Sophomore infielder Cooper Green at bat (Max Silberg | Staff Photographer).

Entering the penultimate weekend of the University Athletic Association (UAA) baseball season, the No. 15 WashU Bears had a job to get done. Sitting at 8-4 in conference play, the Bears entered the weekend tied for the UAA lead with Emory, with whom they had split a series with last weekend. The Bears needed to show their dominance versus a much-improved 17-14 Brandeis University team, who are searching for their first winning season in decades.

In the series opener on Friday afternoon, it was all Brandeis. Judges graduate student Jacob Maurer threw his first career complete game, holding the Bears to just one run, five hits, and no walks. Bears junior third baseman Anthony Equale recorded three hits, including an RBI single in the fourth inning, but the rest of the Bears’ offense struggled to figure out the Judges’ ace. Brandeis took a 2-0 lead in the second inning off of an infield single, a walk, a sacrifice bunt, an RBI ground out, and a double, and tacked on a run in the seventh off of an RBI double. The Bears threatened with runners on second and third with no outs in the eighth, and again with a runner on second in the ninth, but Maurer was able to shut them down, finishing the game with 116 pitches in the 3-1 Brandeis win.

For the fourth consecutive time in UAA play, the Bears had dropped their series opener. However, much like they have all season, the Bears rallied. With inclement weather threatening Sunday’s game, the schedule was adjusted to play a doubleheader on Friday, ahead of Saturday’s doubleheader, to fit the full series in. 

The Judges took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning of Friday’s second game, but the Bears would strike back. After a walk from sophomore centerfielder Kevin Stephens, sophomore first baseman Cooper Greene and senior designated hitter Connor Lindsey followed with back-to-back singles, on the second of which Stephens was thrown out at the plate. However, junior catcher Miles Birke added another single, which scored Greene. Graduate student left fielder Josh Erpenbeck was then hit by a pitch to load the bases, followed by a Judges balk that scored Lindsey. First-year second baseman Chance Cromer then recorded the fourth single of the inning to score Birke, giving the Bears a 3-1 lead. WashU would not trail for the rest of the series.

WashU added two runs in the fifth, one in the seventh, and another in the eighth, while the Judges wouldn’t score until the ninth inning and would fall to the Bears 7-2. Senior left-handed pitcher Isaac Zhang was dominant for the Bears, giving up just five hits and two runs through 8.1 innings, as his ERA improved to 2.87, third in the UAA. 

On Saturday, the Bears again struck early. In the bottom of the second, with the score at 0-0, Equale started off the inning with a walk. Senior shortstop Shane Pellegrino reached on a fielder’s choice, with Equale being thrown out at second. Pellegrino then stole second, moved to third on a single from first-year catcher Jacob Witte, and scored on a double from Greene that left runners on second and third. A sacrifice fly from Lindsey scored Witte, followed by an Erpenbeck double, a Cromer walk, and a Stephens single, which put the Bears up 4-0. 

A Witte sacrifice fly would score Equale in the fifth inning, extending the Bears’ lead to five and giving Witte his team-high 40th RBI. Witte has excelled at the plate all season in his first collegiate season, hitting .317 and recording a .426 on-base percentage while serving as the Bears’ primary catcher. Witte will likely finish with the most RBIs for the Bears in a season since 2021, when current Red Sox third baseman Caleb Durbin recorded 47. 

Pelligrino added another run in the fifth inning off of a Greene double. The Judges responded with two in the sixth before the Bears added another run off of a Cromer sacrifice fly in the seventh to make the score 7-2. The Judges would threaten in the ninth with an RBI triple and a two-run home run, but Bears junior pitcher Parker Guthrie would force a groundout to end the game.

The Bears followed up with a dominant win on Saturday afternoon. After a three-run first inning, the Bears would add four more in the third, one in the fifth, and three apiece in the seventh and eighth innings. The game was never close, as WashU would close the series with a 14-9 win. The Bears dominated on the basepaths, stealing a UAA record 13 bases, including three from Stephens and two apiece from Cromer, Pellegrino, and Erpenbeck. However, in the final game of the series, it was all Shane Pellegrino. He recorded a career-high six RBIs, reaching base or driving in a run in all five at-bats: a sacrifice fly in the first inning, a double in the third, a groundout to third that scored a run in the fifth, an RBI single in the seventh, and a bases-clearing double in the ninth. Pellegrino has his name all over the Bears’ record books and now sits fifth all-time in RBIs, eighth in stolen bases, and ninth in hits.

Following a surprising UChicago sweep of Emory, WashU sits tied with the Maroons for the UAA lead at 11-5. The Bears will travel to face Case Western Reserve, while UChicago will host NYU. WashU is seeking to claim its first UAA Championship since 2019, and will need to finish strong to hold off the Maroons.