Kevin Sullivan | Orange County Register | MCT

Boston Red Sox principal owner John W. Henry chats with Los Angeles Angels owner Arte Moreno on Oct. 6, 2008. Moreno spoke at Washington University on Thursday night to members of the Olin Sports Management Organization get off the ground.

The Olin Sports Management Organization (OSMO), founded during the 2008-2009 school year, was created by students looking to help other Wash. U. students land jobs in the sports industry. This past Thursday, Arte Moreno, owner of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, came and spoke to the club.

Moreno was the highest-profile speaker that OSMO had brought in since its creation last school year. The club got off the ground with faculty adviser Dan Stiffler and four varsity athletes: seniors Nick Vom Brack and Ross Kelley, and sophomores Jon Howard and Daniel Grimm.

“[We had] a passion for sports beyond just playing sports, and we wanted to work with people who like business and are involved in sports,” said Vom Brack, the club’s current president.

After the initial meeting and the addition of a fifth member of the founding group, senior Remy Midkiff, OSMO began bringing in various panels of speakers in the sports field while trying to get its name out to the Wash. U. public.

“In our first year, like in a business, we were just hoping we were still around at the end of the year,” said Stiffler, a career adviser in the Olin Business School.

Though OSMO had a number of speakers in before last Thursday, none had nearly the pedigree of Moreno. The club managed to bring him in through a connection to his son, Rico, a senior here at Wash. U. With Moreno already coming in to visit for ThurtenE weekend, there was a clear opportunity.

“I’ve been really lucky to know Rico for four years,” Midkiff said. “I thought it would be great to bring in his dad, and he said that he’d love to talk to us. It really just fell into place.”

Moreno’s speech, in which he discussed not just the Angels but also his ascension from selling billboards to owning a Major League Baseball team, seemed to impress the crowd.

“I originally thought it was going to be mainly Q&A, so I was really blown away by the material that he prepared about his career and the Angels and the multimedia stuff he brought in,” Midkiff said.

The implications of Moreno’s appearance, in terms of the club’s future, are unknown. The officers acknowledged that bringing in a speaker of Moreno’s caliber on a regular basis may not be realistic.

Regardless, OSMO is looking to obtain Student Union funding and recognition to be more visible across campus.

“Not only to get funding, to help us put on bigger-profile events, but just to get our name out there more and have the whole school know about us would be a big step,” Vom Brack said.

Funding or not, the club’s long-term goals have not changed. “We’ve had three goals from the beginning: one, to provide information about jobs in sports; two, to develop a network in sports; and finally, to contribute to the community,” Stiffler said. “Those are our three goals, and we’re doing all right with them.”

Paul Goedeke | Student Life

Junior Travis May swings in Wednesday’s 9-0 victory versus Benedectine University. The Bears swept Millikin University in a doubleheader on Wednesday.

By Monday, pending clear weather, the Washington University baseball team will have played 10 games in only six days.

Senior Nick Vom Brack led the way to victory in two of those 10 games, against Millikin University on Wednesday, with a pair of two-run home runs.

“Situationally, I haven’t been hitting as well as I would’ve liked to,” Vom Brack said. “For the most part, it hasn’t been one of my stronger points on the year. [With the hits], it’s kind of finding my groove again, getting back into rhythm, and doing what I know how to do. It was definitely big…and I’m just happy that I could come through.”

Down by three runs in the fifth inning of the second game and hitless, the Bears needed a spark.

“[The Millikin pitcher] had been cruising up to that point,” Vom Brack said. “He had shown signs an inning earlier that he was getting wild. Finally, by getting some runners on base…he started leaving some pitches in the zone that we really capitalized on.”

After back-to-back walks, a double play and an RBI single, Vom Brack stepped up to the plate.

“I didn’t even really get the greatest pitch [to hit],” he said. “I just tried to put a good swing on it.”

The Red and Green would push across two more runs in the inning, setting up a 5-4 victory.

In the first game of the doubleheader, Vom Brack’s blast added two crucial runs in the sixth inning, pushing a one-run lead to three. The Bears gave up one run in the seventh to close the game 6-4.

