Husky winning streak ends in Oregon

All good things eventually come to an end.

The UW baseball team found that out Saturday when the Huskies (17-8, 1-2 Pac-10) had their 11-game winning streak — UW’s longest since 2003. They snapped as they suffered their first loss in nearly three weeks to two-time defending NCAA Champion Oregon State (13-8, 2-1 Pac-10).

“I thought we played well over that period,” UW coach Ken Knutson said. “We pitched well and played good defense.”

It all started at home against Holy Cross two weeks ago, when UW took all four games of a two-day doubleheader.

UW starting pitchers, junior left-handed pitcher Nick Haughian, junior right-handed pitcher (RHP) Jason Erickson, junior RHP Jorden Merry and sophomore RHP Cam Nobles combined to go 24.1 innings, giving up only six runs on 17 hits while striking out 24. Both Merry and Nobles pitched six-innings of shutout ball.

“Pitching is the name of the game,” Knutson said. “Jorden has been pitching very well, and Nobles is getting his feet wet in college ball now and they’re coming together nicely.”

While the pitching took care of itself during the streak, the offense had little trouble getting on the board as the Dawgs consistently came through at the plate averaging over eight runs per game.

There was simply no comparison as the Huskies outscored their opponents, 93-27. Only two of the 11 games were decided by two runs or fewer, and their production could be considered a balanced effort.

Junior catcher Brett Wilcox continued to keep his batting average over .400, while freshman Troy Scott has emerged this season to the tune of two homeruns and 19 RBIs.

“Everyone had their good hitting days,” Knutson said. “We’re just continuing to get better.”

Washington tried to take the momentum on the road into Corvallis, Ore., but the Huskies couldn’t get things going in the first two games of a three-game series, losing 8-1 and 2-1 in an extra inning thriller.

Merry went nine strong innings in their 2-1 loss, giving up only four hits while striking out eight; however, he left the game in a 1-1 tie heading into extra innings. The bottom of the 10th inning was the decider as senior RHP Elliott Cribby allowed one unearned run when OSU center fielder Chris Hopkins reached second on an error and made it home after a sacrifice and base hit.

Despite the loss, the Dawgs looked to redeem themselves in the third game of the series to avoid a sweep. After a 68-minute rain delay, the UW pushed hard to gain their first conference win of 6-4 in the tiebreaker.

Nobles started the finale and went three innings, giving up three runs on two hits and five walks, while the offense did just enough to make sure the Dawgs started off Pac-10 play at 1-2.

Knutson remarked that any win in Pac-10 play is better than getting swept due to limited opportunities to gain on teams.

“We can’t afford to get swept,” Knutson said. “We played well enough to win one though.”

Now the Huskies return home for a Tuesday matchup against the Portland Pilots before prepping for a big series against Arizona on the weekend.

[Reach reporter Allen Wagner at sports@thedaily.washington.edu.]