Grove Helps Bat Cougars To Victory

Freshman Jason Grove had four hits, including two home runs, and drove in three runs Saturday as Washington State University opened its home and Pacific-10 Conference baseball seasons with a 13-3 rout of Northern Division rival Oregon State at Bailey Field.

Grove singled home the go-ahead run in the fifth inning, breaking a 3-3 tie, and added solo home runs in the sixth and eighth to support the five-hit pitching of junior transfer Jamaal Gaines (2-3). Gaines struck out six and walked just one in nine innings.

Gaines gave up an earned run in the first and two unearned runs in the third before shutting out the Beavers (11-6-1) over the final six innings. Steve Curran helped offensively with a grand slam in the sixth.

The two teams meet again today in a noon doubleheader before closing their four-game series with a single game on Monday.

Visiting San Francisco, the hottest team in the West Coast Conference, swept a league doubleheader from Gonzaga 9-2 and 8-5 at August/ A.R.T. Stadium as the Bulldogs’ losing skid stretched to 17 games.

The Dons (22-8, 10-2) rode home runs by Tony Hurtado, David Meliah and Gregg Omori to their first-game win and then used long balls by Pat Walsh and Taggert Bozied to take the nightcap and sweep the three-game series that opened Friday.

GU (2-18, 0-8) managed only seven hits in the opener but banged out 14 in the second game. The Bulldogs had the bases loaded in the ninth inning of the nightcap, but Bo Hart grounded into a double play to end the game.

Kevin Taylor paced GU offensively with five hits in the two games. Teammate Donnie Murrell hit his first homer in the first game.

At Stanford, Calif., 20th-ranked Washington (12-5) saw its ninth-inning comeback fall short in a 5-4 loss to the No. 1-ranked Cardinal (21-2-1).

UW’s Ryan Bundy homered to lead off the ninth, slicing Stanford’s lead to one run, and the Huskies had the tying run on base with only one out after pinch hitter Nick Stefonick reached. But Stefonick was thrown out at second after rounding the base too far on Chris Magruder’s single, and the next batter popped out to end the game.

Magruder had three hits, including two doubles, for UW.

Whitworth’s baseball double-header against George Fox was rained out and rescheduled for today in Newberg, Ore.

Softball

Holly Vanwert belted a three-run, first-inning double to lead Community Colleges of Spokane to a 4-2 win over visiting Skagit Valley in the second game of a doubleheader.

Skagit Valley (5-3) won the first game, the season-opener for CCS, 6-4 on a pair of three-run homers.

Warriors ousted

Findlay University of Ohio overcame a 15-point deficit in the second half to defeat Lewis-Clark State 84-70 in the quarterfinals of the NAIA Division I women’s basketball tournament at Jackson, Tenn.

Robin Berg, with 19 points, led the Warriors, who ended their season with a record of 23-7. Ex-Lakeside High School player Lora Jolley scored three points and had two rebounds.

, DataTimes