Huskies Shutout Stanford, 4-0, To Win Series

Sunday, May 22

Seattle, WA

1:00 PM

University of Washington

31-19, 0

Stanford

28-23, 0

Stanford

Washington

Photo by: Washington Athletics

May 22, 2016 | Baseball

Box Score

By: Washington Athletics

SEATTLE – Four Husky pitchers combined to throw a two-hit shutout Sunday as Washington sent their six seniors out on a high note beating Stanford, 4-0, Sunday afternoon in the final regular-season home game at Husky Ballpark.

The win gave the Huskies (31-19, 16-11 Pac-12) the series win over the Cardinal (28-23, 12-15) and also improved Washington to 8-0 in deciding rubber match games this season.

Lindsay Meggs picked up his 200^th win as the Huskies' coach, but more importantly his team stays within striking distance of first-place Utah in the Pac-12 race. The Huskies are currently second in the conference, one game behind the Utes. Utah plays later Sunday evening and Monday night at California before hosting the Huskies this weekend for three games in Salt Lake City.

UW pitchers Greg Minier, Spencer Jones, Alex Nesbitt and Ryan Schmitten kept Stanford hitters off balance all day. The Cardinal were hitless until Quinn Brodey singled to left field with one out in the seventh. Brodey also picked up a two-out single in the ninth inning to account for both of Stanford's hits.

Minier started the game and threw two perfect innings before giving way to Spencer Jones. Jones (5-2) pitched the next two innings and was credited with the win. Nesbitt handled the fifth and sixth innings and was lifted from the game in the seventh after allowing a walk and hit – the only time that a Stanford batter reached second base all day.

Senior Ryan Schmitten escaped the jam in the seventh and recorded the final six outs of the game to pick up his first career save.

Offensively, the Huskies had a great start in the first inning, scoring twice with just one base hit to jump ahead of Stanford starter Kris Bubic (0-3). Kyle London walked to start the inning and was sacrificed into scoring position by Jack Meggs. Chris Baker followed with a towering double off the wall in left-center that just missed being a home run. London scored on the hit and Baker took third when center fielder Jack Klein had trouble picking up the ball.

The error proved costly as senior Duncan Hendrickson drove Baker home on a ground out for an unearned run and 2-0 lead after the first inning.

Washington kept up the pressure on Bubic in the third, scoring another run and chasing him from the game. AJ Graffanino walked to start the inning and was sacrificed into scoring position by London. Meggs made the strategy pay off with a single that chased Graffanino home and made the score 3-0.

The Huskies went on to load the bases in the third, forcing Stanford to go to the bullpen, but the Huskies could not put up any more runs.

The offense tacked on what proved to be an insurance run in the seventh. MJ Hubbs drew a bases-loaded walk to force in Meggs, who singled earlier in the inning.

Meggs (2 for 4, RBI) and Baker (2 for 3, RBI) led the Huskies' offensive attack. Baker finished the series 8 for 13 (.615) with multiple hits in all three games.

The Huskies play Washington State Tuesday in Yakima at 6:30 p.m. in a non-conference game before wrapping up the regular season in Utah, starting Friday.

No. 17 Washington 4 (30-19, 15-11), Stanford 0 (28-22, 12-14)

STAN 000 000 000 –- 0 2 1
WASH 201 000 10x –- 4 8 0

LOB: STAN 5, UW 10. Kris Bubic, Andrew Summerville (3) and Alex Dunlap; Greg Minier, Spencer Jones (3), Alex Nesbitt (5), Ryan Schmitten (7) and Joey Morgan. W – Jones (5-2). L – Bubic (0-3). SV – Schmitten (1). HR – none. 3B – none. 2B – UW, Chris Baker. Time – 2:54. Attendance – 1,154.