Before Sunday, Washington was the only team in the tradition-rich Pac-12 to never make it to the College World Series.
The Huskies finally are going to Omaha.
Kaiser Weiss’ bases-loaded sacrifice fly in the bottom of the 10th inning gave Washington a 6-5 win over host Cal State Fullerton in a wild Game 3 of their NCAA Tournament best-of-three super regional.
The Huskies join fellow Pac-12 member Oregon State and North Carolina in the CWS starting Saturday.
“This weekend, we’ve been working this whole year for it,” said Weiss, wearing a “Destination Omaha” cap moments after the game. “We always say, ‘Omaha no matter what.’ We grind it and we just wanted the opportunity. We had the opportunity and we seized it. It’s a team effort, all around, everyone.”
Mississippi State and Vanderbilt also played a Game 3 Sunday night. The game was in extra innings when The Herald went to press.
North Carolina and Oregon State won their super regionals Saturday.
The rest of the eight-team CWS field will be filled out Monday after four winner-take-all Game 3s. Auburn, Texas, South Carolina and Duke won Sunday to force those deciding games.
Washington was cruising along against Fullerton with starting pitcher Joe DeMers carrying a perfect game until Hank LoForte doubled leading off the seventh inning.
The Titans scored three runs in the ninth to go up 4-3, but Washington got the run back in the bottom half. LoForte barely cleared the right-field wall with two outs in the top of the 10th for his second home run of the season and a one-run lead for Fullerton. But an RBI single by Washington’s AJ Graffanino tied the game in the bottom of the 10th and the Huskies loaded the bases before Weiss lifted his winning sacrifice fly to left.
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