University of Washington
1-1
Baylor
1-1
Baylor Rallies To Spoil DeMers' Debut, Cushing's Perfect Day
February 21, 2016 | Baseball
WACO, TEXAS – Baylor scored seven times after there were two outs in the sixth inning to rally past Washington, 9-5, and hand the Huskies (1-1) their first loss of the season Saturday afternoon at Baylor Ballpark in Waco, Texas. The Bears (1-1) had five hits off two UW relievers and were aided by two errors in the inning by the Huskies.
The rally spoiled the collegiate debut on the mound for Husky freshman Joe DeMers and the perfect day at the plate for UW third baseman Josh Cushing.
DeMers was solid in his first outing but had to work out of trouble in almost every inning. He was able to escape every jam except the last one he faced in the fifth. Darryn Sheppard hit a two-out RBI double for the only run off DeMers, but the first-year pitcher induced a first-pitch ground out from Cunningham to end the threat.
The freshman from Martinez, Calif. left with a 3-1 lead after he threw 83 pitches over five innings. He allowed the one run on six hits and two walks, while striking out a pair of batters.
Cushing was 4 for 4 at the plate with a two-run home run and career-high total of four RBI.
Things started out well for the Huskies as junior center fielder Jack Meggs gave DeMers a 1-0 advantage before he even stepped foot onto the mound in the first inning. Meggs took the first pitch he saw from Baylor starter Drew Tolson deep over the right-field fence for his second career home run, his first this season.
Washington extended its lead to 3-0 in the third on a Cushing two-out, two-run double. Kyle London and Meggs started the inning with back-to-back singles, but Tolson struck out the next two Husky hitters to set himself up for an escape from the jam. Cushing did not let him off the hook, though, smacking the first offering from Tolson over right fielder Richard Cunningham's head. The runs scored were the eighth and ninth out of the first 10 on the season to come with two outs.
The Huskies' bullpen could not make the 3-1 lead stand though. Baylor touched up Alex Nesbitt for a five runs and Spencer Jones for another two in the sixth.
Josh Bissonette started the two-out, no one on rally with an infield single and advanced to second on a throwing error by second baseman Chris Baker. He would come around to score on a RBI single by Kameron Esthay, and Matt Menard would tie things up with a RBI single of his own. With the bases loaded, Sheppard followed with a bases-clearing single aided by a fielding error in center by Meggs. Cunningham capped the rally with a two-run homer to right field to make the score 8-3.
Baylor added another run in the seventh to make it 9-3, before Cushing stepped up in the eighth with John Naff on base. He crushed a pitch from Drew Heineman over the right-center field fence for his third career home run.
Heineman (1-0) pitched three innings of relief to pick up the win for the Bears.
The two teams wrap up the series Sunday with first pitch coming at 10:00 a.m. PT. Left-handed senior Will Ballowe will take the hill for the Huskies.
Game time was moved up an hour due to impending poor weather.
Baylor 9, Washington 5
UW 102 000 020 –- 5 9 2
BU 000 017 10x –- 9 12 1
LOB: UW 7, BU 8. Joe DeMers, Alex Nesbitt (6), Spencer Jones (6), Westin Wuethrich (7), Greg Minier (7), Lance Berringer (8) and Joey Morgan, Willie MacIver (8); Drew Tolson, Drew Heineman (6), Troy Montemayor and Matt Menard. W – Heineman (1-0). L – Nesbitt (0-1). Sv – none. HR – UW, Jack Meggs (1), Josh Cushing (1); BU, Richard Cunningham (1). 3B – none. 2B – UW, Josh Cushing, Kyle London; BU, Richard Cunningham, Darryn Sheppard, Steven McLean, Justin Arrington. Time – 2:55. Attendance – 2,464.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Heineman, Joe (1-0)
L: Nesbitt, Alex (0-1)
Batting:
2B: London, Kyle 1 ; Cushing, Josh 1
HR: Meggs, Jack 1 ; Cushing, Josh 1
RBI: Meggs, Jack 1 ; Cushing, Josh 4
Base Running:
RUNS: London, Kyle 1 ; Meggs, Jack 2 ; Naff, John 1 ; Cushing, Josh 1
Batting:
2B: Sheppard, Darryn 1 ; Cunningham, Richard 1 ; McLean, Steven 1 ; Arrington, Justin 1
HR: Cunningham, Richard 1
RBI: Esthay, Kameron 1 ; Sheppard, Darryn 3 ; Cunningham, Richard 2 ; Arrington, Justin 1 ; Bissonette, Josh 1
SH: Tunnell, West 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Gilcrease, Levi 2 ; Esthay, Kameron 1 ; Menard, Matt 1 ; Sheppard, Darryn 1 ; Cunningham, Richard 1 ; McLean, Steven 1 ; Arrington, Justin 1 ; Bissonette, Josh 1
HBP: Gilcrease, Levi 1
