Errors haunt Cougars in Pasco
Washington edges WSU in series opener
PASCO – First and foremost, the Washington State baseball team is in town to take a game or three off its rival from Seattle.
Unfortunately for the Cougars, the same defensive bugaboos that have bitten them all season took a big chomp out of their chances in a 4-3 loss to the Washington Huskies in front of 2,739 fans at Gesa Stadium.
A pair of errors helped Jayce Ray’s leadoff double come around and allowed one more UW run as the Huskies went ahead for good in a sloppy eighth inning.
“We lack focus and concentration defensively,” Cougars coach Donnie Marbut said. “Basically, we gave them 32 outs, and it’s tough enough with 27.”
The Cougs (21-28, 8-17 Pac-12) and Huskies (20-31, 11-14) will continue their three-game series at Gesa at 2 p.m. today.
The Cougs got a big start from Joe Pistorese. The sophomore lefty gave up just four hits over seven innings, and could just as easily been working on a shutout.
The Huskies scored an unearned run in the fourth when a leadoff error came around, and a leadoff double in the sixth started out a routine fly to left that freshman Trek Stemp lost it in the lights.
“Joe gave us a good effort,” Marbut said.
But in the end, the Cougs’ inability to turn 13 hits into more than three runs haunted them.