Matt RubinThe Washington University men’s baseball improved its record to 26-5 with wins over Eureka College on Wednesday and Westminster College on Thursday.
In Wednesday’s game against Eureka College, freshman starting pitcher Brian Williams led the way to a 5-2 win at Eureka, by pitching nine strong innings and striking out seven Eureka hitters.
The University bats broke out in the third inning, thanks to senior catcher Alan Germano’s fly-out to centerfield which brought senior designated hitter Jim Haley in to score, tying the game at 1-1.
In the seventh inning, the Bears built a comfortable three-run lead thanks to a doubles by senior shortstop Ryan Corning and junior leftfielder Eddy Hoering and a fly out to leftfield by freshman rightfielder Zander Lehmann. Corning’s game-winning double was his eighteenth of the year, giving him the University single-season record for doubles in a season.
Over nine innings, Brian Williams gave up 10 hits, two earned runs, walked three and struck out seven to earn his first win of the season. The victory also gave WU head coach Ric Lessmann his 300th win as manager of the Bears, giving him an overall record of 300-176 in his 13 years at the University.
Thursday’s game against Westminster College was a slugfest for the Bears who hammered the home team, 12-2.
In the second inning, the Bears broke out for six runs, knocking out the Westminster staring pitcher after he had yielded three earned runs.
The inning began with a home run by Germano that was soon followed with a two-run shot by Hoering. The Bears came back again in the third inning to score two runs thanks to another two-run homer by Hoering. Westminster kept things competitive by scoring their only two runs in the third, but the Bears sealed the victory by scoring four more runs in the sixth inning. The sixth was highlighted by junior centerfielder Andy Shields’ three-run homer.
Junior and starting pitcher Brent Buffa tossed a complete game for the Bears. Buffa gave up just six hits and struck out five over his seven solid innings. The victory secured him his seventh win of the year and kept him undefeated for the season.
The Bears begin a two-game homestead on Tuesday against MacMurray College at Kelly Field at 1:30 p.m. The next game for the Red and Green will be Saturday against DePauw University at 1 p.m. After the DePauw contest, the team will play at Illinois Wesleyan University before the last homestead of the regular season begins on the following Monday.