Jialing Sun | Student Life

The historically close battle between WashU and Illinois Wesleyan University, a matchup in which the Bears have been 21-16 since their first clash in 2008, featured another series of three games at Kelly Field this past weekend. This time around, the Bears went 2-1, winning the doubleheader on Saturday and dropping the game on Sunday. With these games, the Bears are now 5-1 in regular season play as they continue to ramp up their season. 

WashU v. Illinois Wesleyan (March 1) 

The first game featured a late ninth inning comeback for the Bears as they eked out a 3-2 victory. The scoring began with the Titans in the fourth inning from a solo home run by sophomore John Ferraro into right field. However, the Bears were able to respond rather quickly, scoring a run of their own in the fifth inning. Junior Shane Pellegrino kicked the offense into gear by landing a triple into left center field. Then graduate student Colter Couillard-Rodak drove Pellegrino in with an RBI single.

In the seventh inning, the Titans again notched a run on the board. Unfortunately, this run came from a fielding error with two outs, leaving the Bears with a 2-1 deficit. The eighth inning saw a golden opportunity come and go, with graduate student Noah Reichman advancing to third base with zero outs, but a flyout and double play put this half-inning to bed.

The ninth inning saw action for both teams offensively. With the bases loaded for Illinois Wesleyan and two outs, junior Issac Zhang came in to pitch and ended the top of the inning, giving the Bears a chance to respond. And they were able to take full advantage. First, they tied the game at 2-2 via a triple from senior Brandon Buday that drove in first-year Ryan Soong. Then, in rather anticlimactic fashion, the Bears enjoyed a walk-off balk that secured game one of three of the series. 

Pitching this game was a strong point, as both sophomore Townsend Stevenson and junior Miles Quemuel-Labrador threw 4.1 innings, with Stevenson only giving up one earned run. 

The Bears’ second game that day featured a more comfortable margin of victory of 8-3, headlined by a six-run fourth inning. This fourth inning had the first runs of the game and saw a complete cycle of the Bears lineup. With Reichman, senior Braden Mazone, and Soong all on base, graduate student Will Yarbro opened the scoring with an RBI single to right field, advancing each runner 90 feet closer to home. Then sophomore Miles Birke singled, bringing in two more runs. The scoring run continued as first-year Kevin Stephens singled to center for one more run, and the last two runs of the inning came from an RBI walk drawn by Pellegrino and an infield ground out that brought home Stephens. 

Sophomore pitcher Levi Gingerich spoke about the relationship the defensive and offensive sides of the team have. 

“I know how much work our offense has put in this offseason and how great all of our hitters are,” he said. “So just having the confidence and trust in each other, knowing that I’ll support them while they’re at the plate, and I know they’ll do the same for me when I’m out on the mound.”

The Bears added another run in the sixth inning via Mazone, who hit an RBI double to bring in Reichman. In the seventh, the Titans responded with three runs of their own with a sacrifice fly and a two-run single, cutting the lead to 7-3. However, the Bears added one more insurance run in the eighth, with a Mazone RBI groundout. 

On the defensive side of the game, sophomore Parker Guthrie opened the game pitching two scoreless innings. Sophomore Anderson Gomez then threw for 4.2 innings, giving up three runs on five hits. Senior Hank Weiss closed out the game with 2.1 scoreless innings. 

WashU v. Illinois Wesleyan (March 2)

The third and final game saw the Bears drop the first game of their season thus far, losing by a final score of 4-1. They started the scoring, but they were not able to respond to a late run of scoring from the Titans. In the bottom of the second, Birke hit a sacrifice fly to left field, driving in Soong to take a 1-0 lead. The next three full innings featured both teams advancing runners into scoring position but failing to capitalize. Gingerich faced runners on second and third in both the second and third innings, yet he was able to come out unscathed in both.

Gingerich spoke about what it takes to fight through innings facing multiple runners on base.

“Those are definitely the highest pressure situations and most pivotal moments in the game,” he said. “So, the best thing to do in those situations is just focus on the task at hand and take it one pitch at a time. For example, understand that if you’ve got runners on with nobody out, you’re probably not going to end the inning with one pitch. Focus on what is the best thing that you can do at that moment and try to execute the pitch you need without letting the moment speed you up.”

However, starting in the sixth inning, the Bears’ inability to add insurance runs to this point came back to hurt them. The Titans started their four unanswered runs with a fielder’s choice at second that drove in one run. The seventh saw the Bears fall behind 3-1 via a RBI single and sacrifice fly. Finally, in the ninth, the Titans added one more run through a RBI double to end the game 4-1. On the day, the Bears pitching gave up 11 hits, with all four runs being earned.    

The Bears, who now have a 5-1 record, continue to kick their season into gear and prepare for University Athletic Association (UAA) play later this month, facing Westminster College on Wednesday, March 5, and facing University of Wisconsin Stevens–Point in another three-game series over the weekend, with the game on March 9 being WashU’s Senior Day.   

Gingerich outlined what the team is focused on moving into a congested couple of weeks of games. 

“We’re excited about where we’re at as a team and love how competitive our games have been so far,” he said. “We know the spring break stretch of games in the next couple weeks is going to be a fun challenge and gives us a great opportunity to show off our depth. Coach [Pat] Bloom talked to us about making sure we use this next week to continue learning from early season mistakes and trusting the work we’ve put in will pay off through the season. It’s always a great situation when you start 5-1 and still have opportunities to improve as a team and things to work on.”