I've been a member of LL for a while now, but haven't really gotten involved much in discussion, but I've found a way to maybe get some opinions and spark some discussion because I write for The Daily of the University of Washington and I cover the Husky Baseball team.

I just got back a while ago from the Arizona at Washington matchup at Safeco Field and while you guys were watching the M's get beat by Baltimore I got to enjoy one of the best college baseball games in a long while.

Normally when you think of college baseball you think of aluminum bats, lots of errors, and lots of runs, but that last factor can be taken out of the equation when playing at a pitcher-friendly park like Safeco Field.

I can only imagine how excited Husky starting pitcher, lefty junior Nick Haughian, must have been to strike out the first batter of the game on the same mound that Erik Bedard and Felix Hernandez throw off of.

I can only imagine how fun it must have been for the position players to play in the stadium that many of them wish they could play in as their day job.

I can only imagine the look of the grounds crew when they saw a bunch of college kids ruining their excellent field work.

This game was a pitchers duel from the beginning as Arizona starter Preston Guilmet and Haughian traded scoreless frames after scoreless frames. It was only until the seventh inning when UW right-fielder drove in a run on a one-out double that, finally, someone scored. Guilmet, who pitched great (with a line: 6.1 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 2 SO), probably thought his team would be able to come back against Haughian.

Haughain, a lefty with good velocity (low 90's fastball even late in the game) and pretty solid breaking stuff (he was getting guys out on some wicked sliders), wasn't going to let that happen. The UW southpaw was amped up and simply in the zone. He struck out the side in the first two innings and after throwing 99 pitches in the 7th inning, Coach Ken Knutson let him go out in the 8th (up to 112 at the end of the 8th) and then the 9th to finish off the game.

Haughian threw 130 pitches, but went the distance and struck out a career high 15 batters as the Dawgs defeated the Wildcats 1-0 at Safeco. (His line: 9.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 15 SO)

This was simply a great event for the Mariners to host at Safeco Field and anybody who loves baseball, regardless of the level of play, can really find some great performances in College Baseball.

The players got to play on the same field as some greats, the fans got to experience a college game in a professional venue, and yes, even us, the media, got to experience something new. I got to sit in the same press box that Geoff Baker and Larry Stone sit in every home game.

It was simply a great game in every way and I was left thinking the whole time, this was so much better than watching the Mariners lose to Baltimore.

-----

Extra notes:

- The M's game was on in the press box during the Huskies game and after seeing Sexson go 2/3 with a double, homerun, and a walk, we checked when the last time he got a double, HR, and walk was... go back... way back... to 2006 during a series against the Devil Rays for that one.

- Tim Lincecum, UW Grad, and San Francisco Giants pitcher has never played a game in Safeco Field, I wonder if some of the seniors on the team make fun of him.

- Haughian was electric, often doing some serious Felix-like fist pumps, which got me thinking... does this guy have a chance at the majors? Well, he's a lefty with 90+ fastball and some solid breaking stuff, I dont see why some teams might want to take a chance on him at least in late rounds of the draft. Coach Knutson has a reputation in the Pac-10 for grooming pitching prospects, as evidenced by Lincecum and first round college draft pick last year Nick Hagadone (picked by the Red Sox)... also the Mariners drafted Cam Nobles (a UW sophomore) in the 19th round in 2006.

Hows that for a post?