Bullpen Lifts Dawgs To 7-1 Win Over Baylor

Sunday, February 21

Waco, TX

10:00 AM

University of Washington

2-1

Baylor

1-2

Washington

Baylor

Photo by: Washington Athletics

February 21, 2016 | Baseball

Box Score

By: Washington Athletics

WACO, TEXAS – The Huskies rallied at Baylor Ballpark to escape Waco, Texas with a 7-1 win Sunday, thanks to a Herculean effort from the bullpen and timely hitting by the offense.

Junior center field Jack Meggs singled home the tying run in the third and the go-ahead run in the fifth, and the bullpen recorded all 27 outs of the game to ensure Washington left Baylor's campus with wins in two-out-of-three games in the series.

It was inauspicious start for the Huskies as starting pitcher Will Ballowe could not get out of the first inning. He had full counts on each of the first three hitters he faced but walked the bases loaded and was replaced on the hill without recording an out by junior Greg Minier. After allowing a sacrifice fly to Darryn Sheppard, Minier got an infield fly and groundout to minimize the damage to just one run.

Minier set the tone for the Huskies' bullpen – considered a strength of the team entering the season. Four relievers combined to throw nine shutout innings, allowing seven hits and walking three, while striking out six. Each reliever threw a minimum of two innings.

“That's the bullpen I believe we have,” said UW Coach Lindsay Meggs. “What we saw last night was a combination of hard luck and just some mistakes, but we really think that the bullpen is the strength of our team, and we saw it today.”

Alex Nesbitt (1-1) came into the game in the third inning with two outs and went two full innings to pick up the win. He exited in the bottom of the fifth with a 2-1 lead.

Troy Rallings recorded the final seven outs to record his first save of the season. He now has 16 saves in his career and moved into sole possession of fifth-place on the UW's all-time list.

The Huskies tied the score at 1-1 in the third thanks to a pair of Baylor errors. AJ Graffanino reached to lead off the inning on a throwing error by shortstop Josh Bissonette. He advanced to third on a bunt base hit by Kyle London and throwing error by starting pitcher Nick Lewis (0-1) and came around to score on a Meggs' RBI single.

Washington took the lead for good in the fifth, as Meggs collected his second RBI of the game. This time he singled home catcher Willie MacIver, who walked to lead off the inning.

The Huskies played add-on in the sixth, taking advantage of a freshman pitcher making his college debut. MJ Hubbs walked to lead off the inning and came all the way around from first to score when designated hitter Gage Matuszak hammered a double off pitcher Andrew McInvale into the right field corner. Chris Baker followed with a double in almost the same spot to score Matuszak and increase UW's lead to 4-1.

The Dawgs made it 7-1 in the ninth with three more runs, sending nine batters to the plate. The Huskies walked five times in the inning and were also hit by a pitch. Matuszak walked to force in one run and Levi Jordan drove in the other two runs with a two-out single.

The offense pounded out 10 hits, led by a 3 for 6 day from London. Meggs finished 2 for 4 with 2 RBI.

The Huskies are back in action next week in Riverside, Calif. against UC Riverside. The two teams will play a four-game series starting Friday, Feb. 26 through Sunday, Feb. 28.

Washington 7, Baylor 1

UW 001 012 003 –- 7 10 0
BU 100 000 000 –- 1 7 2

LOB: UW 12, BU 9. Will Ballowe, Greg Minier (1), Alex Nesbitt (3), Spencer Jones (5), Troy Rallings (7) and Willie MacIver, Joey Morgan (6); Nick Lewis, Andrew McInvale (6), Kyle Hill (6), Theron Kay (7), Kyle Ott (8), Tyler Shumpert (9), Blake Allen (9) and Matt Menard. W – Nesbitt (1-1). L – Lewis (0-1). Sv – Rallings (1). HR – none. 3B – none. 2B – UW, Gage Matuszak, Chris Baker; BU, Darryn Sheppard. Time – 3:30. Attendance – 2,155.