Huskies Clinch Series Over No. 3 Stanford And Most Likely A Post-Season Bid

Friday, May 25

Seattle, WA

7:00 PM

University of Washington

30-22, 0

Stanford

43-10, 0

Stanford

Washington

Alex Hardy struck out the final four batters to pick up his 7th save.

Huskies Clinch Series Over No. 3 Stanford And Most Likely A Post-Season Bid

May 25, 2018 | Baseball

Box Score Watch: Highlights Watch: Nick Kahle Postgame Interview

By: Brian Tom

SEATTLE – Coming into the weekend, Washington Baseball was by all indications one win shy of securing a post-season bid. After shutting out No. 3 Stanford on Thursday, the Huskies strengthened their case with a 4-2 victory on Friday night at Husky Ballpark to clinch their fifth-straight Pac-12 series.

Now, Washington (30-22, 20-9 Pac-12) has not only likely moved into the "safely-in" category for NCAAs, they have set themselves up to possibly win their first Conference title since 1998. If the Huskies complete the sweep against Stanford (43-10, 21-8), they will earn a share of the Pac-12 title. If they sweep and Oregon State (44-9-1, 20-8-1) loses tomorrow to UCLA, the Huskies will also get the Pac-12's automatic NCAA bid. Stanford can still win the title outright with a win Saturday, but at the very least are already guaranteed to be crowned co-champs.

That the Huskies are in position to play for the Conference title is a bit surprising, especially considering they were 8-6 in Pac-12 play back on April 21, but early on in Friday's game – which was celebrated as Bark in the Park -- the Huskies looked like they were in for a dog fight.

Stanford jumped ahead in the first inning, stringing together a lead-off single by Beau Branton and a two-out double by clean-up hitter Andrew Daschbach to take a 1-0 advantage against Jordan Jones and the Huskies. But, like the night before, Washington struck for a three-run home to end the first inning with a lead.

Stanford starter Tristan Beck (8-4) struggled to find the strike zone out of the gate, walking Mason Cerrillo and Braiden Ward on 10 pitches, and No. 3 hitter Nick Kahle made Beck pay by taking a 1-2 pitch over the fence in left field and into Stanford's bullpen for his fourth home run of the year – all coming in the month of May.

The Cardinal got a run back in the second inning on a solo home run by catcher Christian Molfetta – his first career blast – that made the score 3-2, but that was the last threat Stanford would mount against Jones until late in the game. After allowing a one-out single in the third, Jones would go on to retire 14 of the next 15 Cardinal batters.

"I was too loose and trying to be too fine early," said Jones, who improved to 6-3 on the season after he scattered seven hits, one walk and struck out four over 7 1/3 innings. "But then, I remembered that we have a really good defense and I started to throw strikes and good things happened."

Jones finally reached the end of his day when he allowed a one-out double and infield single in the eighth, but senior Alex Hardy put the fire out getting a ground out and strikeout to keep the Huskies 3-2 lead intact.

In the Huskies half of the eighth, they were able to extend their lead to two runs, thanks to freshman Kaiser Weiss, who entered the game as a defensive replacement in the seventh inning. With two on and two out, Weiss dropped a single in front of centerfielder Christian Robinson that allowed pinch-runner KJ Brady to score from second.

With a 4-2 lead, Hardy took the mound in the ninth and mowed through Stanford, striking out the side for his seventh save of the year.

Jones had big praise for the Huskies' senior closer after the his stellar performance.

"He's the definition of a grinder," he said. "From everything he's gone through, injury after injury, battling back and not getting many innings, to then doing what he is doing for us this year is huge.

"You can't really ask anything more from him. He's giving everything he has with every pitch that he throws, and it's really shown this year."

The Huskies and the Cardinal wrap up the series on Saturday with a 3:00 p.m. first pitch. Oregon State and UCLA are slated to start the final game of their series at 2:00 p.m. in Corvallis.

Washington will honor its five seniors – Brady, Hardy, Levi Jordan, Channing Nesbitt and Joe Wainhouse – with a pre-game ceremony at approximately 2:40 p.m.