Huskies Sweep Hapless Cougars

Jeff Carlsen threw a complete-game six-hitter at Washington State as the University of Washington pulled out a 3-2 Pacific-10 Conference baseball victory over the Cougars on a rainy Monday afternoon at Husky Ballpark.

UW, which swept all five games against WSU this season, climbed to the .500 mark for the first time this season. The Huskies are 23-23, 7-11 in league play. WSU, which dropped three games to UW during the weekend, two by one run, fell to 16-32, 4-17 for last place in the Pac-10. The Cougars are 2-8 in one-run games.

WSU grabbed a 2-1 lead in the fifth inning on freshman catcher Jon Baeder’s two-run home run on the heels of a bunt single by Justin Williams.

But with Carlsen in control, retiring nine Cougars in a row at one point, Washington pulled ahead in the bottom of the seventh.

Carlsen, a junior right-hander, scattered six hits in running his career record to 22-6. He struck out eight and walked only two.

The Cougs threatened to score in the top of the eighth, but ran themselves out of the inning on an attempted double-steal. After a Shawn Stevenson double, the senior shortstop was caught in a run-down at third base while attempting to score the game-tying run.

WSU starter Matt O’Brien (7-4) pitched well enough to have won. O’Brien, who entered the game with the third best earned run average in the conference, scattered 13 hits in 7-1/3 innings. His ERA is 3.21.

The Cougars will return to the Palouse for their last eight games. They’ll play at Lewis-Clark State Wednesday, then be at Bailey-Brayton Field for the last seven.

UW football on TV

The Pacific-10 Conference announced ABC Sports will broadcast at least three of Washington’s football games in the 2000 season.

The network will televise UW games with Miami (Sept. 9), Colorado (Sept. 16) and UCLA (Nov. 11).

Fox Sports Net will make its early selections this month and the conference office will announce them in early June.

NIC basketball

Curtis Augustus, a 6-foot-6 wing from British Columbia, has signed a letter of intent to play at NIC, men’s coach Hugh Watson said.

“He had one game at a tournament in California where he had 51 points, 18 rebounds and eight blocked shots,” Watson said. “He’s a good athlete.”

NIC baseball, softball

North Idaho College will tangle with rival College of Southern Idaho in the opening round of the Region 18 baseball tournament.

The fourth-seeded Cardinals (30-19, 19-13 Scenic West Athletic Conference) and fifth-seeded CSI (31-22, 20-14) meet Thursday in St. George, Utah. The winner faces host Dixie (44-9, 27-7) Thursday night. On the other side of the bracket, No. 2 Utah Valley awaits the winner of No. 3 Salt Lake and No. 6 Treasure Valley.

The NIC women’s softball team, which stumbled into the postseason by losing seven of its last eight games, opens the Region 18 tournament Friday against Utah Valley.

Third-seeded NIC (24-16, 13-10 Scenic West Athletic Conference) meets No. 2 Utah Valley (37-13, 18-5) at 11:30 a.m. Friday. Host Salt Lake (36-14, 20-4) takes on No. 4 Ricks (30-17, 13-11) at 9 a.m. in the double-elimination tournament.