University of Washington
Texas Tech
UW Eliminates Texas Tech With 3-1 Win
June 01, 2002 | Baseball
June 1, 2002
HOUSTON - A two-run homer from junior Tyler Davidson in the bottom of the first inning accounted for all the runs the Washington baseball team would need as Clay Johnson pitched brilliantly in a 3-1 win over Texas Tech Saturday night in NCAA Regional play at Reckling Park.
The win moved the Huskies (32-26-1) into championship Sunday, where they'll take on Rice, needing two wins to win the regional. The loss ends the season for Texas Tech (42- 20), which beat Washington, 5-4, Friday night on a ninth-inning run. Earlier in the day Saturday, the Huskies eliminated Harvard from postseason play with a 4-2 win.
"It got down to only swing early," Husky coach Ken Knutson said. "Clay pitched spectacularly. He's been pitching like that for a while. It was a really good ball game."
The Huskies got only five hits in the win as Tech starter Nathan Fouts (8-7) suffered a tough loss, surrending three runs on three hits over seven innings of work. He no-hit the UW in innings two through seven.
Johnson, a sophomore from Elma, improved to 3-2 with the win. He gave up five hits, one run and walked three in the game while fanning only one Raiders hitter.
Washington got all the runs it would need in the bottom of the first. Shortstop Tila Reynolds (Renton/Liberty) reached on a one-out double and Davidson (Edmonds/Meadowdale), who homered in last night's game vs. Texas Tech, went the opposite way, driving his 15th homer of the season over the right-field wall to give the Huskies a 2-0 lead.
In the fourth, the Red Raiders, who were shut out 6-0 by Rice earlier in the day to drop into the losers' bracket, had a chance to break a 12-inning scoreless streak as a single and two walks loaded the bases.
Johnson, however, got out of the jam without any damage being done. A shallow flyout by Travis McElroy was the first out and, on a safety squeeze attempt, where the pitch was taken by batter Jake Brown, Gera Alvarez strayed too far off of third base and was picked off by Husky catcher Aaron Hathaway (Vancouver/Columbia River). A flyout to right by Brown ended the inning with no runs scored.
In the eighth, Raiders leadoff hitter Jon Slack singled and, after two outs, sophomore Brian Carter (Woodinville) came in to relieve Johnson. Carter's first pitch to catcher Willie Durazo was belted for a double, driving in Slack with Tech's first run. The Raiders had gone 16 innings without a run. Husky closer Tyler Shepple (Arvada, Colo.) came on and struck out pinch hitter Cody Fuller to end the inning.
In the bottom of the eighth, Reynolds led off with a single, breaking a streak of seven hitless innings. After an out, Reynolds stole second and moved to third when Durazo's throw to second base went long. Freshman Kyle Larsen (Redmond/Eastlake) followed with his first hit of the tournament in 11 at bats, driving in Reynolds with the UW's third run of the game.
Shepple worked the ninth inning as well, recording his sixth save of the year.
The Huskies will need to beat Rice twice Sunday, while the Owls need only one win to win the regional. The regional champ will take on the winner of a regional in Baton Rouge, La., in a best-of-three Super Regional next weekend.
LINESCORE NCAA Regionals, Houston, Texas Washington 3, Texas Tech 1 Texas Tech 000 000 010 -- 1 6 2 Washington 200 000 01x -- 3 5 0 Nathan Fouts, J.J. Newman (8), Matt Harbin (8), Steve Rowe (8) and Willie Durazo. Clay Johnson, Brian Carter (8), Tyler Shepple (8) and Aaron Hathaway. W - Johnson (3- 2). L - Fouts (8-7). Sv - Shepple (6). 2B - TT, Scooter Jordan, Durazo; UW, Tila Reynolds. HR - UW, Tyler Davidson (15). T - 3:02. A - 2,313.
