Reeling Huskies host Portland

Mar 12, 2013, 12:00 AM

After a rough weekend on the Bayou, the Washington baseball team gets one last chance to turn things around on Tuesday. After that, it’s game on. Coming off a three-game sweep at the hands of No. 3 LSU, the Huskies will host a single game against Portland on Tuesday before beginning their Pac-12 schedule next weekend at No. 7 UCLA. The Huskies return from Baton Rouge, La., with three more losses than when they left Seattle. Thanks to a potent offense and a solid pitching staff, the Tigers swept away the UW, winning by 9-4, 8-4, and 7-5 margins over the weekend. “We wanted our guys to experience what it was like to play in an atmosphere like that,” head coach Lindsay Meggs said. “We were in all three games; we just didn’t play well enough to win any one.” It was a tough weekend for the Huskies to get any sort of momentum going. Their starting pitchers struggled, combining to allow 17 runs (13 earned) in 11 1/3 innings. The Huskies didn’t hit the ball well, batting .225 against LSU pitching. And they didn’t field well, making six errors during the weekend. Simply put, not much is going right for the UW these days. Meggs said he thinks the solution begins with offense. “We have to score some runs,” he said. “It makes everything more difficult if you don’t score. The more wiggle room you have offensively, the more you can survive a bad inning from one of your pitchers or a bad inning on defense.” The Huskies fell to 4-11 in Louisiana. They need to turn things around fast. Conference play starts Friday, and the seventh-ranked Bruins (11-3) won’t present the Huskies with an easy entry to the Pac-12. But before the weekend, the UW will get one final chance to put a notch in the win column. Portland is 4-12 and lost two of three at home to Seattle University last weekend. The Huskies defeated Seattle last Tuesday, 4-2. As was the case a week ago against the Redhawks, Meggs will send Jared Fisher to the hill to try and halt a skid. Against Seattle, Fisher went four innings, giving up three hits, walking three, and striking out one. However, Meggs said he doesn’t plan on limiting Fisher to four innings this time around, as he did a week ago. He wants Fisher to eat up some innings for the UW bullpen. At the start of the season, Tuesday’s game probably didn’t loom large on the Huskies’ schedule. But now, Meggs knows the importance of getting a win, any win. The Huskies need to end their skid before they start playing games that matter against more difficult competition. Even then, there will still be work to do. “It’ll be uplifting for the guys to get a win,” Meggs said. “We know what we’re up against this weekend, and it won’t get any easier in this conference. A win would be great, but it won’t be the end of the world if we don’t get it. And it doesn’t solve our problems if we do.” Reach reporter Daniel Rubens at sports@dailyuw.com. Twitter: @Drubens12

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