Vista, as the Bears sent 15 batters to the box. Gardner, Brinkman, Schutter, Black, Ostrander and Mense knocked in runs during the fourth as WashU took a 13-4 advantage.
WashU tacked on two additional runs in the sixth inning to close out the game's scoring on a sacrifice fly by Brinkman and an RBI single by freshman Johnny LaMantia that plated freshman Sean Robinson.