Seattle University broke through in the fifth inning, as relief pitcher Forrest Snow walked Steve Kirbach (Kirkland, Wash.), Doug Buser (Orinda, Calif.), and Cullen Hendrickson (Auburn, Wash.) to load the bases. Nate Roberts (Silverdale, Wash.) drove in Kirbach and Buser with a single to center field. Before that, Husky starter Adrian Gomez, who was credited with the victory, pitched four innings, giving up just two hits and a walk while striking out two batters.
In the top of the seventh inning, Buser reached on an infield single, and Hendrickson followed with a line drive to right field that fell in front of a diving Wolfe and rolled towards the wall for a triple that scored Buser. Hendrickson would come in on a single by Roberts. After Washington made another pitching change, Josh Kalalau (University Place, Wash.) stroked a double to left field, and Riley Tompkins (Lynnwood, Wash.) was walked intentionally to load the bases. Husky pitcher Adam Cimber forced Redhawks pinch hitter Nick Latta (Tacoma, Wash.) to pop out to end the inning.
SeattleU had a chance in the eighth inning, as with two outs Buser singled through the left side and advanced to third when Hendrickson reached on an error, but Roberts flied out to right fielder Sean Meehan to end the inning. Kalalau led off the ninth inning with a home run to left field to bring the Redhawks within one, but consecutive strikeouts and a fly out allowed Cimber to pick up his sixth save of the season.
Redhawk relievers Max Whieldon (Trabuco Hills, Calif.) and Brian Shannon (Olympia, Wash.) kept their team in the game, combining for five scoreless innings. Arlo Evasick (Port Ludlow, Wash.) took the loss, giving up seven hits and six runs, four of them earned, in three innings of work.
Washington (12-10) jumped on the board in the first inning when Andy Smith drew a leadoff walk, advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt, reached third base on a hit by Jacob Lamb, and scored on a groundout from Pierce Rankin. The Huskies added another run in the second inning as Aaron Russell hit a double, stole third base, and scored on a single by Chase Anselment.
After scoring the third run of the game in the third inning, Washington broke the game open with three runs in the fourth inning, aided by two SeattleU errors. Anselment led off with a single and stayed on base when Roberts dropped the throw from Evasick on a grounder by Brian Wolfe. A single to right field by Andy Bethel scored Anselment, and Wolfe would come around to score when the ball scooted past Sean Narby (Auburn, Wash.). Bethel, who advanced to third on the error, scored on a single by Smith to give the Huskies a 6-0 lead.
Seattle University (3-17) heads to Reno, Nev., for a three-game series against the University of Nevada, with games Thursday, April 1, and Friday, April 2, beginning at 2 p.m., and Saturday, April 3, starting at 12 noon. Dan Giuliani will broadcast all three games on GoSeattleU.com.