Tanielu sparks Cougars’ sweep

Freshman Nick Tanielu drove in six runs on the day and the Washington State Cougars (5-2) rolled to a 13-10, 12-2 doubleheader sweep of the Eastern Michigan Eagles (1-5) in nonconference baseball action on Sunday in Pullman.

It was WSU’s second straight sweep of the Eagles and gives the Cougars a five-game winning streak.

In the opener, Tanielu’s two-run home run – his first as a Cougar – helped WSU take a 6-0 lead heading into the third inning.

Daniel Russell’s two-run triple sparked the Eagles to a five-run outburst to pull within a run.

The Cougars upped the lead to 9-5, but Eastern Mighigan scored five runs in the top of the seventh to take its only lead of the four-game series.

WSU bounced back in the bottom of the eighth when freshman Ben Roberts knotted the score on a pinch-hit solo home run. Ian Sagdal followed with a pinch-hit double, Tanielu reached base when he was hit by a pitch and Jason Monda swatted his second home run of the season – a three-run shot that capped the scoring.

Tanielu finished with four hits, four RBIs and four runs scored. Trek Stemp had three hits and scored four runs and Yale Rosen collected three hits with three RBIs.

In the second game, Roberts delivered a three-run double in the bottom of the first and the Cougars never looked back en route to a victory by 10 runs.

• Gio Brusa ripped a three-run double, Tyger Pederson added a two-run home run and the Pacific Tigers (3-4) scored six runs in the bottom of the seventh inning en route to a 9-3 win over the Gonzaga Bulldogs (4-4) in nonconference play in Stockton, Calif.

Marco Gonzales had three hits for GU.

Softball

The Whitworth Pirates (5-5, 2-2) and Linfield Wildcats split a pair of Northwest Conference games in McMinnville, Ore.

Linfield scored 11 runs in the fourth to breeze to a 15-3 five-inning win in the opener.

Bailey Kasler drove in two runs with two hits and the Pirates withstood a late rally to edge Linfield 7-6 in the nightcap.