University of Washington
Kansas St.
Berry Lifts Huskies To 10 Inning Walk-Off Win Over K-State
February 22, 2015 | Baseball
MESA, Ariz. – Branden Berry delivered a walk-off RBI single in the 10th inning to give the Huskies a 6-5 win in 10 innings over Kansas State Saturday night in the Pac-12/Big-12 Tournament.
With the bases loaded and no outs, Berry stroked the first pitch he saw from Kyle Halbohn into the right-center gap to set off a wild celebration on the infield of Sloan Park in Mesa, Ariz. The win snapped a two-game losing streak and improved Washington to 5-2 on the season.
"I was just trying to hit something hard and not put the ball on the ground," said Berry of his winning hit. "We're a bunch of grinders and this game just typlified our resilience."
Kyle London struck out to start the 10th, but he reached first base safely on a passed ball by Kansas State catcher Alex Bee. Jack Meggs, who gave the Huskies a short-lived lead in the eight inning, laid down a sacrifice bunt that Halbohn threw wildly to first, allowing London to move to second. After an intentional pass to Alex Schmidt, Berry delivered the walk-off hit.
Berry's hit made a first-time winner out of pitcher Spencer Jones, who threw the final 1 and 2/3 innings.
The game went back-and-forth with the lead changing hands five times and both squads mounting late rallies.
Kansas State (3-4) got the scoring started in the first inning, touching UW starter Josh Fredendall up for the early 1-0 lead. Lead-off hitter Carter Yagi served the first pitch of the game into centerfield for a single, and with two outs and Yagi on second, cleanup hitter Steve Serratore laced a two-strike single into leftfield that allowed Yagi to score.
Washington had an answer in the first inning but were unable to get nothing but the equalizer despite sending seven batters to the plate. London led off with a single, was sacrificed to second by Meggs and scored when Schmidt singled up the middle.
UW broke up the tie in the fourth inning, scoring an unearned run to make it 2-1. Josh Cushing led off the inning by reaching on an error by the third baseman Yagi. He was sacrificed to second by Chris Baker and freshman Joey Morgan hit his second double of the game to drive Cushing home. It was the first RBI of the young catcher's career and gave him four hits in his first seven at bats.
The lead didn't last long for the Huskies, though, as the Wildcats put two on the board in the top of the fifth. With two outs, and runners at second and third, No. 3 hitter first baseman Shane Conlon tripled into the right-center gap to make the score 3-2.
Kansas State finally chased Fredendall from the game in the seventh when the first two batters reached. With runners on the corners on no outs, Will Ballowe came into the game and balked home a run before retiring the side without allowing any further damage.
Fredendall set career-highs with six innings pitched and seven strikeouts, but he was the pitcher of record with a 4-2 deficit. The sixth-year senior, who missed the previous two seasons with an arm injury, gave up seven hits and four earned runs, while walking two and hitting a batter.
Fifth-year senior Will Sparks took his roommate Fredendall off the hook in the seventh inning with a two-out, two-run triple to tie the score 4-4. Meggs got things started with a one-out bunt single, and with two down, Berry singled to put runners at the corners. Sparks cleared the bases by driving a pitch from reliever Bryce Ward into the right-center gap that set off a frenzied celebration in the Huskies dugout.
The Huskies then took the lead in the eighth on a two-out RBI single by Meggs, but did not have much time to enjoy it. Morgan started the inning off with a single – his third hit of the game – and pinch-runner Matt Jackson would eventually score on Meggs' hit to make it 5-4.
But the Wildcats would respond in the ninth with three hits to get the equalizer and eventually send the game into extra innings. Yagi singled to center to drive home Keith Browning, who led off the ninth with a single.
Morgan led the Huskies' 10-hit barrage with three, and Meggs and Berry chipped in two each for the Dawgs.
The Huskies wrap up the four-game Pac-12/Big-12 Tournament Sunday with a 10:00 a.m PT game against Oklahoma State at Peoria Sports Complex, the spring training home for the Seattle Mariners and San Diego Padres.
A pair of freshmen will make their starting debuts for both teams. UW will send right-hander Noah Bremer to the hill against fellow newcomer right-hander Carson LaRue.
Washington 6, Kansas State 5 (10 innings)
KS 100 020 101 0 –- 5 10 3
UW 100 100 210 1 –- 6 10 0
LOB: KSU 8, UW 13. Josh Fredendall, Will Ballowe (7), Brandon Choate (8), Spencer Jones (9) and Joey Morgan, Zach Bonneau (9). Colton Kalmus, Bryce Ward (6), Lucas Benenati (8), Kyle Halbohn (9) and Alex Bee, Tyler Moore (10). W – Jones (1-0). L – Halbohn (0-1). Sv – none. HR – none. 3B – KSU, Shane Conlon; UW, Will Sparks. 2B – UW, Joey Morgan (2). Time – 3:32. Attendance – 484.
