Freshman sparks Cougars
PULLMAN - Washington State’s freshman sensation did it again.
Jared Prince, the North Kitsap High School product who’s turned into a star on the mound and at the plate for the Cougars, pitched five innings to start Sunday’s rubber match against USC, leaving with a 5-3 lead.
And remaining in the game at the cleanup spot, he did just that, swatting a home run for insurance as WSU defeated the Trojans 6-3 to earn its first series win since taking two of three at Stanford to open the Pac-10 season.
“He’s unreal,” WSU coach Don Marbut said. “If there’s a better freshman in the country, find him for me. He just never ceases to amaze me. He does something new every day. That last run was huge.”
Prince (6-1) didn’t have his best stuff on the mound, but the Cougars (29-16, 7-8 Pac-10) made sure that didn’t matter by putting up five runs in the third inning. None of the first seven WSU batters reached base, but a Zach McAngus single started a string of five consecutive hits off USC starter Shawn Olsen (4-4) that ended up giving the Cougars all the runs they’d need to take the game and the series.
USC (24-22, 10-8) had arrived in Pullman in second place in the Pac-10 standings, and an easy win Friday night made it appear that staying there would be easy. But the Cougars managed to outslug the Trojans Saturday and backed it up with solid pitching Sunday to take the series.
“Especially after dropping the game on Friday - and it wasn’t very close - it was definitely good to come out and compete, knock them off these last two days,” Prince said.
After Prince left the mound with a two-run lead, Jayson Miller came on and held USC scoreless for three innings, preserving the game for closer Travis Webb, who picked up his seventh save. The day before, Miller had thrown two scoreless innings to close out a win.
“My changeup was pretty good today,” Miller said. “I was able to get a lot of fly balls. A lot of my stuff was working. … That’s been my role all year, just coming in and filling innings.”
It was WSU’s first Pac-10 series-ending win in five tries this year.
“I think we’ve played pretty good, but good has gotten us a bunch of losses on Sundays,” Marbut said. “We played great today.”
Notes
Marbut said pitcher Nick Ison, out since pitching one inning against Stanford in March, will probably miss the rest of the season with his arm troubles. … One more victory will guarantee the Cougars a winning season. … Jay Miller moved within 14 hits of tying the WSU career record of 304.