Huskies Can't Hold Lead, Fall 8-5 To UCR

Sunday, February 28

Riverside, CA

1:00 PM

University of Washington

4-3

UC Riverside

4-4

Washington

UC Riverside

Photo by: Washington Athletics

February 29, 2016 | Baseball

Box Score

By: Washington Athletics

RIVERSIDE, CALIF. – UC Riverside scored four times in the seventh inning and overcame deficits of 4-0 and 5-3 to beat Washington, 8-5, in the final game of the four-game series Sunday at Riverside Sports Complex.

The Huskies (4-3) won the first two games of the series, but ended up earning just a split with the Highlanders (4-4) as they rallied from down four or more runs in each of the final two games of the series.

Washington scored a run in the second, third and fifth innings and two runs in the fourth, to jump ahead of UC Riverside. Gage Matuszak walked with one out and Chris Baker followed with a double to put two in scoring position in the second. After a walk to load the bases, Levi Jordan hit a sacrifice fly to right field that scored Matuszak.

The Huskies added two more runs in the third, with the first run being manufactured by playing small ball. Kyle London was hit by a pitch to start the inning, stole second and was sacrificed to third by Jack Meggs. UC Riverside starter Tyler Musgrave uncorked a wild pitch with John Naff at bat, allowing London to easily score. Naff doubled in his at bat and later came across the plate on a Matuszak double that made the score 3-0.

The Huskies went up 4-0 in the fourth when Joey Morgan doubled home MJ Hubbs, who led off the inning with a single. It was the fourth of five doubles in the game for the Huskies.

UC Riverside had an answer in the bottom of the inning, scoring three runs off UW starter Greg Minier, who could not make it out of the inning. After Thomas Walker drove in a run with a RBI single, he was able to trot home in front of Matt Hardy's home run.

Josh Cushing answered back with a home run of his own, leading off the fifth inning with a blast to left-center field that increased Washington's lead to 5-3. It was Cushing's second home run of the season and gave him a team-leading 10 RBI's. Unfortunately for the Huskies, it would be their last run of the game.

UC Riverside cut UW's lead to 5-4 in the sixth on a sacrifice fly before finally overtaking the Huskies in the seventh. Catcher Casey Worden led off the seventh with a home run to center field off Ryan Schmitten (0-1) that tied up the score at 5-5. The Highlanders would go on to score three more times in the inning and send nine total batters to the plate.

Yeager Taylor gave the Highlanders a 6-5 lead with a RBI single and Michael Farris added a two-run, two-out single to make it 8-5.

That proved to be enough run support for the Highlanders' bullpen. Matthew Ellis (1-0) allowed a hit in two innings of relief to pick up the win and Jake Worrell threw the final two innings to earn his first save of the season.

The Huskies outhit the Highlanders 12-11 in the game. Morgan was 3 for 4 with a RBI, while Baker and Hubbs had two hits each.

Washington returns home for the first time this season next week. The Huskies start a 16-game March homestand hosting Santa Clara for a four-game series starting Friday, March 4.

UC Riverside 8, Washington 5

UW 012 110 000 –- 5 12 2
UCR 000 301 40x –- 8 11 0

LOB: UW 9, UCR 8. Greg Minier, Westin Wuethrich (4), Ryan Schmitten (5), Henry Baker (7), Lance Berringer (7), Spencer Jones and Joey Morgan; Tyler Musgrave, Jason Montville (4), Alex Fagale (5), Matthew Ellis (6), Jake Worrell (8) and Casey Worden. W – Ellis (1-0). L – Schmitten (0-1). Sv – Worrell (1). HR – UW, Josh Cushing (2); UCR, Matt Hardy (1), Casey Worden (2). 3B – none. 2B – UW, Chris Baker (2), John Naff, Gage Matuszak, Joey Morgan; UCR, Aaron Cisneros, Mark Contreras. Time – 3:20. Attendance – 300.