Following a successful regular season that saw the Bears clinch their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2021, WashU baseball entered postseason play with high expectations.

The tournament began with the double-elimination regional tournament, which WashU entered as the second seed. They matched up against Ohio Northern University, No. 3 University of Wisconsin–Whitewater, and Adrian College in the tournament hosted in Adrian, Michigan. While the Bears were able to win the first game of the tournament on Friday, May 16, in walk-off fashion against Ohio Northern, they fell to Wisconsin–Whitewater in an extra-inning thriller on Saturday, May 17, and subsequently were eliminated by the host team, Adrian College, later in the afternoon. 

Game One – WashU: 10, Ohio Northern: 9

The first game of the regional tournament was hotly contested, described by head coach Pat Bloom as “a back-and-forth dogfight.” 

WashU grabbed an early lead, with graduate student Will Yarbro driving in senior Brandon Buday on an infield single in the first inning to make the score 1-0. After Ohio Northern tied it in the second, the Bears’ offense bounced back in a big way. They added three runs on four hits in the bottom of the second inning, including another RBI single from Yarbro. After home runs from sophomore Anthony Equale and Yarbro in the third and fourth innings, the score stood at 7-2.

“We haven’t had a real game in three weeks, so it was big to knock that rust off early,” Yarbro said after the Bears’ win. 

Sophomore pitcher Townsend Stevenson started the game and kept Ohio’s offense at bay, lasting 5 ⅓ innings while giving up just three runs. 

After Stevenson’s exit, both teams continued to trade runs, making the score 9-6 Bears after eight innings. Not wanting the Bears to lose focus going into the ninth, graduate student Noah Reichman delivered a message to his team: “Leave no doubt.” 

Despite his encouragement, Ohio Northern came back in the top of the ninth, tying the game at 9-9. Reichman showcased his ability to stay calm under pressure when his moment came. With men on first and second base and no outs, Reichman smacked a slider for a walk-off single to left field, sending the Bears to the winners’ bracket of the regional. 

Game Two – WashU: 3, Wisconsin–Whitewater: 4 (11 Innings)

Looking to advance to the final of the winners bracket, the Bears matched up against UW–Whitewater, a strong team that made it to the National Championship finals last year. The game remained scoreless until the third inning, when Whitewater jumped out to a 3-0 lead. Junior pitcher Hank Weiss was able to limit Whitewater’s offense after this, lasting six innings and only giving those three runs against an offense that Bloom described as “hard to keep down.” 

After five scoreless innings for the Bears, their offense finally broke through in the sixth, adding two runs on an RBI single from junior Shane Pellegrino. The score remained 3-2 until the ninth inning, with junior pitcher Miles Quemuel-Labrador continuing to hold Whitewater scoreless.

Down to their final three outs against Whitewater, it was now the Bears that needed an offensive rally late in the game. With one out, first-year Cooper Greene blasted a home run over the right field wall, tying the game at 3-3 and sending it to extra innings. Neither team scored in the 10th inning, and Whitewater ended the game in the bottom of the 11th with a walk-off double.

Game Three – WashU: 3, Adrian: 7

After losing to Whitewater in extra innings, the Bears only had a four-minute break before facing off against Adrian College in a must-win game. The winner of this game would go on to face Whitewater in the regional final, and the loser would go home. The Bears showed no signs of fatigue, adding a run in the first inning on an RBI double from Reichman that scored graduate student Colter Couillard-Rodak. Adrian responded with a run in the second and third innings, taking a 2-1 lead. After tying the game in the fourth, the Bears took a 3-2 lead in the fifth after Couillard-Rodak tripled and Reichman scored him with a fielder’s choice. Starting pitcher junior Isaac Zhang lasted four innings, holding Adrian to two runs. 

The Bears relinquished the lead for the final time this season in the sixth inning, and Adrian continued to extend their lead with runs in each of the final four innings. The Bears were unable to overcome this deficit, ending their season with a 7-3 loss. Despite the disappointing end, Bloom commended his players.

“Today shows that we have a group of young men that are going to compete every pitch,” he said.

Bloom also congratulated the senior class on the first tournament berth of their tenure, adding that “they should hold their heads high for the work they put into our program.” 

The Bears ended the season with a 26-17 record, dominating at home with a 20-8 record. Three players, Reichman, Zhang, and Buday, earned first team all-UAA honors, and Weiss earned second team honors. After reaching the NCAA Tournament for the first time in four years, the Bears will go back to work and look to build on this campaign next spring.