SEATTLE — A rough first inning handcuffed Seattle U baseball on Thursday as it dropped the series opener, 7-3, to Washington.
Seattle U (4-5) was on the back foot early after starter Nestor German (1-1) was tagged for five runs on five hits in the first inning. German settled in subsequent innings, starting each of the next four frames and kept the Husky batters off-balance retiring 15 of the next 16, including 10-straight.
German was eventually charged with the loss after working five innings with a season-best six strikeouts. Alex McBee (1.0 IP) and Riley Sinclair (2.0 IP) then made relief appearances.
The Redhawks remained scoreless heading into the fourth until Matt Boissoneault touched home on a Derek Gellos' two-out double to right.
After a quiet fifth, Boissoneault reached again in the sixth with a one-out single to left. He stay was short however as Austin Lively launched a 376-foot blast over the right field fence, cutting the deficit to 5-3. It was Lively's first of the season and ninth of his career.
From there, the Redhawk offense struggled registering three hits during the final 13 at-bats with no runners proceeding past first.
Washington (6-6) then scratched two runs across late with one in seventh as the result of a throwing error and another in the eighth on a fielding miscue.
"I didn't think we came out ready to play as much as we have in the past," Redhawks head coach Donny Harrel said after the game. "Nestor was elevated to start and they got to him which rattled early, but it was nice to see him settle in and do what he does. However the late errors and mental lapses aren't going to help us win games and we need to do better in taking care of the ball. We'll learn from this and tighten things up for tomorrow."
Seattle U outhit UW, 10-8. Lively led the way with a 3-for-4 day, with Connor O'Brien and Boissoneault were each 2-for-3, while Gellos was 2-for-4.
The Redhawks will resume the series tomorrow evening at Husky Ballpark, first pitch is slated for 7 pm.