Morgan Homers Twice, But UW Falls, 5-4, In 11 Innings

Friday, April 21

Pullman, Wash.

5:00 PM

University of Washington

20-15, 0

Washington State

17-18, 0

Washington

Washington State

April 21, 2017 | Baseball

Box Score Box: WSU 5, UW 4 - 11 innings

By: Brian Tom

PULLMAN, Wash. – Junior catcher Joey Morgan homered twice for 30^th-ranked Washington, but Cory Meyer walked with the bases loaded in the 11^th inning to give host Washington State a walk-off, 5-4 win in the first game of the series Friday night at Bailey-Brayton Field in Pullman.

The Huskies (20-15, 7-6 Pac-12) nearly dodged a bullet in the inning as Dillon Plew was thrown out at home trying to score the winning run from second on a single. Instead, he was the second out of the inning and the Huskies had new life temporarily. But, after JJ Hancock was hit by a pitch to load the bases, Meyer took four-straight pitches from UW pitcher Jordan Jones (4-5) to force home Shane Matheny for the game-winning run.

The loss erased a big night by Morgan. He was 3-for-5 with homers in the sixth and eighth innings for his first career multi-homer game.

The Huskies had the best opportunities to get on the board early, but it was the Cougars (17-18, 3-10) that ended up scoring first. Washington had runners in scoring position in each of the first four innings but WSU broke the ice in the fifth inning, taking a 1-0 lead on a sacrifice fly by catcher Cale Waterman.

The lead was short-lived as Morgan answered back with a solo home run in the sixth inning. With one out, Morgan put the first pitch of his at bat against Colby Nealy over the left-field fence for his second home run of the season.

The back-and-forth action continued when the Cougars re-took the lead in their half of the seventh on a RBI single by James Rutkin. Rutkin chased home Plew from second on a seeing-eye single to make the score 2-1. They would go on to load the bases with less than two outs, but Noah Bremer escaped the jam with a strikeout and ground out.

Bremer wasn't as fortunate in the seventh inning as he allowed two more after there were two outs to fall behind 4-1. Justin Harrer singled home the first run of the inning and Rutkin came through two batters later with his second RBI hit of the day.

Morgan brought the Huskies back within one run going long again in the eighth inning. With Jack Meggs on base after a lead-off walk, Morgan took a 1-1 pitch from Ryan Walker to almost the exact same spot of his first home run over the left-field wall to make the score 4-3. It was the 10^th career home run for Morgan.

The Dawgs weren't done in the inning as Josh Cushing plated the equalizer to tie things up at 4-4. After Morgan's homer, Willie MacIver walked and took second on a wild pitch. After John Naff struck out, Cushing singled on a 1-2 pitch by Scott Sunitsch to score MacIver.

Washington State had a chance to end the game in regulation, but Washington pitcher Greg Minier was able to escape a bases loaded jam with less than two outs in the ninth. He got Rutkin to ground into a fielder choice with a force play at home and he finished the inning off getting Hancock to fly out.

Sunitsch (1-2) pitched 3 2/3 innings to earn his first win of the season.

Minier equaled a season-high with three scoreless innings on the mound,

The Huskies had 10 hits on the night with Morgan and Naff (2-for-4) combining for half of them.

The Huskies and Cougars continue the serietravel across the state to play the Cougars in a three-game series on the Palouse. The first game is Friday at 5:00 p.m. and all three games will be televised by the Pac-12 Network.