Seattle University received another strong pitching performance from its starter, but the Pacific Tigers put together enough offense over the final three innings to defeat the Redhawks, 4-1, Monday night in Seattle U’s final regular season home game of the 2015 season at Courter Field on the campus of Bellevue College.
Ted Hammond (Shoreline, Wash.) retired the first nine Pacific batters in order before walking Tyler Sullivan to lead off the fourth inning, and then he set down the next eight Tiger hitters in order before Sullivan broke up the no-hitter with a two-out single in the sixth inning. He collected six strikeouts through the first six innings.
In the bottom of the fifth inning, Michael McCann (Vancouver, Wash.) led off with a single to center field, advanced to second base on a sacrifice bunt by Curtis Perrin (Vancouver, Wash.), and reached third base on a groundout by Landon Cray (Chimacum, Wash.). Upon a pitch in the dirt from Pacific reliever Jake Jenkins, McCann took off for home and crossed the plate for the first run of the game.
Brett Sullivan led off the top of the seventh inning with a shot to right field that Redhawk right fielder Colin Peterson (Bellingham, Wash.) could not hold onto, and Jed Sprague followed with a one-out single to left field that scored Sullivan. Sprague stole second base and came around to score the go-ahead run on a two-out single by Lucas Halstead that took an unusually high hop over the head of Seattle U shortstop Sheldon Stober (Kent, Wash.).
Pacific (13-35) added a single run in the eighth inning on a bases-loaded groundout, and then Danny Mayer added a solo home run to left field in the ninth inning to increase the Tiger lead to three runs. Seattle U put together a scoring opportunity in the bottom of the ninth inning with runners on the corners with two outs, but Mike Hager came on and picked up a strikeout to earn his first save of the season.
Five different Pacific pitchers combined to hold the Redhawks to just four hits, with Sean Bennetts earning the victory after pitching 3 2/3 innings of relief and giving up just one hit and one walk. Tyler Sullivan was the only player on either team with more than one hit, going 3-for-4 with a walk.
Seattle University (26-25) travels to Greeley, Colo., to close the regular season against the Northern Colorado Bears in a three-game series, scheduled to start Thursday, May 14, at 3 p.m. local time (2 p.m. Pacific time).