Vandal men tie for third in Big West tournament

Christian Akau shot a final-round 69 Tuesday to help the Idaho Vandals jump three places and finish tied for third at the Big West Conference men’s golf championships in Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif.

Pete Williams closed with a 71 as the Vandals tallied a 284 on the day, the second-lowest score of the round.

Williams’ three-day total of 218 earned him a tie for eighth place. Akau tied for 16th at 219. The Vandals’ pair earned all-conference second-team honors for their efforts.

“It’s a great day,” said Idaho coach Brad Rickel. “We proved ourselves as one of the best teams in the conference.”

UC Riverside won the team title at 852, followed by Cal Poly (860). The Vandals and UC Irvine tied for third at 875.

Cal Poly’s Travis Bertoni earned medalist honors with a 207 total.

•The Washington State Cougars sit in ninth place after the first three rounds of the Pacific-10 Conference men’s conference at the Walla Walla Country Club.

Arizona State (1,058), led by leader Pat Moore’s three-round total of 10-under-par 203, has a three-shot lead over UCLA in the race for the team title.

The Cougars (1,083) enter the final day two strokes out of sixth place.

Jordan Mason leads WSU with a 2-over 215. He’s tied for 18th place. Teammate David Fern, a Mead High graduate, is tied for 43rd at 221.

The Washington Huskies (1,075) enter the final day in fifth place. Erik Olson is tied for second with a team-leading 207. Ferris grad Alex Prugh is tied for 23rd at 216.

Baseball

The Central Washington Wildcats smacked nine home runs en route to a non-conference doubleheader sweep over the Whitworth Pirates (18-13) at Merkel Field.

Ryan Rockhill hit a two-run homer in the second inning and a three-run blast in the third as the Wildcats (25-18) rolled to an 11-0 win in the opener.

Chris Sepanski hit three home runs and drove in eight runs as Central cruised to a 17-8 win in the nightcap. Justin Knutsen homered twice in the second game, giving him three homers on the day.

Joel Evans capped a five-run first inning in the nightcap with a three-run homer for the Pirates. Whitworth led 6-2 after two innings, but the Wildcats scored 10 runs in the top of the third to put the game out of reach.