The Washington University baseball team got off to a quick start but relinquished two leads to fall to undefeated Fontbonne University, 6-5, Wednesday at Kelly Field. The loss snapped an eight-game winning streak for the Bears in the Wydown Showdown.

Grace Bruton | Student Life

Thomas Gardner takes a swing during Wash. U.’s game against Case Western Reserve University on April 21, 2018. After going 1-1 in their season-opening doubleheader in Arkansas last weekend, the Bears opened their home schedule with a 6-5 loss to Fontbonne on Tuesday.

The Red and Green looked perfect from the outset as freshman Jackson Gray made his mound debut. Gray was dominant in his first inning on the home rubber, inducing a grounder and fanning the Griffins’ No. 2 and 3 hitters.

The Bears jumped on the Griffins’ starting pitcher immediately, with sophomore right fielder Henry Singer and senior second baseman Evan Nagel each singling and stealing a base to put two in scoring position for the heart of the order. The heart delivered with productive outs: Junior first baseman John Brinkman got the Bears on the board with a sacrifice fly and freshman shortstop Caleb Durbin added an RBI groundout around a walk. Junior catcher Thomas Gardner followed with a single to make it 3-0.

Still, Wash. U. left the frame wishing it had done more. Two batters later, the No. 9 hitter, sophomore third baseman Collin Kahal, came to the plate but flew out, killing a shot to bust the game wide open in the first inning. It was the worst of a rough afternoon for Kahal, who went zero-for-four with a strikeout as the only starter not to reach base or drive in a run.

The Griffins chipped away over the next two frames, adding a sac fly and ground-ball-ribbie of their own to cut the lead to one. They finally took over the scoreboard in the top of the fifth, when a few infield miscues hurt the Bears.

After the leadoff man beat out an infield single, Fontbonne tried to bunt him over to second. The Bears tried to cut down the lead man but instead, both runners reached safely. After a fielder’s choice put runners on the corners with one out, a Nagel error allowed the Griffins to tie the contest. A two-out base hit two batters later gave the Griffins a 4-3 advantage.

In the next inning, it was the Red and Green’s turn to take advantage of the opposition’s mistakes. After sophomore relief pitcher Mitchell Black fired a shutdown inning, an error by the Griffin pitcher put Singer on base with one out. Nagel walked, and the pitcher committed his second boner of the inning, balking to advance both runners. Brinkman delivered with another sac fly, but Nagel committed one of baseball’s cardinal sins in getting thrown out at third to end the inning on the same play, ending another Wash. U. opportunity.

Black tossed another 1-2-3 frame, and the Bears continued to pile on the faulty Fontbonne hurler. A wild pitch allowed Durbin to move into scoring position after a single, then come home on a single by sophomore left fielder Johnny LaMantia. But LaMantia got picked off first, ending the inning with the Bears up just one.

Again, the lead wasn’t for long, as the Griffins finally broke through against Black. A leadoff single, coupled with a pair of groundouts, put a man on third, who Fontbonne singled home with two outs to knot it up at five.

In the ninth, Brinkman took the mound for the first time this season but relinquished the lead as a fielder: After a single and stolen base, Brinkman committed an error that put the runner on base with no one out. A sac fly—Brinkman’s own event of choice in the batter’s box—gave Fontbonne a 6-5 edge heading into the bottom of the ninth. The Bears didn’t go quietly, putting the tying run 90 feet away, but fell just short.

Wash. U. hosts the University of Dubuque for a doubleheader Friday at noon.