Tarik Skubal (Kingman, Ariz.) pitched a complete game shutout, and the Seattle University offense took advantage of numerous scoring opportunities, as the Redhawks completed a weekend series sweep with a 10-0 run-rule victory over Northern Colorado Saturday in a Western Athletic Conference collegiate baseball game at Jackson Field.
Skubal allowed just two hits and two walks in seven innings of work, striking out seven batters as 64 of his 101 pitches went for strikes. Northern Colorado loaded the bases with two outs in the fifth inning on a walk, an error, and a hit batter, but Skubal picked up a strikeout to end the Bear scoring threat.
Seattle U loaded the bases with nobody out in the first inning as Landon Cray (Chimacum, Wash.) singled, Dalton Hurd (Bend, Ore.) was hit by a pitch, and Brian Olson (Black Diamond, Wash.) perfectly placed a bunt for a single. After Northern Colorado starter Alex Werbach picked up two strikeouts, Griffin Andreychuk (Nanaimo, B.C.) laced a two-out single into left-center field, scoring Cray and Hurd.
With two outs in the third inning, Brock Carpenter (Milton, Wash.) reached base on a Bear error and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Andreychuk drove in Carpenter with a double to left field, and then Grant Newton (Bend, Ore.) earned a single to right field that scored Andreychuk. In the fourth inning, Hurd singled, advanced to second on a wild pitch, and came around to score on a single to center field by Olson.
Colin Peterson (Bellingham, Wash.) led off the sixth inning with a double, advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt by Cray, and scored on a single through a drawn-in infield by Hurd. The Redhawks scored four more runs with two outs in the seventh inning, taking advantage of another Northern Colorado error as Sean Sutton (Coeur d’Alene, Idaho) drove in Peterson with a single, and then Cray and Hurd hit back-to-back home runs.
“Today was a great day, especially coming off the comeback win yesterday. We needed a good pitching performance, and I have a hard time thinking that Tarik is not a leading candidate for WAC Freshman of the Year after that effort today. Offensively, our guys are on fire right now, and it is a good way for us to be entering the conference tournament.”
Cray and Hurd each went 3-for-4 with two RBI apiece, while Andreychuk went 3-for-4 with three runs batted in. For the weekend, Seattle U finished with 29 runs on 41 hits, including five doubles, two triples, and seven home runs.
Seattle University (29-25, 19-8 WAC) will enter the 2015 WAC Baseball Tournament as the number one seed and will play its first game of the tournament Thursday, May 21, at 7 p.m. at Hohokam Stadium in Mesa, Ariz. All Redhawk games will have an audio feed on GoSeattleU.com, with all games of the tournament streamed on the WAC Digital Network.