Yesterday, WashU had a successful first defense of its first-ever #1 national ranking, by posting a 10-0 victory over visiting MacMurray College. The Bears are now 7-0, heading into a sensational series rematch with Coe this weekend at WashU.
The biggest takeaway from yesterday's game was the spotlight on the quality of depth WashU has with its pitching staff. It was a bullpen day on the mound. Matt Lopes, Jared Fong, Daniel Broadie, Austin Sachen, and Dominic DiCosimo combined to toss a one-hit shutout.
Lopes gave up the lone hit in his 5-inning stint (clean line-drive single to left, BTW). Primarily a back-end-of-a-game closer, Lopes showed that he could start a game and provide meaningful innings if needed. Much like Tim Tague does for the Bears right now (who was named to the D3Baseball.com Team of the Week for his 4-inning, 6-K long relief stint for a win vs. Illinois Tech last weekend).
Fong, Broadie, and DiCosimo were impressive as well, in their one-inning stints. But the highlight of the day was the inning provided by little-known Austin Sachen. Sachen only pitched 1/3 of an inning last season as a freshman, so when he entered the game for his first appearance of the season, I didn't know what to expect. The lefty wowed the crowd by striking out the side with utterly filthy stuff. All but one of his pitches were fastballs at 89-90 MPH (two WashU pitchers had a radar gun on Sachen)...and the last pitch was a wicked curve that broke off at 76.
Players and fans were both jazzed by Sachen's work, and WashU may have discovered that it has a diamond-in-the-rough on its pitching staff. Fun to watch.
Now, the Bears host Coe this weekend, in a rematch series of last season's NCAA Regional at WashU. The Bears and Coe had 3 epic meetings, with Cornell and Aurora weaved in for good measure. In the 3rd meeting, Coe was down to its final out in the top of the 9th against WashU's John Howard; the National Pitcher of the Year trying to get one more inning out of his gas tank to nail down a save and a trip to the Super Regional. Riley LeGrand foiled that attempt with his only HR of the season, a no-doubt 2-run blast to straightaway center field to put Coe up 4-3. WashU countered by putting runners at first and second base with one out in the bottom of the 9th, but could only muster two fly-ball outs in the loss to Coe.
So, I suspect that this series rematch will be one of the more widely-viewed series across D3 baseball...especially early in the season. Game 1 of the series begins at 2:00 Central Saturday afternoon, and a doubleheader is scheduled for 11 a.m./2:30 p.m. Sunday. Sunny weather with temps ranging from 60-65 degrees is forecast. Come to St. Louis to watch in person or check out the proceedings on the WashU Sports Network (washubears.com). Click on "Live Broadcasts" to access the games.
