Junior Anthony Equale hits in an early-season game against Coe. (Ellie Shapiro | Contributing Photographer)

In the second game of the No. 10 WashU baseball team’s series against Gustavus Adolphus College, sophomore outfielder Will Taigen was forced to leave the game after suffering an injury. In the second game of the doubleheader, the Bears were down 7-0 and were close to dropping the game against the Gusties. Amid Taigen’s triumphant return to the dugout sporting a hospital gown, the Bears scored six straight runs, regaining the momentum en route to a 13-9 win.

The win was one of four in a sweep of the Gusties on March 21 and 22. WashU also added wins over the University of Wisconsin–Platteville and Westminster College, meaning the Bears enter  University Athletic Association (UAA) play riding a six-game win streak. 

The Bears started their win streak on Wednesday, March 18, when they beat Platteville 8-5. 

The late-game victory against the Pioneers was a tough battle. The two teams were tied 4-4 to start the seventh inning. Platteville managed a single run during the seventh inning. In the bottom half of the frame, WashU scored four runs on a combination of a fielding error, balk, and a two-run single from junior catcher Miles Birke.

“It was just pass it off to the next guy. We know everybody [will] do their job and have confidence that your teammates are going to pick us up,” sophomore outfielder Kevin Stephens, who scored the first run of the inning, said. “And that’s exactly what happened, and we were able to pull through.” 

The momentum gained from this game did not stop there, and the team went on to sweep Gustavus Adolphus in the two-day series on March 21 and 22. In their first matchup against the Gusties, the Bears scored a single run in the first inning, but did not score again until scoring twice in the seventh, while the visitors scored three runs in the sixth and seventh inning. Starting the bottom of the eighth inning tied 3-3, an RBI single by Birke kickstarted an eight-run inning to give WashU an 11-3 victory.

In the second game of the day, the Bears picked up the pace after they found themselves outscored 7-0 at the bottom of the fourth. Back-to-back doubles by sophomore infielder Cooper Greene and first-year outfielder Eli Sitzer gave the Bears their first run, before a two-run single to left field by Stephens drove in Sitzer and senior shortstop Shane Pellegrino. WashU stayed steady, scoring three more runs in the fifth inning and six in the seventh. A final run by Sitzer off of a wild pitch brought the final to 13-9 to end the first of two doubleheaders the teams played over the weekend. 

“The offense has been doing a great job picking us up, and we’re very appreciative of them just knowing that we have that little bit more slack on our end, the offense will pick us up if we don’t do it well,” Pellegrino said.

On Sunday, WashU was looking for two more wins to close the series. Led by strong pitching from graduate pitcher Chase Brickley, the Bears kept Gustavus Adolphus off the board until the fourth inning. Though the Gusties scored two runs in the fourth, the Bears stayed strong defensively, not allowing any further runs for the rest of the game. Led by three early runs and a three-run homer by Stephens to seal the victory in the eighth, WashU won 6-2. 

In the fourth game of the weekend, WashU did not let off the gas. Including a three-inning stretch where the Bears scored three runs in each inning, WashU pulled out an 11-4 victory over the Gusties to close out the weekend. 

Senior pitcher Isaac Zhang led the way on the mound with six strikeouts and just one earned run in 4.2 innings pitched. Senior pitcher Miles Quemuel-Labrador shut the door for the Bears with three strikeouts. 

“I have all the faith in the world in our pitching staff and our defense and our offense, so I think a lot of it just comes from trust and knowing that when you fail, you got guys that are behind you and they’re going to pick you up,” Pellegrino said.

On Tuesday, March 24, the Bears defeated Westminster College 12-4 in their last nonconference games of their season for their sixth win in seven days, improving the Bears’ record to 16-3. The Bears begin conference play on Friday, March 27, with a four-game series against the University of Chicago Maroons.