Meldahl’S Six-Hitter Lets Cougs Split With UW

Todd Meldahl threw his first complete game Saturday and led Washington State to a 7-5 win over Washington in the first game of Pacific-10 Conference Northern Division baseball doubleheader in Seattle.

In the nightcap, UW freshman Jeff Carlsen threw a one-hit shutout to salvage a split for the Huskies with an 8-0 victory.

Meldahl (3-3) scattered six hits in recording the third complete game of the season for the Cougars (14-12, 4-2). But in the second game, the Huskies (18-9, 5-2) battered WSU starter Wade Parrish for three home runs.

Shawn Stevenson went 3 for 4 for the Cougars in the first game, while teammate Greg Mitchell continued his hot hitting with a 2-for-4 effort. Casey Kelley belted another first-inning homer for WSU and freshman Jason Grove added a three-run home run to push his season total to six.

The Huskies were led by Ryan Lentz, who turned in a two-home run performance to break out of an 0-for-10 slump. Catcher Ryan Bundy also had a home run in the Huskies first win of the series.

WSU moved within a half-game of the first-place Huskies in the Northern Division standings. The four-game series concludes today at 1 p.m.

In San Diego, Calif., Gonzaga’s Troy Stoppa scattered 13 hits and picked up his first win in five decisions as the Bulldogs beat San Diego 9-5 in the second game of a West Coast Conference doubleheader.

USD (20-20, 9-6) edged GU (5-25, 2-13) in the opener 3-2 as Mark Vallecorsa (4-3) pitched no-hit ball through five innings and finished with a three-hitter. The loss went to GU’s Steve Bennett (1-3), who allowed only three earned runs and struck out three in eight innings of work.

Stoppa (1-5) was staked to an early 6-1 lead in the nightcap when teammate Luke Gradishar ripped a three-run triple to highlight the Bulldogs’ five-run third inning. GU catcher George Arnott smashed a solo homer in the second game and finished with three hits and three RBIs.

Whitworth’s Jack Arthaud pounded a pair of home runs and a single, but it wasn’t enough to save the pitching-poor Pirates, who dropped the first game of an NCIC doubleheader to visiting Linfield 20-7.

The second game was suspended after five innings because of darkness with Linfield leading 11-7. It will be completed today.

Linfield (14-6, 6-1) buried the Bucs (6-12, 4-7) with an eight-run first inning in the opener and withstood Arthaud’s power surge. Tim Bishop also homered for Whitworth.

Community Colleges of Spokane used a three-run double from Steve Jackson and a two-run homer from Trek Davis to blast visiting Big Bend 10-1 in the opening game of a NWAAC East Division doubleheader.

Big Bend won the nightcap 11-3 behind the hot bat of Darryl Debolt, which produced a double, single and four RBIs.

Jason Bay crushed a pair of home runs and a single Saturday and teammate Al Bevacqua added a solo homer as North Idaho College hammered visiting Ricks 9-6 in a Region 18 junior college baseball game.

Softball

Heather Hedum stroked a two-run single in the bottom of the seventh inning to lift Whitworth to a 9-8 NCIC win over visiting Seattle University in the first game of a North Division doubleheader. The Pirates (7-16, 3-9) won the nightcap 6-4 behind Nicole Tipple’s three-run second-inning triple.

Whitworth pounded SU starter Cheryl Johnson for 15 hits and jumped to a 6-0 lead after two innings of the opener, but still had to rally from an 8-7 deficit in the final inning.

Wendy Stredwick drove home two runs with a single and Rachael Cox capped a three-run, seventh-inning as Community Colleges of Spokane nipped visiting Yakima 7-6 in the first game of a doubleheader.

CCS also won the second game 13-1 behind the seven-hit, five-strikeout pitching performance of Tori Mills. Angie Vulcano had two hits and three RBIs for the Sasquatch in the nightcap.

Golf

Angie Cates shot a second-consecutive 75 to set the pace for Washington State’s women’s golf team at the Ping/ASU Invitational at the Karsten Golf Course in Phoenix, but the Cougars dropped from 10th to 14th in the team standings.

Cates’ two-round total of 6-over-par 150 puts her in a five-way tie for 16th in the individual standings, nine strokes behind leader Julie Dunn, from Stanford.

Crew

Washington State advanced its women’s novice-eight team to today’s Grand Final of the San Diego Crew Classic in San Diego. The Cougars’ novice rowers won their heat with a time of 7 minutes, 2 seconds.

WSU’s women’s varsity and junior varsity eight boats failed to qualify for the finals and will row in today’s consolation races.

With its varsity shells competing in San Diego, the University of Washington’s No. 3 boats dominated the men’s and women’s competition at the Husky Invitational on Lake Washington in Seattle.

The Huskies won both varsity-eight events, along with 11 other races. Washington State won the women’s varsity-four race. Gonzaga finished second in the men’s and women’s novice-eight events.