One inning.

That’s all it took to defeat the Washington baseball team in its final game against Arizona yesterday, virtually ending the Huskies’ postseason hopes for the fifth consecutive year.

That inning, the first in yesterday’s 9-5 loss to the Wildcats at Jerry Kindall Field, was a wild one for the Huskies as starter Andrew Kittredge devolved from his usually poised self on the mound to give up five runs on five hits in the inning.

Kittredge didn’t even make it out of the frame, and the Dawgs had trouble on the mound for most of the game to drop their first series since mid-April.

“[Kittredge] couldn’t find home plate. He hit three guys. He couldn’t throw strikes,” said UW head coach Ken Knutson. “It just wasn’t there. It sort of happened fast. Everything looked sort of normal [at first], but I think he lost confidence or panicked a little bit and couldn’t get the ball where he wanted to.”

It was all over after one, and anything the Huskies did didn’t matter in the end.

The Dawgs added three runs off Arizona starter Daniel Workman in the third inning to make things close, and David Bentrott tacked on another one in the fourth on a sacrifice fly to pull the Dawgs within one run.

But the Wildcats added to their lead with three runs in the fourth to take an 8-4 lead.

Tyler Cheney was the culprit on the hill for the Huskies this time. He gave up all three runs and lasted only 3 1/3 innings.

In the end, it was the pitching, the strongest part of the UW team for most of the season, that faltered.

“We hit guys and walked some guys; [we] gave up freebies,” Knutson said. “And defensively, a lot of balls were just out of reach. It’s just the most offensive park around, but that’s not an excuse.”

At the plate, the Huskies compiled nine hits and five runs, putting their series total at 19 runs — usually enough to win a series.

“It was better,” Knutson said. “We were swinging the bats well this weekend. But you dig a hole, and you have a lot of ground to make up.”

Knutson added that the Huskies were probably pressing in the last few innings, trying to make up a 9-5 deficit.

Washington (25-27, 13-11 Pac-10) can essentially turn off the lights on its NCAA tournament hopes since it can do no better than one game over .500 with a sweep of second-place Washington State next weekend.

“If we sweep WSU, that helps, depending on what goes on around the country,” Knutson said. “But it’s going to be tough for us to get in [the tournament].”

Reach reporter Allen Wagner at sports@dailyuw.com.