ST. LOUIS, Mo. – The University of Chicago baseball team played a pair of closely contested games on Saturday, losing 6-4 and winning 5-4 at Washington University-St. Louis.

The Maroons ran their record to 4-12 and the Bears moved to 10-13.

Game One – WashU 6, UChicago 4

Washington-St. Louis scored three runs in the first two innings to jump ahead, and UChicago came back with three runs of its own in the fourth inning. Senior outfielder Ricky Troncelliti singled one run in, and senior outfielder Brett Huff stole home as part of a double steal with Troncelliti. Freshman first baseman Thomas Prescott tied the game at 3-3 with a RBI fielder's choice.

The Bears stroked a RBI double in the bottom of the fourth and the Maroons tied the score again in the seventh. The visitors loaded the bases and brought a run in when junior third baseman Kyle Engel was hit by a pitch.

In the bottom of the eighth, Washington-St. Louis put the first two runners on base and moved them over on a sacrifice bunt. Back-to-back singles brought in two runs that accounted for the final 6-4 score.

UChicago collected 11 hits with one error and five players had multi-hit games. Troncelliti, Prescott and freshman shortstop Ryan Krob all hit 2-for-4. Senior infielder Dylan Massey and junior infielder Andrew VanWazer both went 2-for-5.

Junior pitcher Anthony DeRenzo started the game and lasted 6-1/3 innings. He allowed seven hits, four runs (three earned) and three walks with one strikeout. Senior reliever Ray Kim (0-1) took the loss in the final 1-2/3 innings, surrendering three hits, two runs and two walks.

Game Two – UChicago 5, WashU 4

Massey led off game two with a single up the middle. He then stole second base and scored on Troncelliti's single. Two RBI singles and a sacrifice fly by the Bears gave the home team a 3-1 lead after one inning, and another sacrifice fly in the second inning made it 4-1.

Sophomore starting pitcher Lucas Friss departed in the third inning and sophomore pitcher Mark Landgrebe shut down Washington-St. Louis from there. Landgrebe only allowed two hits in 4-1/3 innings while keeping the Bears off the scoreboard.

UChicago got back on the comeback trail in the top of the fifth inning by loading the bases with two outs. Huff singled to center field for one RBI and Prescott tied the game at 4-4 with a two-run single. The eventual winning run scored in the seventh on a RBI single up the middle by Huff.

Junior pitcher Kyle Nitiss closed out the eighth and ninth innings to earn his first save of the season. Landgrebe picked up the win in long relief.

Offensively, UChicago tallied nine hits and made one error on defense. Massey hit 2-for-4 while Engel and Huff posted 2-for-5 performances at the plate.

NEXT GAME:

• Sunday, Apr. 6 – UChicago at Washington University-St. Louis, Noon