Senior Ryan Loutos pitches in a home game earlier this year. Loutos gave up five runs over six innings in his start Saturday against Buena Vista. (Photo by Clara Richards | Student Life)

Some days, everything that can go wrong does go wrong. The No. 2 Washington University baseball team’s weekend in Storm Lake, Iowa was one of those instances, said leadoff hitter junior Tim Van Kirk. The team drove eight hours and 495 miles each way to drop two out of three games to Buena Vista University, a team with an 8-15 record coming into the weekend. It was a jarring experience for a team that has conquered some incredibly tough opponents so far this season. In its wake, the players have been left to reflect on what, exactly, went wrong—a question for which they do not have an obvious answer.

To start, there was not a huge distinction from the Bears’ normal level of play. Senior pitcher Ryan Loutos, the Bears’ ace all season, took the mound for the first six innings of the three-game set. As usual, his pitches were spotted well and his velocity was on point. Yet the Beavers managed to score five runs before he left the game. 

“They just did exactly what they wanted to do. We went in there with a target on our backs—we’re at their place and everyone in the world expects us to win,” said junior catcher Zac Styka. 

The Bears got on the board with runs from junior Bo Anderson and freshman Clayton Miller in the second inning, but they were unable to score after that. The game concluded with a score of 8-2, as the Bears landed eight hits in comparison to the Beavers’ 13. Shocking would be an understatement, as the Bears had dropped only one other game on the year, a loss to fourth-ranked Webster University. 

The second game started out with Wash. U. unable to get anything on the board, failing to even get a hit until the top of the sixth. The team managed a single run, an RBI single from Van Kirk, to Buena Vista’s three, and the Beavers again outhit the Bears, this time tripling Wash. U.’s four hits. 

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The last matchup of the weekend, a single game on Sunday, looked like another bizarre loss for the Bears until the ninth inning. But there was no motivating speech, no fairytale meeting at the mound after the Beavers scored three runs in the bottom of the eighth—just a general consensus of the need to get the job done. Thanks to three consecutive hit-by-pitches to start off the inning, the Bears scored six runs off of three hits after appearing to have lost all signs of life. The late rally powered them to a 7-5 win, leaving the team at 22-3 after the weekend. 

In many ways, that consequential ninth inning seemed like a return to typical performance for the Bears, with Anderson and senior Johnny LaMantia coming in with clutch hits to propel the team to a final win. It also marked a shift in momentum, Van Kirk said. “They’d been in control the entire weekend, even though we were the higher ranked team,” he said. “It seemed like they had their hand on the gas the whole time.” But with those hits, the momentum snowballed in favor of Wash. U., helping to end an otherwise disappointing weekend on a higher note. 

The stunning losses, which stamp two blemishes on the Bears’ otherwise nearly spotless record, were a reflection of the inability to string together runs, Styka said: “We were all hoping someone else would get something done.”

But the Beavers also deserve some credit, as the team came out swinging and capitalized on every opportunity they were given to score. “I would say they exceeded our expectations—some guys seemed like they had a magnet in their glove this weekend,” Styka said. “I don’t want to take anything away from them. But I definitely think that we beat ourselves more than anyone beat us.” 

The Bears are scheduled for a doubleheader on Saturday against Wabash College, a team that they have previously beaten 7-1 and 7-6. They have six more games total before any potential postseason competition.

More about the baseball team’s path to a tough weekend in Iowa:

Baseball retains top ranking with back-to-back doubleheader sweeps

Baseball ranked top in nation after doubleheader split with Webster for season’s first loss

Baseball, on 14-game win streak to open season, remains second in the nation after sweep of No. 5 Aurora