Roundup: Cougs thump SC; GU wins in 12

Washington State pounded out a season-high 18 hits and routed USC 13-3 in Pac-10 Conference baseball Saturday in Los Angeles, evening the series at 1-1.

WSU (20-18, 9-5) moved into a tie with Oregon State for second place. USC (21-18, 10-7) is one-half game behind WSU and OSU.

Matt Argyropoulos and Garry Kuykendall delivered back-to-back run-scoring singles to chase USC starter Andrew Triggs in the third. Shea Vucinich added an RBI single to give WSU a 6-0 lead.

Michael Weber and Kuykendall had RBI singles and Jay Ponciano belted a three-run homer in WSU’s five-run fourth inning.

Sophomore Chad Arnold allowed just one earned run to improve his record to 5-2.

•Also in the Pac-10: Brendan Gardner-Young’s two-out, two-run single in the ninth inning lifted visiting Washington (17-22, 6-8 Pac-10) past Oregon 2-0 at PK Park. Senior Jason Erickson pitched a six-hitter to improve to 2-4. Erik Stavert also went the distance, yielding five hits for Oregon (13-27, 3-11).

•West Coast Conference: Tyson Van Winkle homered and Grant Kveder added an RBI single in Gonzaga’s three-run 11th inning, triggering the Bulldogs past Santa Clara (15-23, 4-10) 12-10 at Santa Clara, Calif., and moving GU into a three-way tie for first place.

The teams combined for 38 hits and 22 runs.

Van Winkle, Evan Wells, Mark Castellitto and Jason Chatwood each had three hits for Gonzaga (27-13, 9-5 WCC), which scored in eight of 11 innings.

•Northwest Conference: Freshman JR Jarrell had seven hits and 10 RBIs to fuel Whitworth’s doubleheader sweep of visiting Whitman (3-28, 2-23) at Merkel Field. Jarrell had five hits and knocked in six runs in the Pirates’ 22-5 first-game victory. Chris Bartenhagen chipped in three hits, including a pair of home runs, and Kyle Krustangel had three hits and four RBIs. Jarrell homered twice and Liam O’Brien pitched five innings of two-hit relief for the Pirates (8-26, 6-20 NWC) in a 15-5 win in the second game.

•NWAACC: Justin Murphy limited Big Bend (20-18, 9-11) to five hits and Scott Carr stroked a single and double as Community Colleges of Spokane (17-13, 9-11) defeated Big Bend 3-0 at Spokane Falls CC. Taylor King had three hits and Derek Carley and Chad Morrison each had two hits, but CCS dropped the second game 16-4.

Track and field

Northwest Conference Championships: Dusty Caseria, Jeff Kintner and Elizabeth Mattila all won individual titles and Whitworth captured second in both the men’s and women’s competition in Forest Grove, Ore.

The defending-champion Pirates men led until being overtaken by Willamette after the high hurdles and wound up 20 points behind the Bearcats, who totaled 203.5 points. Willamette also won the women’s crown, 196.5-150 over Whitworth.

Caseria was a surprise winner of a tight men’s 800 meters over teammate and defending national champion Emmanuel Bofa, with the top four finishers within a second of each other. Caseria was timed in 1 minute, 57.49 seconds, with Bofa third and teammate Tyler Alsin fourth. Kintner defended his shot put title with a toss of 54 feet, 10 inches, leading a 1-2-3 sweep in which all the Pirates topped 50 feet. Mattila won her first NWC title in the 400 hurdles in 1:02.78.

•Duane Hartman Invitational: Courtney Kirkwood became the second Washington State woman to top 170 feet in the javelin and Community Colleges of Spokane sprinter Michael Vetter won a pair of titles at Spokane Falls.

Kirkwood, a freshman from Othello, Wash., launched the javelin 170-8 just a week after teammate Marissa Tschida upped the school record to 175-11. That started a day of strong javelin efforts that ended with former Montana thrower Doug Leffler taking the men’s event with a best of 228-5 over CCS assistant coach Ryan Weidman (220-10).

Vetter won the 100 in 11.09 into a nearly 3 meters-per-second wind and doubled back to win the 200 over teammate Marzell Jenkins, with both timed in 22.25.

Among the day’s other top efforts were a 51.30 win in the 400 hurdles by WSU’s Barry Leavitt, a discus victory of 156-2 by Eastern Washington’s Bonnie Berscheid and a 9:14.57 run in the steeplechase by CCS’ Sean Coyle.

•Oregon Relays: University of Idaho senior Elvie Williams soared 25-03/4 to win the long jump, a distance that ties him for 19th in the NCAA this season, in Eugene. Freshman Lauren Schaffer ran a personal-best 2:11.94 in the women’s 800 to win her heat and finish seventh overall. Eastern Washington University’s Nicole Luckenbach broke her school record in the hammer with a mark of 185-7 to finish fourth at the relays. Her previous best was 182-10.

Men’s tennis

Big Sky Conference Championships: Eastern Washington and Sacramento State will play today for the title for the third straight year. In the semifinals in Gold River, Calif., EWU (18-8) defeated Montana State 4-0 while the Hornets eliminated Montana 4-0. Art Karas won his singles match and teamed with Julian Sanchez to knock off Myles Perkins and Alberto Fuentes 8-3 in doubles. Karas extended his school record for wins to 60. EWU’s Kyle Schraeder and Daniel Pez also captured singles wins.

Softball

Northwest Conference: Whitworth stranded 21 runners on the bases while dropping a doubleheader to visiting Pacific 11-2, 4-2 at Marks Field. Chelsey Chamberlain homered twice and knocked in five runs in the sweep for Pacific (26-12, 17-9 NWC). Sara Rylaarsdam had RBI singles in each game for the Pirates (15-19, 11-13).

•NWAACC: Michelle Wells homered and knocked in three runs, leading Community Colleges of Spokane (31-8, 17-5) to a 6-3 win over Wenatchee (29-8, 15-5) at SFCC. Rachel Eisenmann’s two-out, two-run single in the sixth gave CCS some breathing room. Melanie Mobley had three RBI in Wenatchee’s 6-4 second-game win.

Women’s golf

Pac-10 Championships: Washington State climbed up two spots into sixth place at Stanford Golf Course in Stanford, Calif. Seniors Amy Eneroth and Jessica Black each shot 71s to spark WSU’s second-round 297, the second-lowest score at a conference tourney in school history. Eneroth’s and Black’s 71s are the fourth-lowest single-round scores at the conference tournament in WSU history. Eneroth enters today’s final round in fifth place while Black is tied for 12th.

•Northwest Conference Championships: Whitworth is in third place after the first day at Apple Tree Golf Course in Yakima. Liz Martin led the Pirates with an 87. Puget Sound (355) is in first, Linfield (365) is second and Whitworth (373) is third.

Men’s golf

Ping Cougar Classic: Brad Tensen tied for sixth and Russell Grove tied for eighth as Idaho finished third in Provo, Utah. Host BYU won the title, followed by Colorado State. Tensen was 7 under in the 54-hole event. Grove finished with a 3-under 69 for a three-round total of 5-under 211.

•NWC Championships: Whitworth is in seventh after the first day of the two-day event at Tokatee Golf Club in McKenzie Bridge, Ore. Jacob McCallum’s 80 was the Pirates’ low round.

Women’s rowing

Charles River Challenge: Gonzaga’s Novice 8+ won one race and was second in another to highlight the Bulldogs’ first day in Boston. GU defeated Boston University and Northeastern University in the afternoon and finished behind Virginia in their opening race of the challenge.