Cleland’s Two-Hitter Lifts Gonzaga

Troy Cleland tossed a two-hitter and Scott Morgan ripped a two-run home run as Gonzaga beat Washington 5-0 in the first game of a men’s baseball doubleheader Saturday in Seattle.

Morgan’s blast was part of a fourrun sixth inning that broke the game open for the Bulldogs.

In the second game, Washington (6-4 Pac-10, 20-12) scored five unanswered runs to beat Gonzaga 5-3 and take over first place in the Pac10 Northern Division.

The Bulldogs (5-5, 18-4) led 2-0, but the Huskies scored four runs in the fourth inning, sparked by Shawn Mahle’s bases-loaded triple.

The Washington State-Oregon State doubleheader was rained out.

Track and field

The Washington State men won nine events to defeat Washington and Arizona in dual meet action of the Washington Invite at Husky Stadium in Seattle.

The Cougars beat the Huskies 97-62 and topped the Wildcats 92-70. Arizona crushed UW 103-48.

WSU had six Pacific-10 Conference qualifying marks at the meet. Three Cougars had lifetime-best performances while there were seven season-best showings for coach Rick Sloan’s squad.

A day of gusty winds did not deter WSU’s Jason Baskett from winning two events. The Mead High graduate took the discus with a throw of 164 feet, and won the shot put with a Pac-10-qualifying heave of 56-10. He placed fourth in the hammer with a season-best toss of 187-2, also a conference-qualifying mark.

Junior Frank Madu recorded two Pac-10-qualifying times, winning the 100 meters in 10.50 seconds, and taking second in the 200 with a wind-aided 21.14, both season-bests.

Senior George Loucaides had a personal-record time of 14 minutes, 35.16 seconds to win the 5,000 after placing fourth in his first 3,000 steeplechase of the season in a Pac10-qualifying 9:00.97.

James Swanson ran a 52.79 to win the 400 hurdles and qualify for the conference championships.

Freshman hurdler Nicholle Booth earned WSU’s only women’s win.

Randy Townsend of Community Colleges of Spokane won the 100 in 11.08 and 200 in 21.69 at the Spokane Invitational at Spokane Falls CC. Nate Pugh of Eastern Washington won the 110 hurdles (16.25) and pole vault (14-0).

Idaho’s Kerri Fife won twice, taking the women’s 200 and 400.

Whitworth senior Kevin Wright was first with 6,990 points as the Pirates tied Linfield for first place at the NCIC decathlon championships in Salem, Ore.

The Whitworth women were third in the heptathlon, with senior Gail Pitman (3,263 points) third overall.