ST. LOUIS, Mo. – The Gustavus baseball team lost two contested games to No. 12 Washington-St. Louis today, holding leads in both games but not being able to hold on. Junior Brayden Kohls (Norwood, Minn.) led the team with four hits and a three-RBI game two.
Gustavus 3, Washington-St. Louis 11
The first game of the trip for the Gusties (7-5, 0-0 MIAC) started with a one-run deficit, courtesy of a double steal where the Bears (13-3, 0-0 UAA) brought home a runner from third base. In the top half of the inning, Kohls found his way to third base off of a throwing error by the pitcher, but could not be driven home throughout the next two at-bats.
Neither team touched home plate from the second through the fifth inning, when the Gusties lit the scoreboard. With runners on first and second and one out, junior Simon James (Minnetrista, Minn.) drove in Kohls and sophomore Jackson Golberg (Savage, Minn.) by doubling to center field. James advanced to third on a flyout with one out, but could not get home to extend the lead to two.
The lead was extended to two just an inning later, when junior Andrew Glovich (Sioux Falls, S.D.) doubled to left field and drove home junior Isaiah Hasz (Pine City, Minn.) to take a 3-1 lead at the seventh inning stretch. The Bears were able to tie the game up through seven and then the No. 12 team in the country capitalized on Gustavus errors, scoring four runs in the eighth off wild pitches in addition to four on hits to take game one, 11-3.
Gustavus 9, Washington-St. Louis 13
Gustavus bounced back in the front half of game two, taking a large lead on the Bears. In the first inning, sophomore Charles Gearen (Minneapolis, Minn.) drove home Kohls with a single up the middle to take a 1-0 lead after the first. In the third, Kohls grounded out to first, but junior Daniel Dahl (St. Paul, Minn.) was able to reach home. After a ground out, senior Joe Burns (Eden Prairie, Minn.) hit the first home run of the weekend for the Gusties, hitting a long fly ball to left field to extend the lead to three.
The top of the fourth was also pleasant for Gustavus, with junior Dylan Kopesky (Mankato, Minn.) singling through the right side to bring home Hasz. After the bases were loaded with no outs, Dahl grounded into a double play but was able to score senior Ross Hebel (Prior Lake, Minn.) to push the score to 5-0. The next at bat, Kohls brought one more home, scoring Kopesky and James returned the favor for Kohls, bringing him home and extending the lead to 7-0.
From there, WashU turned it up, scoring three in the bottom of the inning. In the fifth, the Bears scored three more. Kohls responded in the sixth with a triple to push the lead up to two again, but WashU scored six runs in the bottom of the seventh. Five of the runs in the inning came from the hands of Gustavus, with three walking in batters and a fielding error bringing in two more. The Bears doubled down the left field line to round out their scoring brigade and make the score 12-8 for the home team. Dahl hit a sacrifice fly to left field and scored Kopesky in the top of the eighth, but WashU scored on a wild pitch in the bottom half to score their 13th run.
The Gusties return for two more tomorrow against the Bears, looking to bounce back after two tight losses today. The first pitch of the doubleheader is set for 11:00 a.m. tomorrow.
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