The Seattle University baseball team completed its fall schedule of full practices with the Black & Scarlet World Series, a set of three games held on consecutive Saturdays, Oct. 8 and 15, at Steve Cox Memorial Stadium in the White Center section of the city.
In game one, the Scarlet team rode the pitching of Andrew Olson (Enumclaw, Wash.) to a 4-1 victory. Olson struck out six batters and gave up only a solo home run to Cullen Hendrickson (Auburn, Wash.). In the first inning, the Scarlet team struck when Nate Roberts (Silverdale, Wash.) and Doug Kincaid (Portland, Ore.) drew back-to-back walks, and Brian Olson (Black Diamond, Wash.) followed with a two-run double to left-center field. Olson would score on a single by Josh Kutz (Seattle, Wash.), and Roberts drove in a run with his own double in the fifth inning.
"Andrew Olson was flat dominant today," head baseball coach Donny Harrel said. "His changeup kept the Black team off-balance, and they just could not get comfortable with him changing speeds."
In the bottom of the second inning of the second game, the Black team drew first blood as Grant Newton (Bend, Ore.) drove in two runs with a double to right-center field. In the third inning, Sean Narby (Auburn, Wash.) hit a solo home run off the left field pole to increase Black's lead to 3-0. Brian Olson drove in a run in the top of the fourth for the Scarlet team, but Black struck again in the bottom of the inning thanks to an RBI single by Michael Tevlin (Billings, Mont.). Nick Latta (Tacoma, Wash.) hit a three-run home run in the top of the fifth inning, and the Scarlet team added an insurance run to secure a 6-4 victory.
"Nick came up after Cory Mack (Spokane, Wash.) has walked the first two batters in the inning, and I thought he might bunt since there was nobody out. But I was wrong, as he hit the first pitch out of the park, and that ignited his club to a great come-from-behind victory," said Harrel.
The third and final game of the series was an offensive slugfest, with the Scarlet team completing the sweep with a 19-7 victory. Steve Kirbach (Kirkland, Wash.) went 7-for-7 with five singles, two doubles, and three runs batted in. The Black team took an early 4-0 lead in the bottom of the first on two-run singles by Hendrickson and Newton. The Scarlet team responded in the second inning with two runs on RBI singles by Kutz and Latta.
After nobody scored in the third inning, the Scarlet team exploded with three runs each in the fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh innings, followed by four runs in the eighth inning and one run in the ninth inning. Kutz and Latta each hit home runs during the game, and four hitters in the lineup earned at least three hits. Andrew Olson came on in relief of Scarlet starter Grant Gunning (Snohomish, Wash.) and earned his second victory of the series.
The players will start their individual workout period, in which the coaches can work with the student-athletes for two hours per week. Full team practice will resume Jan. 27, with the first game of the 2012 season tentatively scheduled for Friday, Feb. 17, against Utah Valley at Bannerwood Park in Bellevue. The full schedule will be released soon.