CHICAGO, Ill. -- The University of Chicago baseball team picked up a 2-1 victory over WashU on Sunday afternoon to complete the 3-1 series victory over the Bears. The win is the 20th of the season for the Maroons making this just the 16th 20-win season in the history of UChicago baseball and the third 20-win season in the past four seasons under coach Kevin Tyrrell.

The final game of the series saw great starting pitching for the fourth consecutive game with the two team's starting pitchers allowing just eight earned runs combined in the first three games. Russell Kwinter got into a jam in the second inning after a single and a wild pitch moved a runner into scoring position with just one out, but Kwinter was able to induce back-to-back groundouts to shortstop to get out of the jam. In the bottom of the inning, the UChicago offense struck first with a pair of singles by Jackson Slipock and Buck Olson to start the inning. Then, following a sacrifice bunt by Brady Miller, a wild pitch brought home Slipock for the first run of the ball game.

After getting into a jam in the second, Kwinter began to deal as he retired 10 consecutive batters, allowing just one hit in his final four innings of work. Meanwhile, the Maroons added an insurance run to their tally in the fourth inning. After another hit by Jackson Slipock, Brady Miller worked a walk and Jack Sharp was hit by a pitch to load the bases with just one out. Richard Lu rolled over on a ground ball to shortstop that could have been an inning ending double play to get the Bears out of the jam, but Lu hustled down the line to beat out the throw and bring home Slipock for his second run of the game.

An error the sixth inning ended the day for Kwinter who finished with a great line of 5.1 innings with five strikeouts and just three hits and one unearned run allowed. After a pair of walks loaded the bases for the Bears, a wild pitch brought home the first run of the game for WashU to cut the lead in half at 2-1. However, Landon Brice stepped into the game in a pressure spot and struck out the first batter he faced to end the WashU threat and hold the 2-1 lead. In the seventh, it was another walk to set up a possible rally for WashU, but Erik Rindner gunned down the Bears' runner trying to steal second to keep the tying run out of scoring position. From that point on, it was the Kirk Waller and John Butka show as the two pitchers combined to throw 2.1 innings with just one baserunner allowed to seal the 2-1 victory. The Maroons' relievers combined to hold the Bears to just one hit in the final four innings of the game, an infield single, to stifle the WashU offense.

Russell Kwinter earned his fourth win of the season on the mound to improve to 4-0 in a dominating freshman season. John Butka also added his second save of the series with a perfect ninth inning. At the plate, it was Jackson Slipock leading the show as the lone UChicago player with a multi-hit game, and he also came around to score both runs for the Maroons in the win.

With the win, the Maroons improve to 20-6 on the season and 7-1 in the UAA. The win also sets up a battle between the top two teams in the UAA next weekend as UChicago welcomes Case Western Reserve for a four-game series with the two teams sitting two and three games clear of Emory in third in the conference. The Maroons will battle the Spartans at 3 PM on Friday, at 12 PM and 3 PM in a Saturday doubleheader, and at 11 AM to close out the series on Sunday.