SEATTLE, Wash. — A tough night at the plate on Wednesday sabotaged the Pacific Lutheran University baseball team's plans of another upset of the Big Ten Conference's University of Washington, falling 12-0 to the in-state rivals to split the midweek series at Husky Ballpark.
Rutger Youch stood 90-feet from home plate in the top of the first inning but was unable to touch home plate as the host Huskies (9-13) escaped the inning unscathed. The junior slugger drew a four-pitch walk before stealing second. Youch rounded third on a groundout but it was as far as he would get as Washington starter Charlie Denomme induced another groundout to halt the frame.
Washington pushed across a pair of runs in the bottom of the first, manufacturing the scores courtesy of a walk, an error, and a hit.
The Lutes (6-7) had two men on in the second inning, getting a single from
Carson Burke and a
Lukas Delisle walk, but a strikeout again undermined the Lutes' hopes of getting on the scoreboard.
Youch replicated his performance from the first inning in the third, drawing a walk, stealing second, and advancing to third, but a line out ended the inning before he could score.
Washington pulled away in the fifth inning, plating four runs and adding six more in the sixth for the 12-0 victory.
Youch finished the night one-for-one at the plate with two walks while Burke was one-for-three.
Jon Crawley tossed the opening inning, allowing just one earned run and one hit.
Alex Lopez tossed three innings of scoreless relief, allowing no hits and no walks while
Jonathan Cohen retired the final two batters of the night. All told, seven Lutes toed the mound on Wednesday.
"Crawley and Lopez pitched well and kept the game competitive until the fifth inning. They took control of the game and put us away with two big innings to finish it," said Head Coach
Nolan Soete who sits six wins shy of 200 for his career.
"The overall experience the last two days was good for our players. They played hard and performed at a high level until the final two innings today. We're excited to get back to conference play this weekend at home."
Wednesday's game comes on the heels of PLU's historic 3-1 upset of the Huskies the previous night, becoming the first non-Division I team to ink a victory over a Power 4 baseball program this season. It was the Lutes first time playing the Huskies since 2001 and the squad's first victory over Washington since squeaking out an 11-10 victory back on May 12, 1982.
The Lutes resume Northwest Conference play on Saturday, hosting Oregon rival Pacific University in a doubleheader beginning at 12 p.m.
