Huskies hope to maintain momentum against Pepperdine

Apr 5, 2013, 12:00 AM

After finally putting together a complete team performance on Tuesday, the Washington baseball team will try to continue its momentum this weekend when it travels to Southern California for a three-game set with Pepperdine. The series will mark the midpoint of the UW’s season-long 11-game road trip. The Huskies (7-19, 2-7 Pac-12) are coming off their most complete game of the season, a 14-1 win over Seattle University on Tuesday. After collecting 12 hits while being swept by Oregon last weekend, the UW had 20 hits Tuesday night. The Huskies also got one of their best pitching performances of the season, with Trevor Dunlap giving up just two hits and one run over six innings of work. The Huskies are hoping that the success against the Redhawks is a sign of good things to come. “We have to keep staying with it and taking the same approach,” second baseman Robert Pehl said. “We have to keep working in practice and just build off of this and keep feeling good.” The dominating win came off a weekend during which the Huskies scored just three runs total, all in the series opener last Thursday. The UW was shut out over the last two games of the series against the Ducks, dropping its conference record to 2-7. But a thrashing of Seattle University put a stop to the UW’s tailspin. To continue the turnaround, though, the Huskies must defeat a tough Pepperdine team that comes in to the series hot, having won eight of its last 10 games. “We want to go down there and take advantage of the fact that we are playing a very good opponent from a very good league on the road,” head coach Lindsay Meggs said. “Those are wins that could be big for us. It’s a tough place to play and a tough place to win. It’s another chance for us to take a step forward.” Pepperdine (16-11, 6-3 WCC) is coming off a 3-1 win Tuesday against UC Santa Barbara. The Waves are a pitching coach’s nightmare. They come in averaging 5.8 runs a game and have mashed 18 home runs this season. The task of shutting down Pepperdine’s offense will fall to a UW pitching staff that has been better as of late. Meggs said he is not sure yet who will start the series opener, but that ace Austin Voth (3-4, 3.52 ERA) will go on Saturday. After the three games with Pepperdine, the Huskies will remain in Southern California on Monday to play at Cal State Northridge. If the last few weekends are any indication, two of the three starters besides Voth will likely be Nick Palewicz (2-4, 5.40 ERA) and Tyler Davis (0-4, 4.86 ERA), but nothing is confirmed yet. “We have to talk about where we are with some of these other guys and figure out who we’re going with Friday and Sunday,” Meggs said. “We’re going to have to pitch well and play defense to win.” The series features three afternoon games, beginning with a 3 p.m. first pitch on Friday. Saturday and Sunday’s games will begin at 1 p.m. Reach reporter Daniel Rubens at sports@dailyuw.com. Twitter: @drubens12

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