Huskies finish 3rd in Pac-10

It wasn't the way Washington would have liked to end its regular season.

The Huskies (15-9 Pac-10, 30-25-1 overall) needed to sweep Arizona (9-15, 31-24) and have UCLA pull off at least one victory in their three-game showdown against league-leading USC to gain a share of the Pac-10 title. Neither happened and the Huskies had to settle for a third-place tie with Arizona State as they lost 5-2 to the Wildcats Sunday.

After taking games one and two from Arizona to stay in contention for the conference title, Washington's clutch hitting, which carried it through the latter half of the regular season, vanished. The Huskies squandered repeated opportunities to score runs, leaving the bases loaded in three separate innings.

"We must have left 15 men on base and we didn't get the big hits," said coach Ken Knutson. "We had our chances but their closer had a powerful arm and is tough to score a lot of runs off of. It was just one of those days where you leave too many runners on base and you get beat."

Washington looked sharp early in the game, working with a 1-0 lead from a solo shot to left by junior Tyler Davidson in the fourth. Husky starting pitcher Clay Johnson, who missed his last start because of a minor shoulder injury, held the Wildcats scoreless through six innings. He departed in the seventh after allowing two hitters to get on base and Arizona's Pat Riley to hit a sacrifice fly, tying the game 1-1.

The Wildcats continued to pound the Huskies' pitching. Freshman David Dowling didn't even last for a third of an inning after replacing Johnson, who took the loss of the Huskies. Dowling allowed another run to cross the plate off a Brian Anderson fielder's choice. But the real damage came one batter later when Moises Duran smashed a three-run homer to left off reliever Will Fenton to take control of the game 5-1.

"It was nice to see Clay Johnson bounce back and play really well," said third baseman and departing senior Michael Done. "He pitched great for us and we should have scored more runs today."

Washington's only other run of the game came in the bottom of the seventh when a single by first baseman Kyle Larsen drove in designated hitter Bryan Johnson.

Despite a three-run deficit heading into the final two innings, Washington had many opportunities to overtake the lead. The Huskies had multiple runners aboard in the eighth and ninth innings. But both innings ended in disappointment as Larsen hit a pop-up to shallow third to end the eighth and Johnson struck out to end the game.

Senior pitcher Shawn Kohn tied the Husky record for wins in a season with 11 as he went the distance in Washington's 7-3 victory over Arizona in game one Friday. Kohn shares the record with Jake Kringen, who set it in 1997. Junior Sean White won his fifth-straight decision Saturday as the Huskies claimed the series with an 8-3 win.

"We've been getting key hits all year," said Husky closer Tyler Shepple. "It just didn't happen for us today and that's just baseball."