Huskies Take First Two Games of Series over UTRGV

SEATTLE – The Washington baseball (2-3) team picked up two wins on Saturday over the Texas Rio Grande Valley Vaqueros (2-3).

The two teams resumed Friday night's postponed game in the fifth inning with UW holding onto a 6-3 lead. The Huskies would extend that to a 10-3 win for their first victory of the season. 

Shortly after, UW found a way to win a low-scoring game by combining clutch hitting and dominant stretches of pitching for a 3-2 triumph. 

"It was good for us to play the kind of baseball we want to play," head coach Lindsay Meggs said. "Pitch and play defense."

In his first career start, catcher Carson Blatnick helped spark the Huskies on offense. In the third inning, he ripped a single to center field in his first career at-bat, which advanced Will Simpson to third. Braiden Ward followed with a sac fly to left field, which scored Simpson and moved Blatnick to second. Noah Hsue then ripped an RBI double into right-center field, scoring Blatnick and giving UW a 2-0 lead. 

Logan Gerling got the start and was dominant in his first four innings of work, allowing just one base runner.

The Vaqueros fought back in the fifth, though, with a leadoff double setting the stage. After a great running catch by Cole Fontenelle, they strung together a double and a single up the middle to tie the game at two. That would be it for Gerling, who battled through 4.1 innings, giving up 2 runs, striking out four and walking none.

Davis Delorefice came in and got two outs to slam the door shut in the fifth, which would be the last time UTRGV would have a base runner. 

The Huskies had an immediate response, as Christian Jones led off the bottom of the fifth with a double into the left field corner. Emilio Corona came on to pinch-run and promptly moved to third base on a wild pitch. Will Simpson provided the decisive moment in the game, as he lifted a sac fly into center field deep enough to score Corona and give UW a 3-2 lead that it would not relinquish. 

After Delorefice got the first out in the sixth, Adam Bloebaum entered from the bullpen and worked a perfect 1.2-inning save, the first of his Husky career.

In seven innings of work, UW pitchers allowed just five baserunners and did not issue a single walk. 

"(That) was a credit to the game that Coach Cribby called and the way our pitchers executed," Meggs said. "That's what it starts with and we got some timely hits and that's what it's about for us."
Husky Notes

• In the first game of the series, Braiden Ward took sole possession of 4th-place all-time in Washington history for stolen bases when he swiped his 59th career bag.
• Ward is now 8-for-12 (.667) when leading off an inning
• Carson Blatnick recorded a hit in first career at-bat and scored his first career run, both in the third inning.
• Davis Delorefice picked up the first win of his career.
• Christian Jones and Braiden Ward have both gotten at least one hit in all five games this season. Noah Hsue and Will Simpson have reached base in each game, while Michael Petrie has reached base in all four games that he has played in. 
• Emilio Corona saw the first action of his career in the first game, picking up his first stolen base. He then scored his first run, the ultimate game-winner, as a pinch-runner in the second game of the series. 

Washington will play UTRGV in their third game of the series on Sunday afternoon at 4 p.m., with the finale set for Monday at 1 p.m..