In a pitcher’s duel more commonly found in the first game of a weekend series, Seattle University created just enough offense, while the defense and pitching kept Sacramento State off the scoreboard, leading to a 2-1 victory for the Redhawks to complete the series sweep over the Hornets Saturday afternoon in a Western Athletic Conference game at Bannerwood Park.
“There is so much confidence within this team right now, and over the past three days, our pitching and defense has been really good,” Seattle U head coach Donny Harrel said. “Today, the key for us was the ability to match up out of the bullpen, so this victory is due in part to not having to use a lot of pitchers on Thursday and Friday, and this is a great win against a great organization like Sacramento State.”
After Seattle U starter Tarik Skubal (Kingman, Ariz.) gave up a leadoff single to Nathan Lukes, but stranded him at second base, Griffin Andreychuk (Nanaimo, B.C.) led off the bottom of the first inning with a single, but was forced out at second base on a grounder hit by Dalton Hurd (Bend, Ore.). Hurd would steal second base, and then take off for third base as Sheldon Stober (Kent, Wash.) drew a walk. Hurd came in to score on a sacrifice fly by Brian Olson (Black Diamond, Wash.).
Sacramento State (17-13, 6-3 WAC) tied the game in the fourth inning when Chris Lewis drew a one-out walk, advanced to second on a wild pitch, and hustled around to score when Vinny Esposito hit a high chopper to the right side of the infield and beat the throw to first base, as no one was covering home plate because Olson was backing up the play at first base.
Skubal allowed a single to lead off the fifth inning and hit Lukes with a pitch, but he worked his way out of the jam by forcing Scotty Burcham to hit into a double play. On the first pitch in the bottom of the fifth inning, Brock Carpenter (Milton, Wash.) hit a home run to left field, his first long ball of the season, to put the Redhawks back on top.
After a 1-2-3 sixth inning, Skubal walked Esposito to lead off the seventh inning, but he induced a popout, and then Redhawk reliever Janson Junk (Federal Way, Wash.) retired the next two Hornets to end the inning. Lukes drew a walk to start the eighth inning and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt, but Junk earned a strikeout, and Nick Meservey (Scottsdale, Ariz.) retired pinch hitter Devin Lehman on a flyout to stop that scoring threat.
In the top of the ninth inning, Dane Fujinaka drew a leadoff walk, and Esposito sacrificed pinch runner Brandon Hunley over to second base. Ted Hammond (Shoreline, Wash.) entered the game and faced pinch hitter Ryan Locke, who hit a 1-0 pitch deep to left field, but it stayed within the park and landed in Eric Koenig’s (Auburn, Wash.) glove. Hammond induced a groundout from pinch hitter Cody Martin to end the game, earning his second save of the season.
Skubal earned the victory after allowing just four hits, two walks, and one run in 6 1/3 innings of work, collecting four strikeouts as he threw 98 pitches, 60 of them for strikes. Sam Long suffered his first loss of the season despite giving up just two hits, one walk, and two runs in seven innings, striking out four Redhawk batters as he threw 104 pitches, 64 of them for strikes.
With the victory, Seattle U has now won seven straight WAC games and maintains its spot atop the conference leaderboard, a half-game ahead of Grand Canyon and two games in front of a three-way tie for third place. The Redhawks are back to the .500 mark overall for the first time since the opening weekend of the season.
Seattle University (15-15, 8-1 WAC) hosts Portland Wednesday, April 8, starting at 4 p.m. before welcoming New Mexico State for a three-game conference series starting Friday, April 10, at 5 p.m. at Bannerwood Park.