Huskies Swat Hornets Away, 8-5, To Earn Series Split

Monday, February 19

Sacramento, CA

1:00 PM

University of Washington

2-2

Sacramento State

2-2

Washington

Sacramento State

February 19, 2018 | Baseball

Box Score

By: Brian Tom

SACRAMENTO – The visiting Washington Huskies (2-2) scored three times in both the first and sixth innings and led from start to finish in beating Sacramento State 8-5 at John Smith Field on Monday. The President's Day win gave the Huskies a split of the four-game series against the Hornets (2-2).

A day after being shutout on four hits, Washington scored first for the first time in the series and grabbed a 3-0 lead in the opening inning. The Huskies had four hits off freshman lefty Brady Rodriguez (0-1) in the opening frame to chase him after just one inning in his first career start.

Singles by Mason Cerrillo and AJ Graffanino were followed by a walk to Nick Kahle that loaded the bases. Levi Jordan followed with a fly ball that eluded James Outman in right field for a single, allowing Cerrillo to score the first run. But Jordan was caught in a rundown thinking the runners ahead of him had taken an extra base on the play and was thrown out for the second out.

Fortunately, the Huskies were still able to capitalize as Graffanino scored on a Rodriguez wild pitch and designated hitter Joe Wainhouse pushed the third run of the inning home on a single.

It marked the start of a very offensive day for the Huskies as they pounded out a season-high 11 hits. The offensive outburst helped the Dawgs overcome a shaky day in the field in which they recorded four errors.

The Huskies' comfortable lead dwindled quickly to 3-2 as Sac State scored two unearned runs in the second inning off of UW starter Stevie Emanuels. The first two Hornets' batters reached when Cerrillo dropped a fly ball in left field and Emanuels misplayed a grounder back to the mound. Both runners eventually scored on a sacrifice fly and bases loaded walk. Things could have been worse if not for a diving stop at second base by Jordan that retired the side and left the bases full of Hornets.

Washington went back up by two runs in the fourth on a sacrifice fly by Christian Jones. Jordan, who had a team-high three hits on the day, crossed the plate to make the score 4-2.

Sacramento State got a run back in the fifth to make it a one-run game, but Washington scored three runs in the sixth to take a 7-4 lead. Wainhouse tripled home Jordan, who reached on a one-out double. Jonathan Schiffer followed with a double to pick up his first collegiate RBI and Ben Baird doubled to pick up his first hit and RBI of the season.

The Hornets scored twice in the seventh inning to cut the Huskies' lead to 7-5, but Washington would add an insurance run in the ninth on a wild pitch to give senior pitcher Alex Hardy some breathing room on the mound.

Hardy would get Josh Urps swinging to get the final out of the game and notch his career-high fifth strike out. Hardy allowed three hits and a walk, but he kept Sac State from scoring in his 2 2/3 innings of long relief. The fifth-year senior's first save of the season was the third of his career.

Lucas Knowles (1-0) took over from Emanuels with one out in the third inning and allowed one hit over 1 1/3 innings to notch his first career win.

Jordan was the only Husky with three hits, but Cerrillo, Graffanino and Wainhouse each collected two hits on the day.

Washington opens the home portion of its schedule this weekend at Husky Ballpark against UC Riverside. Game one against the Highlanders is Friday at 6:00 p.m. The teams will play a double-header on Saturday starting at 2:00 p.m. before closing out the series Sunday with a 1:00 p.m. finale.