The Case Western Reserve University baseball team split the final two games of its season series with Washington University (Mo.) on Sunday, winning the first game 10-8 before suffering a 9-8 loss in a 10-inning thriller in the second contest of the day from Kelly Field in St. Louis.

With the split, the Spartans now stand at 10-8 overall, while the Bears moved to 15-6. Both teams stand at 2-2 following the opening weekend of University Athletic Association play.

Game 1 – CWRU 10, WashU 8

CWRU sophomore outfielder Nick Harms and senior catcher Jack Anderson each homered and senior second baseman Owen Levinson drove in a pair of runs for the Spartans in a 10-8 win over the Bears in the opening game of the doubleheader.

Levinson drove in the first two runs of the game for the Spartans, plating senior designated hitter RJ Christie with a two-out single in the second and forcing across another run after getting hit by a pitch with one out in the four. CWRU added four more runs in the fourth inning with junior outfielder Connor Stephenson scoring on a balk, two runs coming across on a base hit by Anderson, and a solo home run by Harms, his fourth of the season and second in as many days, to take a 6-0 lead. The Bears pulled closer in the bottom of the fourth with three unearned runs against sophomore starter Kyle Gearding, cutting the Spartans' lead to 6-3. The Spartans remained ahead by three until a two-out triple with the bases loaded by WashU's Brandon Buday evened the score at 6-6 in the sixth inning.

CWRU wasted little time getting the lead back in the game, sending nine batters to the plate in the seventh and scoring three runs to go back ahead. Anderson led off the frame with a triple and scored one batter later on a double by Harms. Junior first baseman Zack Carinci followed with a double of his own to put runners at second and third for senior shortstop Trey Haley, who drove in Harms with a sacrifice fly to give CWRU an 8-6 lead. With two outs in the inning and the bases loaded, junior Tim Demetris was hit by a pitch to extend the Spartans' advantage to 9-6. Anderson added a run to the CWRU lead with a solo home run, his second of the year, to lead off the eighth inning.

The Bears scored two runs in the bottom of the eighth (one earned) to cut the CWRU lead to 10-8, but junior Tyler Horvath recorded the final four outs in the game to notch his fourth save of the campaign. Gearding earned the win to improve to 4-0 on the year, while WashU's Alex Ardemagni suffered the loss to fall to 0-1.

Anderson finished the game a double shy of the cycle, going three-for-five with two runs and three RBIs. Harms was three-for-four with two runs, two RBIs, and a walk, and Stephenson added two hits in his first start of the year for the Spartans, as CWRU outhit the Bears 11-9 in the contest.

Game 2 – WashU 9, CWRU 8 (10 innings)
The Spartans led through the first seven and a half innings in the second game and nearly pulled off a come-from-behind win in extra innings, but the Bears ultimately pulled out a 9-8 victory in 10 innings behind a pair of walks with the bases loaded to force across the tying and game-winning runs.

CWRU jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning on a run-scoring single from Haley, a sacrifice fly from first-year second baseman Jasiah Harris, and a run-scoring error hit into by Stephenson. The Bears scored a pair of runs in the bottom of the second, but Harms' second solo home run of the day, third of the series, and fifth of the season extended CWRU's lead to 4-2 in the top of the fourth.

Through eight career games against WashU, his hometown team, Harms has now hit seven home runs.

The Bears trimmed the Spartans' lead back to a run in the bottom of the fourth, but a triple by Stephen scored Harris in the top of the fifth to put CWRU ahead 5-3. The score remained the same until the bottom of the eighth, when the Bears scored four runs, three of which came with two outs, to go ahead 7-5 heading into the top of the ninth.

The Spartans loaded the bases in the ninth, but were down to their final out before Anderson singled to drive in a pair of runs and tie the game. WashU went scoreless in the bottom of the ninth, sending the game into extra innings. In the top of the 10^th, Harris drew a two-out walk, advanced to second on a wild pitch, and then stole third and scored the go-ahead run on a throwing error. However, the Bears took advantage of four walks in the bottom of the frame to score two runs and win the contest in walk-off fashion.

Harms finished the game three-for-four with a double, a home run, two walks, a run, an RBI, and a stolen base. Anderson and Stephenson each had two hits and two RBIs in the game, while Haley and Harris each had two hits and an RBI as well.

Horvath, who pitched the final inning and two-thirds, suffered the loss for CWRU to drop to 0-2, while Joseph Hettinger earned the win for the Bears, raising his record to 1-1.

The Spartans will continue UAA play next weekend, returning home to host Emory University for a four-game series at Nobby's Ballpark in Cleveland starting on Friday, March 31.