The Washington Huskies really had a solid start to their Sunday matchup against the Stanford Cardinal. It really looked like Eddie Smith and the Huskies were going to have a real shot to get a pretty important win on the road against a fellow former member of the Pac-12.
Instead of coming away with a win though, Washington ended up losing as Stanford mounted an incredible late inning comeback to take victory away from the Huskies.
And it’s just so disheartening because it really seemed like, for well over five innings, that Washington was going to steal game three of this four game series away from the Cardinal. But instead, Stanford demonstrated why it’s boasting an unblemished record at 7-0 and UW sank to 2-5 on the season.
Washington Huskies falter on the road against the Stanford Cardinal due to frustrating sixth inning collapse
There’s really no fun way to talk about this one. It’s not pretty. The Huskies had control of this game as Tommy Bradenburg kept things quiet through the early innings. UW’s starting pitcher managed to keep a Stanford offense that scores runs by the dozen quiet through five innings.
As a result, Washington had a 3-0 lead heading into the sixth inning. And that’s when things got out of hand.
The Cardinal took advantage of a couple walks and ended up getting two runners on with two outs in the sixth inning. Bradenburg came out of the came and Jase Evangelista took the mound in a tricky situation. And unfortunately, Evangelista walked a batter to load the bases.
Stanford then followed that up with a bases-clearing double that plated three runs, fully eliminating Washington’s lead. And if you guessed that things spiraled from there, you’d absolutely be right.
A few walks, the bases loaded, still two outs, and a new pitcher in Josh Emanuels and Stanford smacked a grand slam to go up 7-3 over UW. Washington tried to get back into the game by scoring a couple runs down the stretch, but Stanford ended up winning 9-5. There was nothing that Washington could really do to keep up in this one.
The Huskies will close out the series against the Cardinal on Monday. It’s a four game series. It’s a little weird. After that, Washington will head to San Francisco for a midweek game on Wednesday before a trip to Las Vegas.