HUSKY BASEBALL Phone: (206) 543-2230 Fax: (206) 543-5000 Web Site – THIS WEEK
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U N I V E R S I T Y O F W A S H I N G T O N HUSKY BASEBALL Phone: (206) 543-2230 Fax: (206) 543-5000 Web Site – www.gohuskies.com THIS WEEK . Feb. 24, 2004 Contact: Jeff Bechthold ([email protected]) Friday, February 27 Huskies Hit the Road for Riverside; RBI Tournament Washington vs. Sacramento State, Sac. State, UCR, OSU Next Up Riverside, Calif., 7:00 p.m. WHAT’S UP?: The Washington baseball team (5-1 after a three-game sweep of Gonzaga last weekend) returns to Saturday, February 28 the road this weekend to play at the 25th annual RBI Tournament, hosted by UC Riverside. The Huskies, ranked No. 22 in Washington at UC Riverside, the latest Collegiate Baseball poll, will take on Sacramento State (9-5) Friday at 7:00 p.m., UC Riverside (5-8) Saturday at Riverside, Calif., 4:00 p.m. 4:00 p.m. and Pac-10 rival Oregon State (6-0) Sunday at 11:00 a.m. The following weekend, March 5-7, the Diamond Dawgs return to Husky Ballpark for a three-game series vs. Missouri. Here’s a look at this weekend’s games: Sunday, February 29 Friday, February 27: Washington vs. Sacramento State, Riverside, Calif., 7:00 p.m. – RHP Richie Lentz (0-1, 6.00) Washington vs. Oregon State, Saturday, February 28: Washington at UC Riverside, Riverside, Calif., 4:00 p.m. – RHP Tim Lincecum (0-0, 4.35) Riverside, Calif., 11:00 a.m. Sunday, February 29: Washington vs. Oregon State, Riverside, Calif., 11:00 a.m. – RHP Keaton Everitt (2-0, 0.75) COMING UP . SERIES HISTORY: Washington has at least a little history against all three of this weekend’s opponents. The Huskies, however, have only played Sacramento State twice, with the UW winning both: a 12-2 win at Sacramento in Fri.-Sun., March 5-7 1979 a 10-5 win at San Jose in 1989. UC Riverside leads the all-time series vs. Washington, 8-6. The Huskies were semi- Three-game, non-conference series regular participants in the RBI Tournament in the 1980s, but the two teams have more recently met in regular-season vs. Missouri, 6:30 p.m., 1 p.m., 1 p.m. series. In 2002, the Highlanders won two of three against the UW in a series at Husky Ballpark. The previous season, Washington took three of four in a series at Riverside. However, prior to the 2001 series, the Dawgs hadn’t played Riverside since 1987. Washington and Oregon State, members of the same conference since 1916, have played each Fri.-Sun., March 12-14 other 381 times. OSU leads the series 208-172-1. Last year, the Huskies won four of five vs. the Beavers. Three-game, non-conference series vs. LMU, 6:30 p.m., 1 p.m., 1 p.m. COACH “K”: Now in his 12th season in charge of the Washington baseball team, Ken Knutson has compiled an impressive list of accomplishments. Knutson has led the Dawgs to two Pac-10 championships, four Pac-10 Northern QUICK PITCH . Division titles, two other second-place finishes and five NCAA Regional berths. His career overall record now stands at 394-254-1 (.608). With 394 wins, he is the second-winningest coach in UW history, trailing only Bob MacDonald (422). • Washington has surrendered only 34 Before becoming the Husky head man in 1993, Knutson served as the Husky pitching coach for eight seasons. In 1985, his UW pitching staff led the nation with a 2.80 ERA. Knutson holds a 193-82-1 (.701) record in home games. He is 167-115 hits over six games so far this year, an (.592) in Pac-10 games. Knutson has coached 40 first-team All-Pac-10 selections in 11 seasons, and has been named average of 5.7 per game. Opponents are league coach of the year three times. A 1981 All-Pac-10 left-handed pitcher at the UW, he is joined by assistants Joe hitting only .178 vs. Husky pitching. Ross, Travis Jewett, and Gregg Swenson and undergrad assistant Scott Robertson. • All-America closer Will Fenton hasn’t PROBABLE STARTERS: Here’s a look at the probable starters at each position, with current stats and notes: surrendered a run (earned or not) in 42.1 Pos. Player, Year Avg.