Huskies turn tables on Cougs
After 12 losses to open the Pac-10 baseball season, things were looking good for Washington State on Friday night in Pullman.
Washington’s ace pitcher, Tim Lincecum, couldn’t find the strike zone and the Cougars were trotting around the bases with ease.
“It was perfect. We had the offensive plan,” WSU coach Don Marbut said. “Lincecum is one of the best guys in the country, and our goal was to get him out of the game and get to the bullpen.”
But after Lincecum left, Marbut’s plan fell to pieces. The Huskies turned a 5-4 deficit into a 17-5 win, scoring runs at will on the Cougars (18-25, 0-13 Pac-10) while Marbut stewed.
“When it was 8-5, they started getting a couple here and there and I thought we stopped competing. That’s the hard part,” he said. “You’re going to lose ball games, that’s going to happen. But when your team stops competing, that’s hard to swallow.”
Lincecum walked 10 batters in just four innings and needed 118 pitches to get through those frames, but the Cougars got just three hits off him and stranded eight runners before the Huskies went to the bullpen.
But the WSU bullpen gave up two runs in the sixth, seventh and eighth innings, plus seven more in the ninth. All five Cougars relievers gave up at least two runs with Brett Sommer (0-1) getting tagged for the loss.
Meanwhile, David Dowling (6-0) was flawless for Washington (25-17, 5-8), no-hitting the Cougars in his five innings of relief work.
“Tim obviously had an off night, and I just wanted to pick him up,” Dowling said. “I felt good from strike one out there and got guys to chase the breaking ball.
“I knew we were going to win… . It was just a matter of time.”
WSU had hoped UW would represent their best chance to get a Pac-10 win. The Huskies are in seventh place in the conference. The Cougars and Huskies play two more times this weekend, at 1 p.m. today and again Sunday. But as the Apple Cup series continues, the Cougars are under pressure trying to get their first conference win for first-year coach Marbut.
“(Dowling) was stinking good. We had nothing,” Marbut said. “Washington obviously has underachieved this year, but they’re a very, very talented team. So they’re dangerous. They’re going to press too because they need to win this series. They probably think they need a sweep.”
Notes
Friday’s game will be replayed at 5 p.m. today on Fox Sports Northwest. … The attendance at Bailey-Brayton surpassed 1,000 for the second time this season with 1,034 on hand.
Bulldogs beaten
Gonzaga’s trek to the West Coast Conference West Division title was jolted by a pothole in Santa Clara, Calif., Friday.
The Broncos (20-22, 5-13 last in the WCC Coast) broke loose for six runs in the third inning on seven of their 19 hits and one GU error en route to pounding the Bulldogs (25-16, 12-6 atop the WCC West) 12-2.
GU got its runs on Matt Hibbitts’ sacrifice fly in the sixth and a bases-loaded catcher’s interference call on the Broncos in the eighth.