The previous day’s games at Illinois College were less successful, as the Bears picked up a split in the doubleheader. Wash. U. powered past the Blueboys 16-8 in the first game, behind six RBIs from junior Travis May, but lost 8-7 in the second game. Pitcher junior Eric Myjak gave up two runs in the bottom of the seventh for the walk-off loss.

“[The loss] was really tough because…we were down almost the whole game,” pitcher Adam Merzel, a junior said. “We came back in the seventh inning and we went ahead. Then we just messed up a couple of bunt plays and they took advantage of it. That’s baseball. It would’ve been great to win that game, but…we’re just going to do exactly what we did last year—keep on rolling.”

The Bears play six games at home this weekend, including a doubleheader Friday against the University of Wisconsin-Platteville. The first pitch is scheduled for 12:30 p.m.

The Red and Green also have another doubleheader against the University of Wisconsin-Platteville on Saturday with the first pitch at 11 a.m., followed by another doubleheader against Knox College at 1 p.m. on Sunday.

“It’s definitely a very busy time,” Vom Brack said. “None of us have ever played this many games in such a short period of time. It’s a lot of stress on the team…but I think it’s something that we can definitely get through.”

The team’s sixth loss, a 28-8 defeat, came Saturday at the hands of the undefeated No. 7 Case Western Reserve University Spartans of Cleveland, Ohio.

“I know that everybody left everything out on the field, so that’s all you can ever ask for,” senior running back and co-captain Matt Glenn said. “It would’ve been nice to walk away with a victory, but unfortunately we didn’t.”

The win for Case Western (10-0, 3-0) not only gives them the University Athletic Association championship, but also their third straight undefeated season and a 31-game winning streak in the regular season.

“When it’s all said and done, I think we’re a little disappointed, but it wasn’t because of a lack of effort. They’re a good team, too,” head coach Larry Kindbom said. “It would’ve taken not just a good effort, but a good performance to beat them, but I think we had the opportunities.”

Case running back Greg Meyer led a nine-play, 77-yard touchdown drive to start the game. His 7-yard run into the end zone gave the team a 7-0 advantage with 10:45 left in the first quarter.

The Bears’ defense responded and gave the offense a chance to tie the contest. Senior defensive back Nick Vom Brack intercepted quarterback Dan Whalen on Case’s second drive, returning the ball 38 yards to the Spartans’ 25-yard line. Junior Tim Johnson’s 41-yard field goal missed wide left.

“On defense, we didn’t play anything close to a perfect game,” senior linebacker and co-captain Andrew Berryman said. “The whole time, we had to go out and worry about ourselves and keep putting the offense in positions [to score].”

Junior defensive back Brandon Brown intercepted Whalen one drive later. The Bears would be limited to a three-and-out.

Despite a 42-yard run by Glenn and a 20-yard catch by junior Tom Gulyas on their next series, the Bears failed to score on a first-and-goal, turning the ball over on downs at the 2-yard line.

“We were able to put together a couple of drives and had some big plays, but in the end, it came down to finishing,” Glenn said.

The defense forced a safety on Case’s following drive, but the Spartan offense quickly responded. Meyer added another rushing touchdown with 3:11 left in the first half, giving the Spartans a 14-2 lead heading into halftime.

Case extended its lead with a 13-play, 67-yard touchdown drive with 7:55 left in the third quarter, but Wash. U.’s 17-play, 65-yard drive could not replicate the same success. The Bears turned the ball over on downs for the third time.

“We just had to play…a little better on every play,” Kindbom said. “It would’ve put us in position to win that game in the fourth quarter.”

The Bears did connect for a 3-yard touchdown rush by Glenn with 5:46 left in the quarter, but the Spartans took advantage of a failed onside-kick attempt, sealing their victory with a 22-yard rush only 1:25 later.

Wash. U. used three different quarterbacks in the loss, but completed only 22 of 47 attempts for 172 yards and averaged 3.7 yards per attempt. The team gained 309 yards of total offense, while Case had 385.

“I’m obviously not extremely happy with our record and how we [finished], but I think we grew as a team and got a lot better as the season went on,” Glenn said. “You can’t have any regrets. I love the team, love playing with all the guys out there.”