The Seattle University baseball team played the final two games of the annual Black and Scarlet intrasquad series, with each team earning a victory over the weekend.
Friday, the Black team jumped out to the early lead on its way to a 9-2 victory, clinching the series with its second win. The Scarlet team salvaged a win Saturday, 3-1, behind strong pitching performances.
In Friday’s game, Cameron Sterne (Shoreline, Wash.) led off the top of the first inning with a double down the right field line and advanced to third base on a sacrifice bunt by Griffin Andreychuk (Nanaimo, B.C.). Sterne scored on an error by Scarlet team shortstop Chase Ridder (Lake Stevens, Wash.), and Jake Taylor (Boise, Idaho) drove in two more runs with a single to go ahead 3-0.
The Scarlet team jumped right back into the game when leadoff hitter Dalton Hurd (Bend, Ore.) hit the first pitch he saw off Black team starter Ted Hammond (Shoreline, Wash.) over the left field fence to close the gap to 3-1. The Black team added two more runs in the top of the third inning off Tyler Oldenberg (Boise, Idaho) when third baseman Brock Carpenter (Milton, Wash.) led off the inning with a home run, and then Jake Taylor walked and later scored on Kyler Murphy’s (Glendale, Ariz.) RBI double.
Hammond threw four complete innings, giving up just one run on two hits, plus he struck out six to go along with three walks. Black team reliever Jake Prizina (Sparks, Nev.) came on in the fifth inning and picked up his second win of the series. Sterne was named player of the game after going 2-for-3 with a walk.
Saturday, Scarlet team starter Tarik Skubal (Kingman, Ariz.) pitched 4 2/3 innings and allowed just one run on three hits while striking out four hitters. The Scarlet team got on the board in the top of the second inning when Sean Sutton (Coeur d’Alene, Idaho) led off the inning with a base hit off Black team starter Nick Meservey (Scottsdale, Ariz.), advanced to second base on a wild pitch and eventually scored on an RBI single by Ridder.
The Black team responded in the bottom of the second when outfielder Lucas Denney (Goldendale, Wash.) hit a solo shot over the right center wall off Skubal to tie the game up, but the run ended up being the last that the Black team would score on the day against the Scarlet pitching staff. Meanwhile, Meservey ended up going five innings and allowed just three hits while striking out five hitters.
The Scarlet team’s designated hitter Connor Moore (West Richland, Wash.) led off the top of the sixth inning with a triple off Black team reliever Ryan Freitas (Clayton, Calif.) and scored on an RBI single by Hurd. After a fielder’s choice moved Hurd to second base, Sutton singled again, but Hurd was thrown out at the plate by Hammond, playing center field, to stop the Scarlet team from extending its lead.
The Scarlet team put another run on the board in the top of the seventh off Freitas when third baseman Michael Ciancio (Kent, Wash.) walked to lead off the inning, was sacrificed over by Ridder and then was driven in by Moore with a clutch two-out single.
The Black team made one last push in the bottom of the ninth inning when Andreychuk led off with a base hit, but Grant Gunning (Snohomish, Wash.) retired the heart of the Black team’s order to secure a Scarlet team victory, picking up his first win of the series.
Moore was named player of the game for the Scarlet team, and Black team captain Hammond came away with MVP honors of the series. The game concluded the fall season for the SU baseball program.
The Seattle University baseball team won a school-record 31 games in 2015, including a 19-8 record within the Western Athletic Conference. The Redhawks won their first two games in the WAC Tournament to advance to the championship round, also earning their first postseason victories in program history.