In a wet, back and forward game, the Ducks picked up a 4-3 victory over the Washington Huskies (13-8) at PK Park.
Starting pitcher David Peterson (5-1) went seven innings, surrendering one earned run with six hits and seven strikeouts in the win. He moved into a tie for fifth place with Cole Irvin on the school’s all-time strikeout list with 197.
The Ducks (14-5) fell behind early when Peterson attempted to catch Jack Meggs leading too far off first base, but his throw sailed and Meggs made it to third base. One at-bat later, a sacrifice fly led to a 1-0 Huskies lead. The run was the first given up by Peterson in 22.1 innings of work.
It only took two batters for the Ducks to tie the game in the bottom of the first. After first baseman junior Kyle Kasser hit a single, freshman Morgan McCullough tied the game with a triple.
“To get that one back right away felt good,” McCullough said. “Once I saw it down, I had three in my head the whole way.”
McCullough finished the game 2-for-4 with one RBI.
Later in the first, Gabe Matthews hit a ground-rule double gave the Ducks a 2-1 lead.
The fourth inning was a tough one for Peterson. He surrendered two runs on an RBI-triple followed by a sacrifice fly, allowing the Huskies to retake the lead at 3-2.
“Today wasn’t a downhill effort for him either,” head coach George Horton said. “He wasn’t as sharp as he sometimes is.”
After the Huskies scored two to regain the lead in the top of the fourth inning, Matthews came through for the Ducks in the bottom of the fifth. Matthews crushed an RBI double that scored two and gave the Ducks the 4-3 lead. He finished the game 2-for-4 with 3 RBI’s.
“This team’s all about coming back,” Matthews said. “We’re not going to roll over for anyone.”
Because of the back and forward way of this game, Kenyon Yovan came into the eighth inning and was asked to pick up the six-out save. It was his seventh save of the season.
“[Yovan’s] been amazing,” Horton said. “We felt like it was this kind of a game to ask him to go more than one inning.”
Next up for the Ducks is game two of the three-game series against the Huskies on Saturday night at 7 p.m.
Follow Zak Laster on Twitter: @zlast3445