NCAA Baseball: Pilots Fall to Washington

Pilots take an early lead, but the Huskies prevail 14-5.

Photo: portlandpilots.com

PORTLAND - The Washington Huskies scored six runs in the fifth inning and cruised to a 14-5 win over the Portland Pilots in a non-conference baseball game Tuesday afternoon at Joe Etzel Field.

The Pilots claimed a 3-2 lead after four innings, but the Huskies scored 12 runs during the next three innings en route to the victory.

The Pilots drop their third straight to fall to 10-10 on the season. It’s the ninth straight win for Washington, which improves to 11-8.

Trailing 1-0 in the bottom of the first inning, the Pilots scored twice to take the lead.

With two on and one out, sophomore Chase Powell tied the score with an RBI single to right field that scored senior Justin Pierce.

Senior Adam Kerr then gave Portland the 2-1 lead with an RBI ground-out to third base. Senior Jesse Rodgers scored on the play.

The Huskies tied it in the second before the Pilots re-claimed the lead in the bottom of the fourth.

Tied at 2-2 and runners on the corners, freshman Rocky Gale grounded out to third allowing Powell to score, giving the lead back to Portland.

The Huskies then exploded for six runs in the fifth, three in the sixth and three more in the seventh.

All six UW runs in the fifth were scored with two outs. Curt Rindal started the Husky scoring with a two-run homer to deep left field off of UP reliever Pat Geraghty.

Bradley Boyer also drove in two runs during the inning.

Geraghty (0-1), who surrendered four runs on four hits and a walk in two-thirds of an inning, was saddled with the loss.

UW added three in the sixth on three hits and three in the seventh on four hits.

Portland scored the game’s final two runs in the eighth. With one out, junior Danny Meier hit a solo home run to deep left field, his second homer of the season. Rodgers then drove in Powell with a double to center field.

Reliever Nick Hagadone (1-1) picks up the win for the Huskies. He surrendered just one hit in 3.0 innings, while striking out three. Hagadone came in for starter Bryce Mooney to begin the fifth.

Mooney gave up two runs on just two hits, but walked four batters. Junior relievers Johnny DuRocher and Harrison Bishop each pitched an inning for Washington.

The Pilots used seven pitchers for the game. Rodgers finished 2-for-4 at the plate, while Powell and Meier both scored twice.

The Huskies outhit the Pilots 17-6. Andy Lentz was 3-for-4 with solo home run, Rindal was 3-for-5 with three RBI’s and three runs scored and Jake Rife went 3-for-4 with three runs and an RBI.

The Pilots next host the Dallas Baptist Patriots for a three-game series beginning on Thursday.

The Pilots and Patriots are scheduled to play at 3:00 PM on both Thursday and Friday and at 1:00 PM on Saturday at Joe Etzel Field

Adding comments to these stories has been disabled. View the current sports stories Salem-News Sports