Any time you can go on the road and take a series opening 3-1 win from a conference opponent, you take that. You do it. You enjoy it. That’s something that you should be able to embrace and have fun with and really just live with in a happy state of existence.
And that’s what Eddie Smith and the Washington Huskies baseball team did against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights Friday evening. On the road, in respectable fashion, the Huskies went out and won a fun and phenomenal pitcher’s duel.
I don’t particularly care that Rutgers is among the worst teams in the Big Ten (when looking at their conference record). Washington won. The Huskies hold a respectable spot in the Big Ten standings. UW is cruising along in conference play.
And that’s a lot of fun that UW baseball fans should really be enjoying right now.
Washington Huskies get Friday night pitcher’s duel win on the road over Rutgers Scarlet Knights to start Big Ten series
The Huskies, now 12-15 overall on the season and 5-2 in Big Ten play, were able to get this win because of the incredible pitching performance that they had. Max Banks was truly solid in his start as he made it through six complete innings pitched before needing to be relieved.
And while Banks didn’t really strike many folks out, he didn’t really have to. He kept the scoreboard really clean. Rutgers wasn’t able to do any sort of significant damage against him.
Banks was relieved by Isaac Yeager, who went through the final three innings and recorded a save as he struck out a half dozen batters along the way. Yeager did allow a run to score, but that’s not the end of the world. UW won. That’s what matters right now.
I have no clue if Washington can keep this sort of performance up moving forward, but wins are wins and let’s enjoy them as they come.
The Huskies have solidly grabbed hold of the No. 4 spot in the Big Ten standings even though they are below .500 on the season overall. Washington is a bit behind the conference leader in Iowa, who is 10-2 against conference teams, but the Huskies aren’t that far behind the Oregon Ducks and UCLA Bruins, both of whom are 8-2 in Big Ten play.