University of Washington
San Diego
UW Falls 5-1 In Season Opener
February 13, 2004 | Baseball
Feb. 13, 2004
SAN DIEGO - After giving up a home run to the game's first batter, senior starter Aaron Wilson threw six scoreless innings to lead the University of San Diego baseball team to a 5-1 win over No. 23 Washington the Huskies' season opener Friday at Cunningham Stadium.
The Huskies (0-1) got the season under way in style as leadoff hitter Brent Lillibridge opened the game by hitting a full-count pitch out the park, lining it the opposite way to right field.
Wilson, after surrendering the homer, settled in to throw six innings, allowing only the one run, on five hits. He didn't walk a batter and struck out five before being relieved to begin the seventh inning. Wilson improved to 3-1 on the year while the Toreros upped their record to 4-6.
Down by four runs, the Huskies threatened in the ninth as Aaron Hathaway and Kyle Larsen singled to begin the inning, but USD left fielder Tom Caple came on to close the game, fanning all three Huskies he faced for his first save of the year.
Husky right-hander Richie Lentz (0-1), the first freshman to start opening day for the Huskies in 12 years under head coach Ken Knutson, worked four-plus innings for the loss. He'd held the Toreros scoreless through the first four frames before running into problems in the fifth.
After walking Caple to start the inning, Lentz hit Gavin Ng with a pitch to put two runners aboard. A passed ball moved runners to second and third and a single from Joey Prast drove in one run to tie the score. After senior Trent Baysinger came on in relief, Freddy Sandoval drove a sacrifice fly to center to drive in Ng with the go-ahead run. A single from Josh Hansen sent home Prast and gave USD a 3-1 lead.
A squeeze bunt from Keoni Ruth and an RBI single from Jordan Abruzzo in the seventh added two more runs for the Toreros.
Sophomore DH Zach Clem, in his first career start, was the lone Husky with more than one hit as he went 2-for-4 with a pair of singles. No USD player had more than one hit, though Prast scored a pair of runs.
The Huskies and Toreros continue the three-game series Saturday with a 1:00 p.m. game.
LINESCORE San Diego 5, #23 Washington 1 Washington 100 000 000 -- 1 7 3 San Diego 000 030 20x -- 5 7 0 Richie Lentz, Trent Baysinger (5), Matt Kasser (8) and Aaron Hathaway. Aaron Wilson, Josh Butler (7), Tom Caple (9) and Josh Hansen, Trevor Pike (9). W - Wilson (3-1). L - Lentz (0-1). Sv - Caple (1). 2B - USD, Caple. HR - UW, Brent Lillibridge (1). T - 2:47. A - 421. Records: UW 0-1; USD 4-6.
