University of Washington
Oregon
Davis K's 14, But Dawgs Lose 4-3
April 26, 2015 | Baseball
EUGENE, Ore. – For a second-straight outing, Husky ace Tyler Davis was dominant on the hill and set a new career high for strikeouts. But, for the second-straight outing, Davis was a hard-luck loser as Washington fell 4-3 Saturday night to Oregon at Eugene's PK Park.
A week after striking out 11, Davis struck out 14 Ducks. But a three-run fourth inning doomed the Huskies' star and sent him to his third-straight loss and a 5-5 overall record.
The Ducks (24-19, 6-11 Pac-12) sent nine batters to the plate in overcoming a 2-1 deficit in the fourth. The only hits were a Phil Craig-St. Louis run-scoring triple and two-run double by Brandon Cuddy.
Davis settled down after the fourth, lasting 7 2/3 innings and striking out the final batter he faced in the eighth before handing the ball over to Brandon Choate. He scattered five hits, gave up four earned runs and walked a career-high four batters – all in the costly fourth inning.
Branden Berry hit a home run in the ninth inning to cut the lead to 4-3, but Ducks closer Garrett Cleavinger got Chris Baker to fly out to end the game and send the Huskies (23-17, 8-12) to their ninth one-run loss in Pac-12 play.
Washington jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the second, scoring a run on a safety squeeze bunt. With Baker at third after getting hit by a pitch to lead off the inning, freshman second baseman Levi Jordan laid down a bunt to the pitcher Conor Harber. Harber dropped the ball, allowing Baker to score and Jordan to reach safely.
The Ducks answered back in the bottom half of the inning to tie the score back up at 1-1. Craig-St. Louis led the inning off with an infield single and Scott Heineman followed with a RBI double into the left-center gap.
Will Sparks hit a bases-loaded bloop single – his second hit of the game – to make it 2-1 in the third. But, UW would strand the bags full to leave seven runners on base through three innings.
The Huskies ended up leaving 12 base runners stranded.
Sparks, Braden Bishop and Alex Schmidt had two hits each to pace the Huskies' offensive attack. Washington outhit the Ducks 9-5.
The Huskies and Ducks play the deciding game of the series Sunday at 2:00 p.m. on the Pac-12 Networks.
Oregon (24-19, 6-11) 4, Washington (23-17, 8-12) 3
UW 011 000 001 –- 3 9 0
UO 010 300 00x –- 4 5 1
LOB: UW 12, UO 3. Tyler Davis, Brandon Choate (8) and Joey Morgan; Conor Harber, Cooper Stiles (3), Stephen Nogosek (7), Garrett Cleavinger (8) and Shaun Chase. W – Stiles (2-1). L – Davis (5-5). Sv – Cleavinger (6). HR – UW, Branden Berry (7). 3B – UO, Phil Craig-St. Louis. 2B – UW, Alex Schmidt; UO, Scott Heineman, Brandon Cuddy. Time – 2:54. Attendance – 1,317.
