Winston a big hit for the Sasquatch
Records are meant to be broken, bones aren’t.
Bryan Winston is glad he’s been able to do the former and, in the process, not also the latter.
See Winston, a freshman second baseman for the Community Colleges of Spokane, has broken the school’s record for being hit by pitches. Actually, he’s shattered it.
The Sasquatch single-season mark was 16. In CCS’s 36 games, Winston has jogged down to first base sporting a fresh bruise 27 times, 28 if you count the time in Yakima when he had to return to the plate because he didn’t make an effort to get out of the way of a pitch.
Get out of the way? Most of the time the Sasquatch leadoff hitter wants to get hit. After all, it is his job to get on base – anyway he can.
“My job is to get on base, but mainly when I step in (the batter’s box), I’m trying to give a look at what (the pitcher’s) got for the other guys,” Winston said of his leadoff role. “If I get hit, I get hit.”
The record number of hit by pitches isn’t the only hits Winston has. The Richland High product sports a .310 batting average and a .458 on-base percentage, second best on the CCS team.
“I’ve been here eight years and I haven’t had a true leadoff guy, until we finally found one in him,” CCS head coach Dave Keller said. “Obviously, on-base percentage is everything in that role and he does that obviously in what he’s done in getting hit by pitches, drawing walks and taking a lot of pitches.
“He’s just a fiery, tough baseball competitor in that leadoff role.”
Such a baseball lifestyle can lead to injuries, though Winston says only two pitches have slowed him down. One hit him in the hamstring and the pain lingered a while. The other painful one? The 17th, which got him on the elbow.
“If you’re going to break a record, it might as well hurt,” he said, noting he now wears an elbow pad, forced on him by Keller.
What hurts CCS’s opponents is Winston getting on base. Using his speed and quickness, he leads the Sasquatch with 18 stolen bases, making him a threat to score after each hit-by-pitch.
Winston, who says he stands as close to the plate as possible, honed his skill at taking a pitch in his backyard, playing wiffle ball with his younger brother.
“We had a chair we used as home plate and we had a rule if you got hit by the pitch it was a ball,” he explained. “If you got two strikes and it looked like the ball was going to hit the chair and you didn’t think you could hit it, you kinda stuck your elbow out and let it hit you.”
A baseball is harder, of course, but the reward is greater as well. And pitchers in the NWAACC East region are not pitching inside to Winston as much the second half of the season. With more pitches out over the plate, he’s been working on hitting the ball hard to the opposite field.
The strategy has worked as his batting average has been rising. So to have the Sasquatch’s fortunes, with a big doubleheader looming Wednesday at region-leading Columbia Basin (21-3 in NWAACC play with four games left, 34-5 overall).
“Our goal is to not let them celebrate clinching the region while we’re there,” said Keller, who knows that means CCS (21-15, 17-7) must sweep. But no matter what happens Wednesday, the Sasquatch will be one of four teams in the double-elimination East Region playoffs May 21 and 22 at Posse Stadium in Pasco.
Where Winston will no doubt be a hit.
Washington State
The Cougars go into their final 10 games trying to earn an at-large berth into the NCAA playoffs. And, despite being last in the Pac-10 standings, a 7-3 finish just might do it.
Such a record would give WSU a 32-23 overall mark and give them a shot at an upper-division conference finish.
It all starts this weekend in Los Angeles, with three games at UCLA (8-7 in the Pac-10, 26-23). The Bruins are trying to send long-time head coach Gary Adams out in style.
Adams, who came to Westwood in 1975, is retiring at the end of the season. Speculation about a successor centers around Arizona coach – and UCLA alum – Andy Lopez and UC Irvine coach John Savage, hired at Irvine by current UCLA athletic director Dan Guerrero.
But the Cougars are worried about this year. The Bruins are led by senior third baseman Preston Griffin (.328 average) and senior right-hander Casey Janssen (8-3 with a 3.36 earned run average).
The Cougars’ Grant Richardson continues to chase Stanford’s Jed Lowrie for the Pac-10 RBI crown. In the latest league statistics, Richardson trails by one, 57-56. He is also fourth in home runs (11) while outfielder Kaeo Rubin is third in runs scored (54).
• The Cougars received a boost Monday during their 6-5 win over Sacramento State. It came from the return of senior right-hander Bryce Chamberlin, out since suffering a broken jaw in mid-April.
Chamberlin (7-1), who was injured in an early morning altercation, closed the door on the Hornets (26-32) in the ninth after Sac State had tied the game at 5.
In the bottom of the inning, pinch runner J.J. Burress scored the winning run on a Hornets error, lifting WSU’s overall record to 25-20.
Zach Kosturos paced the Cougars attack with three hits, while Rubin, Richardson and Jay Miller had two apiece.
Gonzaga
The Bulldogs’ chances of winning the West Coast Conference Coast Division disappeared this weekend.
At 13-11 in WCC play, Gonzaga trails Loyola Marymount (20-7) by four games in the loss column, and the Lions have only three WCC games remaining, all at GU next weekend.
The Zags’ hopes fizzled in San Diego thanks to a walk-off home run Friday and a barrage of long balls Saturday. GU returned the favor Sunday, its 8-7 win giving USD a 16-11 WCC record and handing LMU a shot at clinching the league title with a sweep of last-place Saint Mary’s.
The Lions obliged, winning a Sunday doubleheader and Monday’s single game, to clinch the division title.
Friday’s 3-0 loss was the most painful, with Josh Hansen hitting a two-out, three-run home run in the bottom of the ninth, ruining a fine performance by Eric Dworkis (7-4). On the pitch before the dinger, Hanson was hit on the arm by a curve ball, which would have loaded the bases. But home plate umpire Mike Gilmore ruled Hanson hadn’t tried to avoid the pitch, continuing the at-bat.
The Torero’s Saturday starter, Aaron Wilson, earned WCC pitcher of the week honors with eight innings of shutout ball, but it was the USD offense, with 21 hits, keying the 16-0 win.
The Zags’ Sunday victory came via a six-run fifth-inning rally, helped along by a USD error. Matt Reding and Marshall Bratton had run-scoring singles to cap the outburst.
The Zags finish the season with two non-conference games with Lewis-Clark State (including today at Avista Stadium), and six home WCC games, three this weekend with Saint Mary’s and three next weekend with Loyola.
Whitworth
The Pirates ended their season last weekend with three consecutive losses to the NAIA’s top-ranked team, L-C State.
Senior Josh Taylor went out in style, with six hits in 13 at-bats, including a home run, three RBIs and two stolen bases.
Whitworth ended its season 13-26, including a 2-13 mark in its last 15 games.
The Pirates hit .295 as a team with five regulars above .300, led by sophomore Casey Thomas at .374 and senior Brian Moser at .369. Taylor and Kyle Henderson each belted eight home runs and Henderson added a team-high 34 RBIs.
It was on the mound where the Pirates struggled, with a team ERA of 7.53. Junior Dan Lundeberg was the only Whit with an ERA under five (4.91) and led the team with four wins.
Around the diamonds
GU’s Kiel Thibault‘s three hits this weekend gave him 83 on the year, best in the WCC and eight off the school record. David Johnson‘s 49 RBIs ties him for the conference lead. If he wins the RBI crown, he would be the third consecutive Zag to do it… . Washington took two of three from Stanford last weekend, moving the Huskies (12-6, 28-15-1) within a game and a half of the Cardinal (11-4, 37-8). Stanford also dropped to second in the polls, while UW moved as high as 13. Arizona State is ranked as high as 14 in one poll… . Birmingham Southern, which was swept in three games by WSU, is still receiving votes in the coaches’ poll.