Big Sixth Inning Propels Huskies To Home-Opening Win Over Cal Poly

Friday, March 1

Seattle, WA

4:05 PM

University of Washington

5-2

Cal Poly

2-7

Cal Poly

Washington

Big Sixth Inning Propels Huskies To Home-Opening Win Over Cal Poly

March 01, 2019 | Baseball

Box Score PHOTOS: Opening Night

By: Brian Tom

SEATTLE – Washington exploded for six runs in sixth inning that sparked a rally and led to an eventual 9-3 win over Cal Poly in the Husky Ballpark opener on a chilly Friday night. The streaking Huskies (5-2) have now won four-straight games.

The Huskies sent 11 hitters to the plate, but only had two hits in the decisive sixth inning. Trailing 3-2, Nick Kahle and Ramon Bramasco drew walks from Cal Poly (2-7) starter Jarred Zill (0-3) to start the sixth. Joe Wainhouse followed with a sharp ground ball that went through the wickets of first baseman Tate Samuelson for an error, allowing Kahle to score and tie things up, 3-3.

With runners on the corners and no outs, Connor Blair hit a slow roller to Samuelson, who decided to go home on the play. Bramasco slid around the tag of the catcher, scoring and giving the Huskies a 4-3 lead, which they would never relinquish.

Mason Cerrillo followed with the big blow of the inning – a two-run double that gave the Huskies a three-run cushion.

The Dawgs added another run later in the inning on a RBI bunt single by third baseman Nick Roberts and scored the final run when the speedy Braiden Ward beat out what should have been a 6-4-3 double play, but instead was a run-scoring force out at second.

"Their starter came in with 20 strikeouts in 10 innings and he's really good at elevating the fastball and getting you to chase the breaking ball in the dirt, and I know we had some punchouts, but I thought we did a nice job staying off the fastball," UW coach Lindsay Meggs said. "We walked five times in a couple big situations, so for me we weren't real good out of the gate offensively but we hung in there, put some pressure on them by not chasing pitches, and then we got some hits when they mattered."

Wainhouse homered in the seventh to make the final tally 9-3. It was Wainhouse's third homer of the season and extended a personal streak of hitting a long ball in 13-straight, three-games series' dating back to 2018.

Cal Poly jumped ahead, 1-0, in the second inning when they strung together three singles off freshman starter David Rhodes. Connor Gurnik collected the third hit, an RBI single past a diving Jonathan Schiffer at first base that scored Samuelson for the game's first run.

The Huskies struck back with a pair of runs in the third, thanks to a clutch hit from Kahle. A Noah Hsue single, walk to Ward and wild pitch set the table for the Huskies' junior catcher, who drove a two-out, ground-rule double over the right-center field wall that gave his team a 2-1 advantage.

The Mustangs responded with two unearned runs in the fifth. One run scored when Elijah Greene smashed a ball off the glove of Hsue at second base, and a second run came in on the sequence when Blair's throw from right field got by Roberts at third base.

Rhodes went five strong innings, allowing seven hits and surrendering three runs – only one of which was earned. He struck out a pair and walked two but did not figure in the decision.

"I thought David was good," Meggs said. "David's a strike thrower. He only walked two guys tonight, one was an intentional walk, and that's why we're giving him the ball on Fridays because he can locate that fastball and throw strikes. He gives us some innings. He's got some impressive makeup for a freshman."

Chris Micheles (1-0) pitched two perfect innings, entering the game in the sixth after Rhodes allowed a lead-off single. He struck out two and picked up the win.

Stevie Emanuels threw the final two innings to slam the door shut on the Mustangs.

Hsue was the only Husky to tally more than one hit, going 2 for 3 and scoring twice.

The teams resume the series Saturday at Husky Ballpark with a first pitch scheduled for 2:00 p.m. PT.