University of Washington
Pepperdine
Davis Pitches Gem As Huskies Break Waves, 3-1
March 07, 2015 | Baseball
SEATTLE – All-American Tyler Davis equaled a career-high with 10 strikeouts and came within two outs of pitching a complete game as Washington defeated Pepperdine 3-1 at Husky Ballpark in Friday's series opener. The victory was the 150th of Coach Lindsay Meggs six-year UW career.
Davis (3-1) threw 126 pitches and allowed seven hits – the last a one-out bloop single in the ninth – before giving way to Spencer Jones. He was able to lower his season ERA from 3.60 to 2.86.
Jones retired the final two outs to earn his second save of the season.
Things started ominously for Davis as he walked the first batter he faced in the game. But, on a 3-2 count he got the next batter Aaron Barnett to smash into a 5-4-3 double play. He struck out Brad Anderson to end the inning, and from there he sailed until the third inning.
Pepperdine (7-7) strung together three-straight singles with two outs in the inning to score its only run of the game. Anderson had the third hit of the inning, which drove in Chris Fornaci from second base without drawing a throw. From there, Davis would allow just four more hits and allow only one runner to reach second base.
The Waves starter Jackson McClelland was equally impressive all night, but the Huskies (10-4) took the lead for good in the third inning. With one out, Jack Meggs was hit by a pitch and Alex Schmidt walked. Branden Berry followed with a RBI single up the middle to collect his team-leading 14th RBI and drive in a run for the fifth-straight game. Josh Cushing made it 2-1 on a RBI fielder's choice to score Schmidt in what turned out to be the game-winning run.
Davis got some breathing room for the ninth when his battery mate Joey Morgan connected for his first career home run in the eighth. Morgan took a 1-2 pitch from McClelland and sent it off the scoreboard in left field behind the visitor's bullpen to make the score 3-1.
Hard-luck loser McClelland, who entered the day with a 2-0 record and 0.43 ERA, ended up throwing an eight-inning, complete game.
Washington outhit Pepperdine 8-7, with Chris Baker and Morgan each recording two hits to lead the Huskies.
The Huskies and Waves play game two of the three-game series Saturday, with first pitch scheduled for 2:00 p.m. It should be another great pitching battle of right-handers as the Huskies send Pac-12 Pitcher of the Week freshman Noah Bremer (1-1, 1.76) to the hill against sophomore A.J. Puckett (2-1, 3.18).
Washington 3, Pepperdine 1
PEPP 001 000 000 –- 1 7 0
WASH 002 000 01x –- 3 8 1
LOB: PEPP 7, UW 10. Tyler Davis, Spencer Jones (9) and Joey Morgan. Jackson McClelland and Aaron Barnett. W – Davis (3-1). L – McClelland (2-1). Sv – Jones (2). HR – UW, Joey Morgan (1). 3B – none. 2B – PEPP, Matt Gelalich; UW, Chris Baker. Time – 2:29. Attendance – 852.
