After fighting their way back to .500 for the first time this season, the Washington Huskies are back to two games under the mark following a 9-2 loss to the Gonzaga Bulldogs on Monday.
Following his stellar outing in Washington’s massive upset win over No. 9 Oregon State, coach Eddie Smith turned to freshman Liam Lierman on the mound, but he was unable to carry over the momentum from last week. The left-hander took the loss and dropped to 2-1 on the year after he worked just 3 innings and allowed 4 runs (all of which came in the first inning) on 4 hits with 2 strikeouts, as the Huskies found themselves in an early hole and were unable to dig out of it all night.
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Designated hitter Maddox Haley did the majority of the damage in the frame with a three-run home run, and the Huskies could never catch up. They scored a pair of runs in the fourth inning on a wild pitch, which pushed shortstop Sam DeCarlo across, before an RBI double from second baseman Ty Cowen—one of just four Husky hits in the contest—to score third baseman Blake Wilson.
However, from that point on, the Huskies were only able to muster three baserunners as the Bulldogs pushed at least one run across the plate in every frame from the sixth inning on, highlighted by a solo home run from right fielder Noah Meffert in the sixth and a two-run blast from second baseman Hudson Shupe in the ninth.
Finbar O’Brien earned the win for the Bulldogs, his second of the year, after working 5 innings and letting up 2 runs (1 earned) on 3 hits, a walk, a hit batter, and 5 strikeouts. Over the final four innings, the combination of Landon Hood and Joe Thornton allowed just a hit, a walk, and a hit batter, while striking out 8 Huskies.
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With the loss, Washington dropped to 15-17 on the year, and they’ll return to Husky Ballpark on Tuesday afternoon in an attempt to split the two-game series with the Bulldogs at 12:00 p.m. PT.
This article originally appeared on Huskies Wire: Washington Huskies lineup falters in 9-2 loss to Gonzaga