The No. 10 Washington University baseball team bounced back from a three-game losing skid to defeat Illinois Wesleyan University 5-1 on Thursday in Bloomington, Ill.
Led by senior Eddy Hoering’s 3-for-5 and two RBI performances, as well as a stellar showing on the mound by sophomore Brian Williams, the Red and Green were able to beat some heavy odds against them going into the game.
“We knew that Illinois Wesleyan had a 15-game win streak and they were undefeated at home so we knew it would be tough,” said Senior Captain David Kramer. “Even though we lost our three in a row, our last game against Emory was a real character builder, even though we lost in extra innings. It was a positive loss, so going into the game against IU we were confident and came out fast.”
In the top of the first inning the Bears jumped out to an early lead. Hoering knocked in sophomore Zander Lehmann from third base with a two-out shot to left field. Senior captain Arden Farhi followed with an RBI double to left, giving the Bears an early 2-0 lead.
The Bears added another run in the second on a Lehmann sacrifice fly RBI, scoring junior Dave Working.
After a Titans run in the fourth the score remained knotted at 3-1 until the Bears scored two additional insurance runs in the top of the ninth to take a 5-1 lead. Again Lehmann and Hoering came through for the Red and Green, each adding RBIs for the Bears to lengthen the lead to 5-1.
Williams closed out his complete game with a one-hit ninth, giving him a team-leading ninth victory of the season. He allowed eight hits, one earned run and struck out three in his showing on Thursday.
“Brian Williams threw another great game for us, a big reason we were able to come out on top,” said Kramer, who went 3-for-4 in the game and is batting .351 with a team-high 12 stolen bases.
Williams is 9-2 on the season and leads the team in innings pitched (84.1), ERA (2.88) and strikeouts (77). Hoering is batting .355 on the season with a team-best 38 RBI.
For now, the future is looking bright for the Bears, who are looking at their last 10 games with enthusiasm and excitement for the postseason.
“We have about 10 games left, and are confident that we can win out the rest of the season,” said Kramer. “We haven’t peaked yet, but we’re definitely almost there, which at the end of the season we need to be best. Usually the magic number is 30 wins and in order to do that we must win our next six out of seven games. Thirty wins usually gives us automatic bid and being ranked tenth last week will help us out with getting a bid.”
The Bears (24-8, 3-3 UAA) face off against Westminster College at home on Tuesday. First pitch is set for 2 p.m.