Baseball continues winning, takes Apple Cup

While the local professional team flounders around in SoDo, it’s an entirely different story in Montlake.

The UW baseball team is arguably playing the best baseball in Seattle, and this weekend’s series victory against Washington State proved why.

The Huskies (31-17, 10-8 Pac-10) defeated the Cougars (27-22, 6-12 Pac-10) Friday, 12-3, and yesterday, 5-1, to win the Baseball Apple Cup despite losing the second game, 5-1, Saturday.

As usual, it is all about winning the series for the Huskies.

“Whether we win the first game, second game, or third game, our goal is to win the series every time out,” junior UW outfielder Kyle Conley said.

It was thanks to Conley that the Huskies were able to take the series, as he put up another monster weekend. He went 3-for-5 Friday with one home run and three RBIs, and 3-for-3 yesterday with two 2-run home runs to give the Dawgs the permanent lead.

The rest of the lineup also got into the swing of things by getting on base and contributing in a huge 8-run seventh inning Friday to give right-handed starting pitcher, junior Jorden Merry (8-0) his eighth win of the season.

UW coach Ken Knutson had nothing but praise for his team after the series.

“I thought we played really tough and determined,” he said. “We’ve overcome a few games that we let slip away and we’ve found ways to win the close ones, which is the mark of a good ballclub.”

Once again, pitching kept the Huskies in each game. Friday it was Merry going seven innings, only giving up three runs on four hits. Saturday, sophomore Cam Nobles (4-4) pitched just 4 2/3 innings but didn’t struggle with his control as he did earlier this season.

Finally, Pac-10 strikeout leader, left-handed pitcher Nick Haughian (6-4), went the distance yesterday, limiting the Cougars to one run on four hits while striking out 11 to push his overall total to 99 strike outs for the year.

Knutson said that the pitching has been a steady influence for the team all season.

“They’ve kept their eye on the goal to be consistent and to put in the work to be good,” he said. “They’re good players and they have lots of ability.”

It seemed that pitching, offense and defense were all clicking for the Huskies this weekend, and it’s something they would probably like to continue with postseason play in the back of their minds.

“You play good teams and they all have those components. You can’t just do one thing; you have to be good at all three areas,” Knutson said. “We’ve got a shot, we can play with anybody and we have an opportunity down in Arizona State to play our way in.”

With only two weeks left in conference play, the Huskies are looking to finish out strong to get to their first postseason since 2004, but with the Pac-10 jam-packed with tough teams, there could be a close finish to determine who gets to keep playing and who goes home.