University of Washington
Missouri
Davidson Belts Two Homers As UW Wins Opener
February 14, 2002 | Baseball
Feb. 14, 2002
PHOENIX, Ariz. - Junior Tyler Davidson collected four hits and belted two home runs and senior starting pitcher Shawn Kohn threw five shutout innings as the Washington baseball team opened its season with a 10-6 win over Missouri Thursday evening at the Rawlings Spring Training Tournament at Municipal Stadium.
"It was a good start. We played a good ballgame on all sides. We beat a pretty good hitting team too. It was a quality opponent to start the season with and get things going," 10th-year Husky coach Ken Knutson said. "We were a little worried about our hitting based on our scrimmages back home, but tonight we swung the bats well against a good pitcher."
Kohn (Woodinville) picked up the victory, allowing three hits. The right-hander struck out three and faced only two batters over the minimum in five innings. The Huskies held a 7-0 lead when Kohn left the game, but Missouri closed the gap with three runs in the sixth and two more in the seventh.
"Kohn was stellar," Knutson said. "He threw a bunch of strikes and didn't give them much to hit. He picked up where he left off last season."
Washington opened the scoring in the second inning as Davidson, a right fielder from Edmonds (Meadowdale HS), led off by driving a full-count pitch over the wall in right-center field. Bryan Johnson (Ephrata) and John Otness (Tacoma/Wilson) followed with singles before DH Mike Wagner (Woodinville) walked to load the bases. Sophomore catcher Ben Johnson (Bellevue) doubled to left to send home two runs before a groundout from Brandon Jacobson (Issaquah) drove in Wagner to give the UW a 4-0 lead.
Davidson belted his second home run of the game in the third inning, this time lofting a ball deep over the fence in left-center field, increasing the Husky edge to 5-0.
Tigers ace Matt Hobbs (0-1) suffered the loss, allowing seven runs on seven hits over four and one-third innings of work. The game was also the first of the year for Missouri.
Davidson finished the day 4-for-5, adding RBI singles in the fifth and seventh innings. He finished with four runs batted in and also stole a base. Bryan Johnson, the UW first baseman went 3-for-4 with three singles and an RBI.
Missouri's Jody Roughton went 3-for-4 with two doubles to lead the Tigers, but grounded into a double play with one out and runners at first and second in the seventh, after MU had cut the Husky lead to 7-5. In the eighth, after the UW had scored in the seventh to make it 8-5, Missouri posted another run on a Lee Laskowski sacrifice fly, but the rally ended when Ryan Rallo was thrown out at the plate trying to score from second on a single.
Friday, the Huskies continue their opening weekend, taking on Northwestern at 1:30 p.m. (MST) at Papago Park. The Wildcats lost to Portland, 5-1, earlier Thursday to open their season.
LINESCORE
Washington 10, Missouri 6
Missouri 000 003 210 - 6 8 1 Washington 041 020 12x - 10 13 1 Matt Hobbs, Aaron Paterson (5), Cody Ehlers (8), Drew Endicott (8) and Brian Desch. Shawn Kohn, Zack Daniels (6), Scott Robertson (8), Tyler Shepple (9) and Ben Johnson. W - Kohn (1-0). L - Hobbs (0-1). 2B - MU, Jody Roughton 2, Lee Laskowski, Mick Weiss, UW, Be. Johnson, Brandon Jacobson. 3B - UW, Tila Reynolds. HR - UW, Tyler Davidson 2 (2). T - 2:40.
