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Walk in the park for GU

WSU's Jayson Miller flips the ball to first baseman Jim Murphy for a second-inning out Tuesday evening in Pullman. (Joe Barrentine / The Spokesman-Review)
By Glenn Kasses glennk@spokesman.com
WSU's Jayson Miller flips the ball to first baseman Jim Murphy for a second-inning out Tuesday evening in Pullman. (Joe Barrentine / The Spokesman-Review)

PULLMAN – In the first inning, Gonzaga’s 3-4-5 hitters had a chance to give the Bulldogs an early lead. With the bases loaded against Washington State ace Jimmy Freeman, Jeff Culpepper, Bobby Carlson and Scott Campbell struck out.

And when WSU scored six runs in the bottom half of the inning on three home runs, it appeared that Culpepper, Carlson and Campbell would get no chance for redemption.

But in the top of the ninth, after a remarkable late-inning comeback thanks to some shoddy WSU relief pitching, Culpepper, Carlson and Campbell got their chance.

With the bases loaded and two outs, trailing 12-9, Culpepper walked on four pitches, Carlson was hit by a pitch and Campbell walked on five pitches, with each driving in one run to tie the game at 12.

And then, just to make an already-bizarre game that much stranger, the Bulldogs scored the winning run in the top of the 10th when a hidden ball trick with the bases loaded went awry.

Umpires said losing pitcher Grant Alexander (0-1) was on the mound when the play was executed, forcing in a run.

The Bulldogs (16-9) added one more run to claim a 14-12 victory. Nate Williams (1-0) pitched the final three innings to earn the win in the 4-hour, 4-minute marathon.

“This game kind of typifies our season,” said WSU coach Don Marbut, who was livid at the umpiring crew after the balk was called. “We executed (the hidden ball trick) exactly the way we teach and coach it.

“They said he was on the dirt. We practice it so he’s not on the dirt. That’s their call.”

The Cougars (15-14) had led 12-1 after five innings, but the Bulldogs slowly whittled down the lead then scored six runs with two out in the eighth off of Eric Dingwall. Carlson hit a three-run blast to finish off the scoring in that inning.

“It’s very sweet,” Carlson said, calling the win a program-defining victory. Carlson played for Marbut in junior college and said they had practiced the exact same hidden ball trick there. “In that eighth inning, we got a few guys on. I was thinking that if we could get some runs up there, we’d be in range.”

Marbut sent Dingwall back out for the ninth inning and he loaded the bases with two outs before WSU brought in Alexander, who proceeded to allow the three Gonzaga hitters on base to tie the score. Dingwall entered the game with a 0.73 ERA, but was charged with nine runs in 1.2 innings.