UW Drops First Game of Series to Utah

SEATTLE -- The Washington Huskies dropped their series opener to the Utah Utes on Friday night, falling by a score of 7-3. 

In what was the start of their final home series of the season, the Huskies fell behind in the second inning when the Utes scored three runs, all with two outs. With two outs and a man on first, UW starter Logan Gerling issued a pair of walks that would load the bases.

On a full count, a ground ball down the third base line went past the diving glove of Michael Snyder and into the left field corner to score a pair of runs. An error on a soft liner to second base scored the third run of the inning before Gerling got a flyout to end the half inning. 

In the home half, Michael Snyder kept up his strong play at the plate by singling up the middle. Making his ninth straight start, Snyder has now been on base in all nine of those games and has hits in eight of them. Preston Viltz was up next and he turned around a fastball that he deposited over the wall in right field for his first career home run, which cut the deficit to 3-2. 

After the teams traded zeroes for the next three innings, Utah would break through in the sixth with another two out rally. With two down and man on second, a ground ball up the middle got through the hole to make it 4-2. Two more walks would load the bases before a double into the left-center field gap cleared the bases and gave the Utes a 7-2 lead. 

While the Huskies would get back a run in the eighth on an error after a Ramon Bramasco double, that was the only offense they could provide after Viltz's home run.

The second game of the series is scheduled for Saturday afternoon at 3:00 p.m., with Tyson Guerrero getting the start for UW against Brayson Hurdsman for Utah.