University of Washington
Pepperdine
Dawgs Fall In Final Game Of Series 5-3 To Waves
March 08, 2015 | Baseball
SEATTLE – Pepperdine scored twice in the eighth inning to break a tie game and held on to salvage the final game of a three-game series with a 5-3 win over Washington Sunday at Husky Ballpark.
The loss snapped a season-high five-game win streak for the Huskies and dropped their overall record to 11-5 on the season.
The Waves took their first multi-run lead of the entire series after a pair of two-out RBI singles. Losing pitcher Spencer Jones (1-2) struck out the first two batters of the inning, before allowing back-to-back singles to Brandon Caruso and Jeremy Goldenetz. Junior Troy Rallings entered the game to try and quell the uprising, but after a wild pitch moved both runners into scoring position, Brad Anderson hit an infield single to third that scored one run and Nick Costello followed with a solid hit to score another and make the score 5-3.
The Pepperdine breakthrough made a winner out of Ryan Wilson, who improved to 3-0 on the season after lasting 7 and 1/3 innings and allowing three runs – two of which were earned – on six hits. He walked three Huskies and also struck out two in helping Pepperdine (8-8) get back to .500 for the season.
Pepperdine – who entered the day with one run in 18 innings against the Huskies – got on the board quickly against Huskies' starter Josh Fredendall. Lead-off batter Chris Fornaci took Fredendall's 2-1 offering over the wall in left field for the 1-0 first inning advantage.
In the bottom half of the inning, the Huskies got the equalizer against the Waves' freshman starter Wilson. Junior Matt Jackson greeted Wilson with a double to left, was sacrificed to second, and after a pair of walks squeezed around a pop out, he came around to score when Josh Cushing was hit by a pitch. That earned run was just the second of the season allowed by Wilson in 21 innings.
Pepperdine re-took the lead in the third inning on a ground-out by Ben Rodriguez. Costello and Manny Jefferson started the inning with back-to-back hits and were moved into scoring position on a sacrifice bunt. After an intentional walk loaded the bases, Rodriguez hit a slow chopper to third that scored Costello.
Washington drew even in the fifth at 2-2, scoring an unearned run. Jackson reached on a one-out single – his fourth hit in two games – and moved all the way around to third when Wilson threw a pick-off attempt into the Huskies' dugout. Jackson came around to score two pitches later when Jack Meggs grounded out to second.
The Huskies took the 3-2 lead in the sixth but they were left wondering if they could have scored more when the inning ended strangely. With the bases loaded and one out, Joey Morgan hit a sacrifice fly to center that scored junior Branden Berry from third and advanced Alex Schmidt and Chris Baker on the play. But, after an appeal at second base, Schmidt was ruled out for leaving the base early. After some debate with the coaches, the run stood and UW took a short-lived lead into the seventh.
It was short-lived because with one-out, Manny Jefferson hit a 0-1 pitch from reliever Brandon Choate over the left-field fence to tie the game back up at 3-3.
The Huskies had a chance to score in the seventh, but were unable to do so when Levi Jordan held up at third on an infield single by Braden Bishop. It proved to be the Huskies last good scoring opportunity as Pepperdine relievers Max Gamboa and Chandler Blanchard shut down any hopes of a rally in the eighth and ninth innings.
Pepperdine outhit Washington 10-7, with eight of its hits coming from the last four batters in the order. Jackson was the only Husky batter with more than one hit.
Fredendall pitched five solid innings for the Huskies, leaving after allowing two earned runs on four hits. He struck out three and walked two.
The Huskies wrap up their nine-game home stand Tuesday against cross-town rival Seattle University. First pitch is scheduled for 5:00 p.m.
Pepperdine 5, Washington 3
PEPP 100 100 120 –- 5 10 2
WASH 100 011 000 –- 3 7 0
LOB: PEPP 7, UW 8. Josh Fredendall, Brandon Choate (6), Spencer Jones (7), Troy Rallings (8) and Joey Morgan. Ryan Wilson, Max Gamboa (8), Chandler Blanchard (9) and Aaron Barnett. W – Wilson (3-0). L – Jones (1-2). Sv – Blanchard (3). HR – PEPP, Chris Fornaci (1), Manny Jefferson (2). 3B – none. 2B – PEPP, Jeremy Goldenetz; UW, Matt Jackson. Time – 2:42. Attendance – 1,049.
