St. Louis, Mo., March 9, 2021 - The Westminster College baseball team faced a tall task on Friday afternoon in St. Louis, take on the nations #2 ranked program the Washington University Bears. The Blue Jays swung the bats pretty well on the day as they banged out 20 basehits in the two games, but the timely hits with runners in scoring position still seemed to elude the Blue Jays as they would drop game one 11-3 and game two 10-4.
Game One BOXSCORE
The Blue Jays would Give up runs in the first three innings in game one to fall behind 6-0. In the top of the 4th inning Derek Shikles would single through the right side with one out and up would step Hunter Mulholland who would jack a two run home run to get the Blue Jays on the board as they now trailed just 6-2.
The Bears would strike again in the bottom of the 4th where they would get one of those runs back and lead 7-2 they would add two more in the 5th inning and another two in the 8th inning to stretch the lead to 11-2. The Blue Jays would muster a run in the ninth when Austin Mayton would single with one out and then come around to score on a two out RBI triple by Steven Diaz for the final score of 11-3.
The Blue Jays tallied 11 hits in game one led by Diaz who was 3 for 5. Coltin Green, Mayton and Mulholland each collected two hits. Dawson Koch(3-2) went 4 innings for the Jays on the mound giving up 7 runs on 8 hits striking out four and walking four in taking the loss.
Game Two BOXSCORE
Game two saw the Blue Jays strike first. In the top of the 3rd inning Payton Whitehead would walk to lead off the inning and after Green struck out he would steal second. Mulholland would pop out to left field and then Mayton would hit an RBI single up the middle for a 1-0 Blue Jay lead. The Bears would tie the game in the bottom of the 3rd. The game would stay 1-1 until the bottom of the 5th inning. The Bears would touch up Andrew Boessen, making his first start of the season, for two runs and take a 3-1 lead.
The Bears would add on four runs in the 7th inning to take a 7-1 lead. The Blue Jays would respond with 3 runs in the top of the 8th. Green would reach on an error by the third baseman. He would take second on a wild pitch. Mulholland would then hit an RBI single up the middle to score Green. Mayton would later add an RBI single and Parker Schnieders an RBI ground out to make it 7-4. The host Bears woud then seal the game with a 3 run bottom of the 8th inning to go on to the 10-4 victory.
Boessen(0-2) took the loss going 5 innings giving up 3 runs on 8 hits while striking out 3 and walking no one. The offense managed nine hits. Mulholland and Mayton bot went 2-4 with an RBI to lead the Jays.
The Blue Jays will take a week to prepare for their next games. The Jays will be at home for a 4 game weekend series against Fontbonne University on April 17th and 18th. The first pitch for the Saturday the 17th games are at 1:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m. On Sunday the 18th the games are at 12:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m.
