Huskies go 2-1 over the weekend against Northwestern
SEATTLE — The University of Washington Huskies (12-15) found success on the diamond over the weekend after hosting a three-game series against the Northwestern Wildcats (9-14-1). The Huskies finished the stretch 2-1 with a 7-2 victory Friday, 9-10 loss Saturday and a 7-2 victory Sunday, according to reports from UW Athletics.
The series started Friday evening where Northwestern jumped in front early with a lead of home run in the first inning, but Noah Kenney quickly settled in on the mound to put things in the Huskies favor. After the leadoff home run, he finished the day with nine strikeouts for a career high.
The Huskies quicky responded offensively as they answered with three runs in the bottom of the first as Braeden Terry, Colton Bower and Daniel Porras each found their way to home plate. UW increased their lead further in the third inning, putting up another three runs as Blake Wilson drove in runs with a triple to deep right center.
UW recorded one more run in the sixth on an RBI single from Ty Cowan. Shane Hofstadler recorded his first RBI in a Wildcat uniform in the eighth for the final run of the Friday’s game, according to Northwestern Athletics.
The two teams faced each other again the following evening, where they both got off to a hot start scoring three runs each over the course of the first inning. The Huskies went on to use a pair of runs by Braeden Terry and Jackson Hotchkiss in the second and two more runs off of wild pitches to plate in the third to open a four-point lead in the fourth inning.
Despite being down by four, Northwestern rallied in the fourth after a home run hit from Nick Barron. The Wildcats took the lead in the sixth inning with an additional three runs and added a pair of insurance runs in the ninth to lead 10-7.
The Huskies added a single from Porras before Sam DeCarlo laced a 382-foot home run to bring the team back within one score, but were unable to score the extra run needed to tie up the game.
Gunnar Nichols earned the start as pitcher for the Huskies, throwing four innings with four runs, three walks and four strikeouts. Tommy Brandenburg pitched three innings of relief, throwing four hits, three runs and four strikeouts.
The final game of the series was held Sunday afternoon and Northwestern was the first on the board with an RBI single from Ryan Kucherak. The Huskies didn’t score until the fourth inning when Hotchkiss slammed a homer with Mic Paul and Ethan Swidler on base to put the score at 3-1.
Swidler added another home run in the sixth inning and Porras connected for UW’s third home run of the game in the seventh, scoring himself and Hotchkiss. Ty Cowan added another run in the seventh to score Blake Wilson with an RBI double to put the Huskies up 7-1.
Northwestern scored the final run of the game in the top of the eighth as Owen McElfatrick slugged a solo homer to right-center. The Huskes held things down in the top of the ninth to secure their second victory of the weekend.
Hayden Lewis had a strong run for the Huskies as he threw six innings with only one run allowed on three hits adding four strikeouts on the day. Bryce Johnson pitched relief in the seventh to finish out the game allowing just two hits and one run while striking out two batters.
The Huskies head on the road Tuesday to face Oregon State at 5:35 p.m.
BOX SCORES:
FRIDAY
NWU: 1-0-0-0-0-0-0-1-0: 2
UW: 3-0-3-0-0-1-0-0-x: 7
SATURDAY
NWU: 3-0-0-1-0-3-0-1-2: 10
UW: 3-2-2-0-0-0-0-0-2: 9
SUNDAY
NWU: 1-0-0-0-0-0-0-1-0: 2
UW: 0-0-0-3-0-1-0-3-0-x: 7
Noah Kenney from UW calls out from the mound during Friday’s game against Northwestern.