Washington Making Ninth NCAA Appearance
SEATTLE - Washington (39-15-1, 21-9 Pac-12), the second-place finishers in the Pac-12 Conference, are the No. 2 seed in the Oxford Regional in Oxford, Miss. The Huskies will face three-seed Georgia Tech (36-25) in Friday’s game one at 1 p.m. PT at Swayze Field.
It is Washington’s ninth trip to the NCAA championship, its first since 2004, when they were also sent to Oxford, Miss. The Huskies are 19-16 all-time in NCAA play. They have never advanced to a Super Regional or participated in the College World Series. In 1994 and 1997, they were one win away from advancing to the CWS.
All games this week will be carried live on ESPN3 with Mike Morgan and Dave Perno calling the action. Live scoring will also be available on GoHuskies.com, live tweets will be on UW_Baseball and Gregg Bell will chat live on GoHuskies.com from the press box in Oxford.
OXFORD REGIONAL SCHEDULE:
All games at Swayze Field
Links for Live Video and Stats: Oxford Regional Tournament Central
Friday, May 30
GM 1: #2 Washington vs. #3 Georgia Tech - 1 pm PT
GM 2: #4 Jacksonville St. vs. #1 Ole Miss - 5 pm PT
Saturday, May 31
GM 3: GM 1 loser vs. GM 2 loser - 11 a.m. PT
GM 4: GM 1 winner vs. GM 2 winner - 3 p.m. PT
Sunday, June 1
GM 5: GM 3 winner vs. GM 4 loser - 11 a.m. PT
GM 6: GM 5 winner vs. GM 4 winner - 3 p.m. PT
Monday, June 2
If necessary - 5 p.m.
SERIES HISTORY VS OXFORD REGIONAL:
• UW vs. Georgia Tech: UW holds the 5-4 advantage in the series. The first time the two teams met was in the 1994 Wichita Regional where Tech won two-of-three, including the decisive game that sent the winner to the CWS. The teams met in the regular season in 1995 and split the two-game series. UW exacted some revenge in the 1997 Mideast Regional by knocking off top-ranked Georgia Tech. The last time the team's met was a three-game series in Atlanta, April 16-18, 2004. The Huskies dropped the first game before winning the next two -- including 16-2 in the final game of the series.
• UW vs. Mississippi: UW upset the host team 7-2 in a loser-out game of the 2004 Oxford Regional. It was the only meeting between the two teams.
• UW vs. Jacksonville State: The two programs have never met on the diamond.
THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT UW:
• Washington played seven teams that made the NCAA Baseball championship and were 10-8 overall against the field. Here is who they played and how they fared: Oregon State (1-2), Oregon (2-1), Arizona State (2-1), Stanford (2-1), Indiana (0-1), Nebraska (0-1) and Bethune Cookman (3-0).
• The Huskies have their most wins (39) since 2004 when they went 39-20-1. If they can reach 40 wins, it will be the first time they have acheived that milestone since going 42-18 in 2003. UW has won 40 games four previous times in school history (42-2003, 41-1998, 46-1997, 46-1994).
• Washington was picked to finish 10th out of 11 teams in the Pac-12 Conference. They ended up second with a 21-9 record, the Huskies highest finish since 2004. The 21 Pac-12 wins were their second most in school history and most since the north and south merged to for the Pac-10 in 1999.
• On May 12, Washington was ranked fifth by Baseball America, Perfect Game and Collegiate Baseball. That is the highest ranking the Huskies have ever earned. Currently Washington is ranked 13th by Collegiate Baseball, 14th by Baseball America, 16th by Collegiate Baseball, 18th by NCBWA and 19th by USA Today/Coaches.
• UW won 10-straight series before dropping its last two of the season at Oregon State and home against UCLA. Before that, the Huskies had won 14 straight series, including 12-straight Pac-12 series, dating back to last season. The 10 series wins this season are a school record.
• UW is 35-2-1 when scoring four or more runs and 34-6 when keeping opponents under four runs. The Dawgs are 28-2 when leading after four innings and 14-0 when leading after the first inning. The Huskies are 27-1 when leading after seven innings and 32-1 when ahead after 8. The lone loss came last Saturday when they gave up a 3-1 lead in the 9th.
• UW ranked second in the Pac-12 in batting average (.280), slugging pct (.383) and RBIs (284). As a pitching staff, they ranked 3rd in ERA (3.23) and 2nd with 16 saves. Defensively, the team’s fielding percentage of .981 led the Conference and is 5th nationally.
SPOTLIGHTED HUSKIES
• Tyler Davis, a Golden Spikes & Dick Howser Award semifinalist and Gregg Olson watch list member, is vyying to become the 4th Husky with 11 or more wins in a season.
• Brian Wolfe (.381) led the Conference in hitting during Pac-12 action. Austin Rei (.367) was 3rd and Trevor Mitsui (.343) finished 5th.
• Troy Rallings (30), Trevor Dunlap (29) and Will Ballowe (28) rank 6th, 8th and 11th, respectively, for appearances in UW single-season history.
• Robert Pehl is the only Husky to start all 55 games this seaosn and in fact has started the last 131 games dating back to his freshman year.
• Andrew Ely leads the nation with 23 sacrifice bunts and the team is second nationally with 83.
• Braden Bishop tied for the Pac-12 lead with 19 stolen bases in 21 attempts.
• Ely and Erik Forgione were the top double-play tandem in the Pac-12. Ely turned 45 and Forgione 42. Forgione also led the Conference with 193 assists.
• WIth 78 career appearances, Zach Wright ranks third all-time in UW history. He needs 2 more to tie for second all-time.
POSSIBLE STARTERS: Here’s a look at the possible starters at each position, with 2014 stats and notes:
Pos. Player, Year 2014 Avg.-HR-RBI Notes
C – Austin Rei, So. .329-2-27 Hit .367 in Pac-12 play to rank 3rd; thrown out 13 of 32 SB atts.
1B/DH – Branden Berry, RS-So. .243-1-17 33 starts at 1B, 6 at DH, 2 in RF; .333 in May (9x27, HR, 6 R, 4 RBI)
2B – Andrew Ely, Jr. .306-2-31 Leads Pac-12 turning 45 double plays; nat’l leader w/23 sac bunts
3B – Alex Schmidt, Jr. .234-5-26 49 games, 48 starts at third; .310 (13x42), 2 HR, 8 RBI in May
SS – Erik Forgione, Jr. .231-0-21 Leads Pac-12 w/193 assists, 2nd 42 double plays; 22x58 RISP
OF – Braden Bishop, So. .296-0-25 T1st in Pac-12 with 19 steals, started 54 of 55 games in centerfield
OF – Robert Pehl, Jr. .259-5-32 Started 131-straight games; 13 multi-hit gms; hit for cycle vs. SJ St.
OF – Brian Wolfe, Sr. .361-5-35 Gregg Olson Award watch list; hit .381 in Pac-12 play to lead conf.
DH/1B – Trevor Mitsui, Jr. .335-5-32 10th in Pac-12 in batting average; reached base in 47 of 51 games
RHP – Jared Fisher, Jr. 6-4, 4.17 4-1, 2.36 ERA last 7 starts; allowed 3 or less ER’s in 10 of 15 starts
RHP – Tyler Davis, Jr. 10-2, 1.75 14th player in UW history with 10 wins; T3rd P-12 wins, 4th ERA
RHP – Jeff Brigham, Jr. 7-3, 2.93 Allowed 1 run or less in 9 starts; 11-6, 3.76 ERA in 49 career games
