Toreros roar back to tie crucial series with Gonzaga

The University of San Diego broke out the bats in the last three innings and narrowed Gonzaga’s West Coast Conference division lead with a 6-2 baseball victory Saturday at Avista Stadium.

Held to three hits through six innings by Gonzaga southpaw starter Patrick Donovan (5-6), the Toreros scored five times in the final three frames. USD stands one game behind the Bulldogs in the Coast Division entering the final game of the three-game series, at 1 p.m. today at Avista.

Freshman outfielder Justin Snyder did the most damage for USD (28-24-1, 14-12) with two solo home runs, but it was Shane Buschini’s two-run shot in the ninth that gave the Toreros a late cushion.

The Bulldogs (26-19, 13-9) had USD starter Justin Blaine (8-4) on the ropes several times in the first five innings, but the Toreros backed him up with three double plays, and added a fourth to end the game.

Blaine scattered eight hits and Matthew Falk finished for San Diego, picking up his seventh save.

Aaron McGuinness had three hits for Gonzaga, giving him five for the series, and Scott Campbell added two hits.

•James Freeman (7-5) and Dane Renkert combined on a seven-hit shutout as Washington State (19-27) recorded a 6-0 win over Sacramento State (18-29) at Bailey-Brayton Field.

Freeman struck out six, walked three and scattered six hits in 7 2/3 innings.

The Cougars snapped a scoreless tie with Brady Everett’s two-out single in the sixth.

WSU added three runs in the seventh on just one hit – Jason Freeman’s single to lead off the inning.

Everett and Jim Murphy hit solo homers in the eighth to cap the scoring.

•Treasure Valley swept a Northwest Athletic Association of Community Colleges doubleheader from Community Colleges of Spokane, 11-9 and 4-3 at Spokane Falls CC.

The Chukars’ sweep, coupled with last-place Yakima Valley’s sweep over the Columbia Basin Hawks, leaves the Sasquatch, Chukars and Hawks tied for first place in the East Division with 15-9 records.

Hank Anderson had three hits and a pair of RBIs and Brian Hale had a three-run triple for the Sasquatch (24-11) in the opener.

CCS’ Bobby Mortensen allowed all four runs in the nightcap, but just two were earned, in 7 2/3 innings of work. He struck out 10.

•The Lewis-Clark State Warriors swept a non-conference doubleheader from the Whitworth Pirates in Lewiston, winning 5-0 and 4-3.

The Warriors improved their record to 41-6, while the Pirates fell to 19-17. Whitworth takes on LCSC today in its season finale. The game is a makeup from Friday’s rainout.

Track and field

Idaho’s Russ Winger moved into the national top 10 in the shot put to highlight the Vandal Jamboree meet in Moscow, Idaho.

The sophomore from Colorado Springs, Colo., added 3 feet to his personal best with a heave of 63 feet, 5 1/2 inches – eighth best in the nation this year. He came back to win the discus with a personal-best throw of 184-2.

Other top efforts on the men’s side included a sprint double of 10.56 in the 100 meters and 21.10 in the 200 by Washington State’s Jaycee Robertson; Eastern Washington redshirt Alex Moon’s 47.75 victory in the 400; and a pole vault duel that saw CCS redshirt Jaymes Powell clear 15-10 to top EWU’s Mike Uhlenkott by an inch.

On the women’s side, Idaho redshirt Melinda Owen sailed to a PR 13-3 1/2 in the pole vault, while the Vandals’ Manuela Kurrat won the 100 hurdles (14.56) and long jump (18-9).

• Eastern Washington redshirt Caitlin Prunty won the women’s 800 at the Ken Shannon Invitational in Seattle.

Prunty’s lifetime best of 2:09.90 was more than a second faster than the EWU school record, but doesn’t qualify as such because she’s sitting out this season. Camille Gibb’s fourth-place finish of 2:14.99 moved her to seventh on the school’s top 10.

Whitworth graduate Leo Suzuki won the men’s 400 in 48.60.

•Washington State’s Diana Pickler and Darion Powell are the first-day leaders at the Pacific-10 Conference heptathlon and decathlon championships in Los Angeles.

Pickler totaled 3,393 points through four events, 69 better than Oregon’s Lauryn Jordan, with twin sister Julie Pickler third at 3,278. Diana Pickler won the 100 hurdles (13.79) and high jump (5-8 3/4 ), while Julie Pickler was first in the 200 (24.38).

Powell’s 3,889 total gave him a 161-point edge on Arizona’s Robert Arnold after five events. Powell won the 100 (11.13), long jump (23-0 1/2 ) and shot put (47-3 1/2 ).

•Former LaCrosse-Washtucna standout Danielle Ayers-Stamper won three events for Seattle Pacific University, setting meet records in each, at the Great Northwest Athletic Conference women’s championships in Ellensburg, Wash.

Ayers-Stamper, voted co-athlete of the meet, won the 100 hurdles in 13.82 seconds, the long jump (19-9 3/4 ) and the high jump (5-8 1/2 ).

Golf

Washington State University’s two-time All-American Kim Welch closed out her career with an even-par 72 at the NCAA Division I West Regional in Las Cruces, N.M.

The Cougars tied for 11th place. They needed to finish in the top eight to advance to the NCAA Championships.

Welch finished the three-round tourney with a 9-over-par 225. She tied for 20th place to give her a school-record 40 top-25 finishes.

Idaho standout Renee Skidmore shot a final-round 74, but was disqualified for signing an incorrect scorecard that listed her score as 73.

“When she realized the mistake, she went back and told the officials what might have happened,” said Idaho coach Brad Rickel. “They had already posted the score, everything was signed and official. She was thinking maybe she had signed for the wrong score. She had and she was DQ’d. Because of her character and the sort of person she is, she went back and corrected the wrong.”

Skidmore, a freshman who won the Big West championship, shot a 77 in the first round and a 79 in the second. She would have tied for 44th place with 230 if the 74 had been recorded in the final round.

Tennessee and UCLA tied for the team title at 889. California’s Sophia Sheridan earned medalist honors with a 4-under 212.

•Courtney McCracken and Amber Prange helped the Washington women jump four spots to finish eighth at the NCAA Division I East Regional in Gainesville, Fla.

McCracken shot a 1-over 71, while Prange closed with a 72 as the Huskies qualified for the NCAA Championships. Prange (221) topped the Huskies with a 19th-place finish.

Ohio State (856) beat Duke by six strokes to win the team title. Washington shot 900. The medalist was Duke’s Anna Grzebien with a 1-under 209.

Rowing

The fourth-ranked Washington men’s varsity 8 won the Windermere Cup Regatta for the fourth straight year at the annual Opening Day Regatta on the Montlake Cut in Seattle.

Washington clocked in at 5:41.70 over the 2,000-meter course to beat the Czech Republic (5:44.50) and Cornell (5:49.72).

The Huskies women finished second to the Czechs in their Windermere Cup varsity 8 race.

Washington’s men also won the varsity 4 race.

The Washington women (7:20.50) easily held off runner-up Washington State (7:28.44) in the varsity 4 race.

The Gonzaga University women’s novice 8 edged runner-up Washington by 1 second with a time of 6:57.61. The Cougars finished third in 7:03.49.

Softball

The third-ranked Arizona Wildcats (36-9, 10-7) handed 20th-ranked Washington (29-18, 8-9) a pair of losses in Pac-10 Conference play in Tucson, Ariz.

The teams completed the final three innings of a suspended game from April 15 with Arizona winning 3-0. The Wildcats cruised to a 9-1 win in the nightcap.