The Case Western Reserve University baseball team was swept in a doubleheader on Saturday by 14th-ranked Washington University (Mo.), losing the first game 12-2 in seven innings before suffering a 13-6 loss in the second game of the day at Nobby's Ballpark in Cleveland.
The losses dropped the Spartans to 17-19 overall, including a 6-12 record in the University Athletic Association, while the Bears improved to 28-9 with a 12-6 conference record.
Game 1 Recap: WashU 12, CWRU 2 (7 inn.)
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The two teams continued a scoreless game from Friday afternoon that was stopped with one out in the top of the third inning. Sophomore left-handed pitcher Charlie Griffith started the contest and held the Bears scoreless, but was removed when the game was resumed.
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WashU went on to score 11 runs in the top of the third when the game was resumed on Saturday to take a commanding lead, and added a run in the top of the seventh to go ahead 12-0.
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First-year Carson Matula scored on a wild pitch, and first-year Collin Pool played graduate student Eli Westrick with a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the seventh to pull within 10 runs, but it was not enough to avoid the early end to the contest.
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First-year James O'Connor had two of the Spartans' three hits in the game.
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WashU's Townsend Stevenson pitched the final five innings of the game, picking up the win to improve to 3-3. Sophomore Eric Colgrove suffered the loss in relief, dropping to 1-4.
Game 2 Recap: WashU 13, CWRU 6
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After the Bears scored an unearned run in the top of the first, CWRU struck for three in the bottom of the inning. Senior Sean Donahue started the scoring with an inside-the-park home run, his second of the season to tie him for the team lead. Junior Nate Arterburn added an RBI single later in the inning, and senior Matt Trout crossed home plate on a double steal to put CWRU up 3-1.
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The Bears scored again in the second to cut the lead to a run, but the Spartans responded by scoring a pair of runs on an error in the second to go ahead 5-2.
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WashU went on to score eight unanswered runs over the next three innings, taking a 10-5 lead after four and a half innings.
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Senior Jasiah Harris doubled to lead off the seventh and scored a batter later on a base hit by first-year Jaxon Knutson to make it a four-run game.
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The Bears added on three insurance runs in the top of the eighth to push their lead to seven runs, and held the Spartans off the board for the rest of the game.
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Arterburn had two of the Spartans' six hits in the game, going two-for-four with an RBI and a stolen base.
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CWRU allowed 19 hits to the Bears in the game, all singles.
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Isaac Zhang earned the win for WashU to improve to 5-0, while Parker Guthrie pitched the final three innings to collect his fifth save of the year. Junior Tyler Stillson suffered the loss, dropping to 4-4 on the campaign.
Spartan Notes
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CWRU fell to 34-47 all-time against WashU with an 8-8 record in games played in Cleveland in the series.
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The Spartans stand at 86-45-1 in UAA games since the start of site play in 2017.
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Donahue's inside-the-park home run was the second one hit by the Spartans this season. Knutson also hit an inside-the-park home run against Washington & Jefferson earlier in the campaign.
Up Next
The Spartans and the Bears will conclude their four-game series at Nobby's Ballpark on Sunday with a doubleheader starting at 10:00 a.m. Prior to the start of the game, CWRU will recognize its graduating class with a 'Senior Day' ceremony.