Spring break recap: baseball

A fresh season and a new stadium have breathed new life into the Washington baseball team. After starting nonconference play 3-4-1, the Huskies went on a tear, winning seven in a row, a streak they carried into Pac-12 play and spring break. After dropping their first conference game against Arizona State, the Huskies rebounded. They haven’t lost since, despite being picked to finish 10th out of 11 teams in the conference. The Huskies have taken ten in a row against the likes of Arizona State, Arizona, and USC. They’ve taken some cues from the cherry trees in the quad and bloomed just in time for spring. Here’s a look back at the UW’s red-hot start to conference play, along with a few nonconference games thrown in, prior to last weekend’s sweep of USC: March 14 | at Arizona State, L 4-1 Arizona State jumped out to an early lead in its first game against the UW. They scored three runs in the third and held the lead the rest of the way behind excellent pitching. Junior Erik Forgione fired back with an RBI triple in the seventh, but it wasn’t enough to catch up. The Sun Devils’ big lefty Brett Lilek tossed seven superb innings, while only allowing one run on four hits to earn his third win of the season. March 15 | at Arizona State, W 9-3 After the end of their seven-game winning streak, the Huskies came back in a big way against the Sun Devils in game two of the series. The game was close until the Huskies opened it up with a six-run eighth inning. Sophomore Branden Bishop knocked in the first three runs with a triple down the left field line, junior Andrew Ely brought in Bishop with an RBI double, and junior Robert Pehl and senior Brian Wolfe each had RBI singles to put the game out of reach. March 16 | at Arizona State, W 4-3, (11) The series finale went into extra innings before the Huskies could pull out a victory on a solo home run by Ely in the 11th. The Huskies seemed to have the game in the bag, leading 3-1 heading into the bottom of the ninth, but senior Trevor Dunlap blew the save, giving up two runs on a solo home run and a sacrifice fly. Head coach Lindsay Meggs displayed his faith in the reliever, leaving Dunlap in to retire the next six batters in order and earn the win. March 18 | vs. Portland, W 7-6 Taking a break from conference play, the Huskies came out of the gates sprinting, scoring seven runs in the first two innings against Portland. However, their Pacific Northwest rivals piled on six unanswered runs between the fourth and seventh innings. Sophomore Troy Rallings entered in relief in the seventh to clean up a mess made by Will Ballowe, and allowed just one hit over the final three innings to earn his first save of the season. March 21 | vs. Arizona, W 8-7 In the first game played in the new Husky Ballpark, the Huskies narrowly held off Arizona. The Wildcats came out swinging, putting four runs on the board in the first inning, but the Huskies cast aside their early-game jitters to score five runs in the second. Arizona fired back with three runs in the fourth to put itself back in the lead, but the Huskies’ bullpen held the Wildcats scoreless over the course of the final 5.1 innings, giving their offense the time it needed to push three runs across and win in front of 1,302 fans. March 22 | vs. Arizona, W 5-2 The Huskies rallied behind junior Tyler Davis’ gem, taking home the second game of the series. Davis went seven strong innings, allowing one run on three hits to earn his fourth win of the season. An RBI ground out by Pehl was enough to give the Huskies a lead that they would not relinquish. The Huskies scored another run in the fourth and two more in the sixth, and the talented Husky bullpen held the lead over the final three frames. March 23 | vs. Arizona, W 8-0 Junior Jeff Brigham, Ballowe, and sophomore Alex Nesbitt combined to deal the Wildcats an 8-0 shutout to cap off the sweep. Brigham lasted six innings, Ballowe contributed two, and Nesbitt tossed one while the Huskies’ offense scored one run in the third, two in the fourth, and five in the fifth. The Huskies outscored the Wildcats 21-9 in the first series hosted at the new Husky Ballpark. March 25 | vs. Gonzaga, W 7-1 The Huskies had another shutout going into the eighth inning against Gonzaga until junior reliever Brandon Choate surrendered his first earned run of the season. Despite the small blip, the Huskies took care of the Bulldogs handily, extending their new winning streak to seven. Reach reporter Nick Bragg at sports@dailyuw.com. Twitter: @SeattleBragg

Spring break recap: baseball

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