Bullpen Comes Through As No. 17 Huskies Beat Bears, 4-2

Monday, May 16

Seattle, WA

5:00 PM

University of Washington

29-18

Northern Colorado

15-30

Northern Colorado

Washington

Photo by: Washington Athletics

May 17, 2016 | Baseball

Box Score

By: Washington Athletics

SEATTLE – The Huskies' baseball team got a boost from its stellar bullpen and KJ Brady paced the offense with a 3 for 4 night as Washington won a tight 4-2 non-conference game over Northern Colorado on Monday at Husky Ballpark.

With Washington starter Will Ballowe forced to leave the game after three pitches due to an injury, the Huskies (29-18) – who are ranked 17^th in this week's Collegiate Baseball poll and 23^rd in D1Baseball.com's rankings – were forced to turn to their bullpen to get all 27 outs. And like so many times this year, the Huskies' relief corps came through.

Five relievers combined to hold Northern Colorado (29-19) to two runs – only one of which was earned – on eight hits. The bullpen is 4-0 with a 0.44 earned run average in 41 innings during the month of May.

Lance Berringer (1-0) replaced Ballowe on the hill and allowed both of Northern Colorado's runs, but he pitched three innings to pick up his first win as a Husky.

Alex Hardy (2/3 innings), Greg Minier (2 1/3), Spencer Jones (2 1/3) and Alex Nesbitt (2/3) combined to throw six scoreless innings to make an early lead after two innings stand.

Chris Baker gave the Huskies a quick 2-0 lead, launching a two-run home run to left field in the first inning. Baker took the 0-1 pitch from Northern Colorado starter Cody Carroll (0-2) over the fence for his team-leading seventh home run of the year. Kyle London, who reached via a bunt single, scored in front of Baker.

The lead was short-lived, though, as the Bears struck for two runs in the top half of the second to tie the score at 2-2. They got one run on a ground out and the other on a run-scoring triple by left fielder Nick Tanner.

That would be all the offense the Bears could muster on the evening and the Huskies had a quick answer in the bottom half of the inning to take the lead for good. Brady reached on an infield single and advanced to second on a ground out. With two outs, AJ Graffanino delivered a clutch hit to right field, scoring Brady on the play.

The score remained the same until next time through the order. This time, Brady delivered a RBI single with the bases loaded in the fifth to extend the Huskies lead to 4-2.

Brady finished 3 for 4 with a RBI and run. Baker was 2 for 4 with 2 runs and 2 RBI.

Northern Colorado tried to mount a rally in the ninth, getting the tying run on base with one out. But Nesbitt came into the game and got a line out and pop out to end the game and pick up his second save of the season.

The Huskies have now won two games in a row and take some momentum into their final home stand of the year this weekend against Stanford. The teams open a three-game series Friday with a 5:00 p.m. first pitch.

No. 17 Washington 4 (29-18), Northern Colorado 2 (15-30)

NC 020 000 000 –- 2 8 0
UW 210 010 00x –- 4 9 1

LOB: NC 9, UW 9. Cody Carroll, Allen Cook (4), Spencer Applebach (5), Luke Haynes (8) and Jacob Garcia; Will Ballowe, Lance Berringer (1), Alex Hardy (4), Greg Minier (4), Spencer Jones (7), Alex Nesbitt (9) and Joey Morgan. W – Berringer (1-0). L – Carroll (0-2). SV – Nesbitt (2). HR – UW, Chris Baker (7). 3B – NC, Nick Tanner. 2B – NC, Jacob Ek, 2. Time – 2:59. Attendance – 541.