-HR-RBI Notes consecutive innings pitched. C – Aaron Hathaway, Jr. .276-1-6 Preseason 3rd-team All-American; HR in 11th inn. Sat. Matt Lane, Fr. .250-1-1 Slugging left-handed hitter was first-team All-State in 2003 1B – Kyle Larsen, Jr. .261-0-1 Three errors in 1,064 career chances; started 59 of 60 in 2003 2B – Greg Isaacson, Sr. .227-1-6 Started 54 of 60 in 2003; four of five hits for extra bases Matt Tucker, RFr. .000-0-0 Also DH, LF; Three pinch-hit appearances at San Diego SS – Brent Lillibridge, So. .480-2-5 Two homers to lead off games in San Diego series 3B – John Otness, Sr. .370-2-6 Started 57 of 60 last year; team leader with 16 2Bs, 4 3Bs OF – Taylor Johnson, Jr. .211-1-5 Only outfielder to start all six; 2-run homer in 3-0 win Sun. OF – Ben Johnson, Sr. .062-0-1 Switch-hitter moves to RF after three years as backup C OF – Nick Batkoski, Jr. .222-0-2 2-run singled tied game Sat.; three starts so far (1 at DH) OF – Zach Clem, So. .278-0-0 Started five of six so far; former backup 3B and catcher OF – Nick Burnham, So. .333-0-0 Started opening day at USD and went 1-for-2 with a steal DH – Tyler Mach, Fr. .333-1-2 Four starts as DH so far; homered in first college at bat THIS WEEK’S HUSKY BASEBALL PLANNER . Mon. 23 Tue. 24 Wed. 25 Thu. 26 Fri. 27 Sat. 28 Sun. 29 Practice Practice Practice Washington Washington Washington Husky Ballpark Husky Ballpark Husky Ballpark vs. Gonzaga vs. Gonzaga vs. Gonzaga FEBRUARY 3:00 p.m. 3:00 p.m. 3:00 p.m. 3:00 p.m. 1:00 p.m. 1:00 p.m. University of Washington Athletics • Media Relations • 229 Graves Building • Box 354070 • Seattle, WA 98195-4070 NATIONAL RANKINGS WASHINGTON BASEBALL FEBRUARY 24, 2004 Baseball America Top 25 LAST WEEK: Washington pulled off its first series sweep of Gonzaga in 11 seasons last weekend, holding the Zags (updated Feb. 23, 2004) ★ to only 11 hits over the three games. Friday, GU took a 3-0 lead with a three-run homer in the first, but Washington came 1. Stanford 10-2 back to tie the game and take a lead on a homer from freshman Matt Lane. The Zags tied again at 5-5, but the UW got an 2. Rice 5-2 RBI double from Taylor Johnson in the seventh and a homer from John Otness in the eighth to win, 7-5. Saturday, the 3. Louisiana State 6-1 Dawgs once again trailed, 3-0, but got a homer from Greg Isaacson and a two-run single from Nick Batkoski to tie. 4. Miami 4-2 Aaron Hathaway led off the 11th inning with a home run to win, 4-3. Trent Baysinger threw 3.2 perfect innings of relief 5. Georgia Tech ★ 6-0 for the win. Sunday, Keaton Everitt allowed only one hit over seven innings and combined with two other UW pitchers for 6. Texas 11-2 a two-hit, 3-0 shutout. Taylor Johnson’s two run homer and Otness’ sacrifice fly provided the UW runs and Will Fenton 7. South Carolina 6-0 struck out two in the ninth for his second save of the weekend. 8. Long Beach State 7-2 9. Tulane 5-1 SQUAD BREAKDOWN: Washington’s 36-man roster is pretty well balanced for a college baseball roster. The 10. Auburn 5-1 team includes five seniors, nine juniors, 10 sophomores and 12 freshmen (including two red-shirt freshmen). Twenty-five 11. Clemson 0-0 ★ players are returners while 11 are new (10 of those 11 are true freshmen). Washington’s returning players have competed 12. Arizona State 8-2 in a total of 906 games, and have combined for 2,340 career at bats and 357 and one-third career innings pitched. 13. Cal State Fullerton 6-6 14. Wichita State 0-0 TOUGH SCHEDULE: Counting those in the “others receiving votes” category, the preseason Sports Weekly/ 15. Baylor 3-4 ★ ESPN coaches’ poll ranked 57 teams this season. Washington, which picked up 68 points to rank the equivalent of 27th in 16. Arizona 5-3 that poll, will play a total of 19 games against teams that received votes in the preseason ranking. Those 19 games come 17. North Carolina 3-0 against seven different teams, including four conference opponents. The Huskies will play a total of nine games against 18. Mississippi 3-0 three teams ranked in the top 10 in the preseason poll – three each against No. 4 Stanford, No. 7 Georgia Tech and No. 10 19. Notre Dame 2-0 Arizona State. Also as regards the schedule, the Huskies will play 39 home games this season (plus an exhibition vs. the 20. Texas A&M 7-0 University of British Columbia) and 27 on the road. Seventeen of the Huskies’ first 27 games will be played on the road 21. Florida Atlantic 10-0 while 20 of their final 29 will come at home.