Forget about the opposing team’s best pitchers and hitters… it seems like the only thing that can stop the Bears this season is the weather.
After snow wiped out a week’s worth of games over spring break, the Bears found themselves opening the season down in rainy Florida last weekend for the UAA tournament.
After enduring several postponed games that ended up being shortened to seven innings, WU finished the tournament at 4-2, claiming a share of its second UAA title in school history.
The story of the tournament was the Bears’ pitching, which featured three complete game victories. Behind the leadership of senior lefty Trevor Young-Hyman, WU recovered from a close loss to Emory to defeat Rochester 3-1 in the third game of the tournament. Young-Hyman gave up an unearned run, and he allowed just two hits while striking out nine. Hopes of a shutout were dashed when Young-Hyman attempted to pick off a Rochester base runner, but the throw ended sailing into right field.
Right-hander Damien Janet kept up the good pitching in the next game by shutting out Brandeis on a three-hitter, as the Bears came away with a 5-0 victory.
“Janet just pitched a gem,” coach Ric Lessmann said. “The game lasted only an hour and 40 minutes… that’s how well he threw.”
WU’s only losses in the tournament came at the hands of Emory. In the first game, the Bears trailed 1-0 heading into the bottom of the sixth, when left-hander Adam Cowley ran into some trouble.
“We could have won that ballgame,” Lessmann said. “Cowley gets the first two guys out on three pitches, and he’s got this left-handed hitter to face next.”
The lefty-lefty match-up normally favors the pitcher, but, in this case, Cowley ended up walking him. With a runner on, and two outs, Emory got a two-run home run from their DH, and extended the lead to 3-0. WU responded with a home run from Kirk Heischmidt in the next inning, but Emory eventually shut the door.
The pitching wasn’t as sharp in the next game between the two teams, as sophomore lefty Josh Deitch struggled to keep runners off-base, allowing Emory to roll en-route to a 13-3 victory.
However, the final game of the tournament saw the pitching return to form with Alex Cucuru allowing just two runs, on seven hits, while striking out three with no walks, propelling WU to the 12-2 win over Case Western.
The offensive stars of the tournament included Heischmidt, who hit .526 for the tournament (10-for-19) with seven runs scored, four doubles and a slugging percentage of .895 and senior Joe Kelly, who hit .333 and had 6 RBIs, all while playing with a bad hamstring.
Additionally, Ryan Argo had some solid games, including the longest home run of the tournament – a mammoth 425 ft blast to straightaway CF.
“I would say it was gigantic,” Lessmann said.
And just as the Bears returned to St. Louis to play their first home games of the season, with all the snow finally melted, the rain seems to have followed them.
With Wednesday’s downpour, today’s game against Greenville College will be scheduled as an away game.
“The field looks like Okefenokee swamp right now,” Lessmann said. “We won’t play here on Friday, but we’re looking good for the weekend games.”