University of Washington
California
UW Baseball Rallies In Ninth to Beat Cal, 5-4
April 27, 2002 | Baseball
April 27, 2002
BERKELEY, Calif. - The Washington baseball team rallied for three runs with two outs in the top of the ninth inning to hand California a 5-4 loss Saturday afternoon in the second game of a three-game Pac-10 series at Evans Diamond.
The win kept put Huskies (19-19-1 overall, 7-4 Pac-10) in a tie for second place in the Pac-10 while Cal fell to 26-21 overall and 8-9 in the league.
Cal ace Trevor Hutchinson started the ninth by walking Michael Done (Littleton, Colo.) and getting a flyout from Aaron Hathaway (Vancouver/Columbia River) before a double from Greg Isaacson (Aberdeen) put runners at second and third.
Matt Brown, the Pac-10's top closer, came in and struck out freshman Taylor Johnson (Vancouver/Skyview) for the second out, but Husky shortstop Tila Reynolds (Renton/Liberty) tripled down the right field line to drive in the two runners. Freshman Kyle Larsen (Redmond/Eastlake) followed with a single to give the Huskies a 5-4 lead.
UW reliever Trevor Gibson (Enumclaw), who struck out Carson White to end the eighth inning, picked up his first win of the season to improve to 1-0. Freshman Will Fenton (Kingston/North Kitsap) got out of a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the bottom of the ninth, fanning Justin Nelson and Jeff Dragicevich for his first career save. The win was the first for the Huskies this year after they'd trailed after eight innings.
Both teams had scoring chances through the first four innings, but neither could get on the board until the Huskies scored two in the fifth. Isaacson reached on a one-out single, stole second and scored on a single from Taylor Johnson. After Reynolds reached on a bunt single, Johnson scored from third on a groundout by Larsen.
The Bears responded with a run in the bottom of the fifth, but looked like they might score more. The first three batters of the inning reached on singles, with White's base hit driving in Brad Smith. But with runners at first and third, Conor Jackson flied out to right fielder Taylor Johnson, who threw out David Weiner at the plate. The inning ended when catcher Hathaway picked off White at second base.
Cal tied the game with a run in the sixth. UW starter Sean White (Mercer Island) hit John Baker with a pitch to start the inning and, after a sacrifice bunt, gave up a single to pinch hitter Chris Grossman. Freshman David Dowling (Kirkland/Juanita) came on and allowed a high-chopped single over first base to score Baker, but then got a double play to end the inning with the scored tied at 2-2.
The Bears broke a 2-2 tie in the seventh when Dowling loaded the bases on two singles and a walk before third baseman David Nicholson doubled to left, driving in two runs to give Cal its first lead of the day at 4-2.
With four strikeouts on the day, Hutchinson, a senior right-hander, became the Bears' career strikeouts leader. With 276 Ks in his career, Hutchinson eclipsed Doug Weiss, who fanned 275 between 1955 and 1957.
The Huskies go for the series sweep Sunday with a 1:00 p.m. game.
LINESCORE Pac-10 Conference Washington 5, California 4 Washington 000 020 000 -- 5 10 0 California 000 011 20x -- 4 14 1 Sean White, David Dowling (6), Tyler Shepple (7), Brian Carter (8), Trevor Gibson (8), Will Fenton (9) and Aaron Hathaway. Trevor Hutchinson, Matt Brown (9), Jesse Ingram (9) and John Baker. W - Gibson (1-0). L - Brown (5-2). Sv - Fenton (1). 2B - UW, Tyler Davidson, Greg Isaacson; Cal, David Nicholson. 3B - UW, Tila Reynolds. T - 3:38. A - 351.
