Belitz Belief Helps Cougs In Nightcap
There was nothing - on paper, at least - to justify coach Steve Farrington’s decision to turn to Todd Belitz to get the final two outs in the nightcap of Saturday’s Pacific-10 Conference doubleheader sweep of Portland.
But if all decisions were based solely on numbers and left void of intuition, then computers would manage baseball teams instead of human beings.
And guys like Belitz might never get a second chance.
That would be a tragedy, considering the way the young freshman shut down Portland’s ninthinning rally to preserve a 9-8 win and keep Washington State (12-15) atop the early season North Division standings at 4-1.
The Cougars, who won the seven-inning opener 8-3 behind the eight-hit pitching of Kyle Kawabata (6-1), will try for a Bailey Field sweep of the weekend series this afternoon at 1.
“You want to be a quick starter, believe me,” Farrington said when his team successfully opened the home portion of its Pac-10 schedule after playing 24 of its first 25 games on the road. “You control your own destiny that way, and that’s what you’re always after.
“We want to make our home field a very difficult place for other teams to play.”
Bailey Field proved to be exactly that, even though Portland’s late rally in the nightcap made for some interesting moments.
The Pilots, trailing 9-7, put together a one-out single by Jeff Simpson and a run-scoring double by Les Dennis to chase reliever Jared Clifford in the ninth and force Farrington to rely once more on his suspect bullpen and his dead-on instincts.
The first-year Cougars coach ignored Belitz’s 1-2 record and 7.91 earned run average. He brushed aside the bad memory of Wednesday’s 7-6 extra-innings road loss to the Pilots in which Belitz relieved late, hit two batters in the 11th and was saddled with the defeat after one of those runners scored.
“He’s the guy we want to go to in those situations and he was ready for us to go to him today,” Farrington said his 18-year-old left-hander, who calmly sandwiched Alan Patrick’s run-scoring single between a strikeout and Todd Barnard’s last-out fly to center to pick up his second save of the year.
“It was definitely a big confidence builder,” said Belitz, who preserved the win for sophomore Casey Swingley (2-0). “This one was real important because of last (Wednesday’s) game, when I got tagged with the loss.
“It was important today that coach showed the confidence to go with me against the same team in pretty much the same situation.”
Farrington said experience was not a factor in his decision to put the game in Belitz’s hands.
“We don’t consider him a freshman anymore,” he said. “He’s been with us five or six months. He may be a freshman by class, but he’s been in that situation three or four times this year. If we play freshmen, they don’t have freshmen attitudes.”
It was WSU’s veterans, however, who took care of the offense.
Senior outfielder Ken Cameron ripped a solo home run and two singles in the first game and added a two-run homer in the nightcap.
Classmate Mike Kinkade, the North Division player of the year last season, blasted a homer, triple, double and single in the two games and drove in three runs.
Sophomore shortstop Mike Wetmore added a two-run triple in the first game and a solo homer and single in the second.
“What hurt us today was their home runs,” Portland coach Terry Pollreisz said after watching his team slip to 1-4 in the Pac-10 North and 10-11 overall. “Cameron and Kinkade, those guys are bigtime players and you need to keep ‘em in the yard.”
WSU 8, Portland 3
Portland 000 002 1 - 3 8 1
WSU 000 305 x - 8 10 1
Reitzenstein and Chastain; Kawabata and Hamik. W-Kawabata, 6-1. L-Reitzenstein, 3-2.
Portland - Martin 3, Dennis, Smith, Wicher, Flicker, Williams. WSU Wetmore, Ryan, Cameron 3, Kinkade 2, Naumu, Hamik 2. 2B-Hamik. 3B-Wicher, Kinkade, Wetmore. HR-Cameron (4).
WSU 9, Portland 8
Portland 011 201 102 - 8 10 2
WSU 210 501 00x - 9 10 2
Travis, Hartman (4) and Chastain; Post, Swingley (1), Murray (5), Clifford (8), Belitz (9) and Kinkade, Hamik (8). W-Swingley, 2-0. L-Travis, 2-2. Save-Belitz (2).
Portland - Simpson, Dennis 2, Wicher 5, Williams 2. WSU Wetmore 2, Ryan, Cameron, Kinkade 2, Naumu, Solomon, Horner 2. 2B-Dennis, Williams, Horner, Kinkade. HR-Wicher (2), Williams (1), Cameron (4), Kinkade (2), Wetmore (3).