Huskies Take Second Straight Series

For the second straight weekend, the Huskies have won a series on the road, this time taking two of three from a tough UC Irvine team. With these two wins, the Dawgs advance to 4-3 on the season and 4-2 on the road.

In the first game of the series, starter Aaron West turned in another excellent performance on the mound. He allowed just three hits in six innings of scoreless work before turning the ball over to the bullpen. Washington bats continued to support their pitchers as they put two runs on the board in the second inning. Freshman Robert Pehl, who went on to

have a 3-3 day, started the inning with a single and scored on a double by Michael Camporeale. Later in the inning, fellow freshman Erik Forgione drove in Camporeale with one of his three base hits in the game. Junior Jacob Lamb contributed an rbi to score Branden Berry to give the Huskies their third run of the game. Relievers Tyler Davis and Joshua Fredendall combined to allow just one base runner in the final three innings of the game to lock down a win in the opening game of the series.

On Saturday, the Huskies fell behind early by allowing two runs in the third. Although hitless through the first three frames, Washington’s bats came alive in the fourth with a Jayce Ray triple followed by a homerun by Caleb Brown who was getting his first start of the year. Second baseman Robert Pehl came through with an rbi of his own later in the inning to take the lead. Brown made the most of his opportunity to start by driving in another run in the fourth inning.

With the lead, the Husky bullpen experienced more difficulties by allowing six runs in the next three innings. Washington bats refused to go down quietly, however, as Trevor Mitsui cut the UC Irvine lead down to one run with a three run blast in the eighth. The Huskies couldn’t score in the ninth and dropped the second game of the weekend 8-7.

In the rubber game of the weekend series, starter Austin Voth allowed a run in the second inning, but the Huskies struck back with a two run homerun by Robert Pehl to conclude an excellent series by the freshman. B.K. Santy drove in Camporeale and Mitsui later in the inning to put the Dawgs up 4-1. Voth allowed two more Irvine runs to cross the plate in the fifth before handing over the ball to the bullpen. Just as in the first game of the series, the Husky bullpen held firm. Three relievers combined to hold the Anteaters scoreless through the sixth and seventh innings before bringing in closer Joshua Fredendall to get the final six outs of the game and earn his third save of the season. With the win, the Huskies got their fourth win of the year and second series win, both of which were on the road.

Unlike last weekend, when the udub beat a fairly unimpressive opponent, they beat a good UC Irvine team. Again, the Huskies played good defense and took advantage of the few mistakes that their opponent made. While the bullpen did cost Washington game two of the series, it looked very strong in the other two games as they preserved tight leads.

The Huskies will finish their road trip with a game against Cal State Northridge tomorrow afternoon before returning home to host a four game series with Saint Joseph’s next weekend.