The Washington University baseball team experienced a rare offensive lull this weekend against Grinnell College. After averaging 7.44 runs per game this season going into the weekend, the Bears failed to score more than two runs three times over the course of the four game series.

The Red and Green dropped the first two games of the series on Saturday by scores of 2-4 and 2-7. On Sunday, Wash. U. split the doubleheader with a 7-5 walk-off win before being shut out 0-4.

The three losses and one win drop the Bears to 19-10 on the season. The Bears are currently 4-4 in April and hold a 7-7 home record this year.   

In the first game of the series, Grinnell struck first with three unearned runs in the opening frame. After a fielding error extended the inning, the Pioneers took advantage with a clutch two-out, two-run single to jump out to an early 3-0 lead.

After the Bears were held to one hit over the first three innings, junior Kyle Kozak lined a double over the left-fielder’s head in the bottom of the fourth for his ninth RBI of the season. Sophomore Austin Darmawan added a hit of his own to bring the Red and Green within one.   

The Pioneers added a run in the top of the ninth before sealing the 4-2 win. After dropping the final game of the Spalding doubleheader last weekend, the Bears’ suffered their first losing streak of the 2015 season.   

Despite not allowing an earned run in eight innings of work, senior starting pitcher Max Zhang took the loss, his second of the season. The outing dropped his ERA to a team-leading 3.44.    

The Bears’ fortunes did not improve in their second game of the afternoon. After junior starting pitcher Julian Clarke guided the Bears to a 1-1 tie through the first five innings, the Pioneers broke through in the sixth with two runs on one walk and three hits.  

The Pioneers broke the game open in the top of the seventh inning with three runs off a combination of Clarke and the side-arming sophomore Jake Mintz.

The Bears loaded the bases with one out in the bottom of the seventh, but were unable to capitalize when Kozak grounded into an inning-ending double play. In total, the Bears loaded the bases five times in two games. Each time, however, they failed to score.

“Some of that’s bad luck. Also there are times when we don’t want to hit the ball on the ground and we seem to have a knack for doing that,” head coach Steve Duncan said. “To me it’s just a bad approach.”

“Even with less than two outs we just couldn’t get anything done,” Kozak said. “Especially in that first game which was close that was the difference. They got the big hit and we didn’t.”

The Bears’ lone win of the series came in the form of a walk-off thriller on Sunday afternoon. With one out in the bottom of the ninth, the Bears were locked in a 5-5 tie when senior Chris Lowery hit a towering shot over the leftfield wall for the walk-off victory.

After struggling to score the previous day, the Bears batted .378 as a team.

Senior starting pitcher Kunal Patel continued the weekend’s trend of strong starting pitching performances, pitching 7 1/3 innings of three-run ball. Senior Ian Kelso and sophomore Matt Clohisy also combined for 1 2/3 innings of scoreless relief. Clohisy earned the win by pitching the top of the ninth.     

The Bears’ final game of the series was a far cry from the high-scoring walk-off win the Red and Green enjoyed earlier that afternoon. After Wash. U. and Grinnell combined for 23 hits in the previous game, the Bears and the Pioneers recorded just three and one hits respectively in the first four innings. The Pioneers broke through with home runs in the fifth and sixth innings to capture the 4-0 lead.

In the last inning of the seven-inning game, the Bears loaded the bases with two outs, but were unable to mount a rally.  With a final score of 4-0, the Bears were shutout for the first time since 2012.

Despite the team’s struggles with timely hitting, the Bears maintain a favorable .319 average with runners in scoring position on the season.

Kozak partially attributes this abnormal weekend to the recent poor weather.

“Not to make excuses, but we did have a rough week with the weather; we didn’t get to practice a whole lot this week,” Kozak said.

Duncan echoed this sentiment, but insisted the team’s mental approach could improve.

“We were a little rusty at the plate, but more than that our approach was just really bad,” Duncan said. “We were swinging at pitches that were out of the strike zone early in the count and then not battling late in the count with two strikes. That’s what they did. They did that really well and we just weren’t able to today.”    

The Bears were slated to face Fontbonne University on Wednesday, but the game was cancelled due to poor field conditions.

The Bears will look to redeem themselves this Tuesday as they travel down Big Bend Boulevard to face Webster University. When the two teams met two weeks ago Webster tagged the Bears for 17 runs on 24 hits.