Huskies Take Over First Place

The advantage tilted to Washington’s side on Friday.

The Huskies (31-13, 15-6) had four RBI doubles during a six-run eighth inning and defeated visiting Oregon State 16-12 at Seattle to take over first place in Pacific-10 Conference North baseball.

Chris Magruder, Nick Stefonick, Ed Erickson and Bryan Williamson had run-scoring doubles as UW chased Beavers relief ace Mike Boire (3-1).

The Huskies trailed 11-5 after 4-1/2 innings. Troy Schader of OSU (31-12-1, 14-7) and UW’s Ryan Lentz had two home runs apiece.

The teams will play three more games this weekend.

Wade Parrish (8-2) struck out eight in eight innings as visiting Washington State (23-21) nipped Lewis-Clark State 5-4 in a non-leaguer at Lewiston.

Reggie Rivard earned his fourth save, shutting down the Warriors (37-13) in the ninth.

WSU’s Ryan Smith and Jason Grove had two-out, RBI singles. Colville’s Robin Heath hit his ninth homer as Willamette (29-9, 19-3) topped Whitworth 7-2 at Salem, Ore., to clinch its first Northwest Conference of Independent Colleges title in 12 years.

The Bearcats, who set a school record for wins, earned a berth in the Pacific Northwest/Far West Regional tournament, which begins Friday in Caldwell, Idaho.

Heath hit the homer off another Colville graduate, Jason Tracy (5-6). Chad Ripke hit his 12th homer, a two-run shot in the fifth.

Brandon Florence hit a two-run homer in the eighth, and Ty Gaston singled home the winner in the ninth as Walla Walla CC edged visiting Community Colleges of Spokane 7-6.

George Petticrew of the Sasquatch struck out nine in eight innings. Steve Jackson went 3 for 4 and Ryan McConville hit his first homer, a two-run shot in the sixth, for CCS (19-12, 13-8 Northwest Athletic Association of Community Colleges).

Track and field

Whitworth’s Betsy Slemp won the women’s hammer throw during the opening day of the two-day Northwest Conference of Independent Colleges championships at McMinnville, Ore.

Slemp’s throw of 147 feet, 10 inches was nearly 10 feet farther than that of Pacific Lutheran’s Kirsten Liane. Slemp also placed fourth in the discus, at 123-0.

Whitworth’s women are in fourth place with 25 points. PLU leads both team races, with the women holding a 92-53 edge on Puget Sound and the men ahead of host Linfield 111-65.

Whitworth’s men are in sixth, with 11 points. The Pirates’ Chet Doughty placed second in the long jump at 23-2.

Aimee Aldendorf of North Idaho College placed in the women’s shot put and hammer throw during the first day of the two-day Region 18 meet at Spokane Falls Community College.

Aldendodrf threw the shot 42-6-1/4 to place third and was fourth in the hammer at 132-1.