Holcomb’s big stick carries GU to victory over Chicago State

Third baseman Darin Holcomb hit three home runs, including a pair of grand slams, and drove in a school-record 10 runs to power the Gonzaga Bulldogs (9-7) to a 22-4 victory over the Chicago State Cougars (1-4) on Saturday in the Banana Belt Classic at Harris Field in Lewiston.

Holcomb, a Shadle Park High graduate, hit a solo home run in the bottom of the first inning, his first grand slam in the third and his second slam in the eighth. He also plated a run with a bases-loaded walk in the seventh.

John Torres staked Chicago State to a lead in the top of the first with a two-run home run off Gonzaga starter Josh Monroe (2-1), but it was all Zags after that.

•Nick Ison struck out nine batters in an eight-inning stint and Jay Miller had four hits to lead the Washington State Cougars (13-2) to a 6-1 victory over the Lewis-Clark State Warriors (11-3) in the Banana Belt Classic.

Ison limited the Warriors to one run on three hits and retired the side in order five times. He improved to 4-0 on the season with a 1.00 earned run average.

The Cougars jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the second inning on an RBI single by Zach McAngus and a run-scoring double by Jeff Miller.

The Cougs stretched the lead to 3-0 in the fifth when Miller doubled and scored on a single by Paul Gran.

The Warriors lone run and first hit off Ison came in the fifth. Jessie Mier led off with a double and scored on a groundout.

WSU added three insurance runs in the eighth on RBI singles by Jim Murphy, Garrett Kimbrel and Travis Coulter.

•Mike Marlow’s two-run double highlighted a seven-run third inning and the Whitworth Pirates (4-7, 1-1) rallied for a 10-6 win over the Pacific Boxers (3-4, 1-1) to earn a split of their Northwest Conference doubleheader in Forest Grove, Ore.

Matt McCord belted a grand slam in the bottom of the eighth inning to lift the Boxers to a 6-4 victory in the opener.

In the nightcap, Brandon Zimmerman (1-0) picked up the win for the Whits despite allowing 14 hits and five earned runs in six innings of work.

Track and field

The Eastern Washington Eagles and the Idaho Vandals fared well at the Husky Last Chance meet in Seattle.

Idaho’s Dee Olson shattered a 25-year-old school record in the women’s 3,000-meter run with a time of 9 minutes, 18.78 seconds – nearly 13 seconds better than the previous record of 9:31.7, set by Patsy Sharples in 1981.

Idaho’s Driss Yousfi finished first in the men’s 800 with a personal-best and NCAA provisional qualifying time of 1:48.58.

UI’s Melinda Owen won the women’s pole vault with an NCAA provisional mark of 12 feet, 113/4 inches.

Eastern’s John Timeus won the men’s 5,000-meter run with an NCAA provisional time of 14:07.03, breaking his own school record.

The Eagles’ Sarah Hegna placed fourth in the women’s pole vault with an NCAA provisional height of 12-113/4, while David Paul won the weight throw with a mark of 63-111/2.

Softball

Sara Rylaarsdam delivered a two-run single with two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning to send the Whitworth Pirates (2-2, 2-0) to a 4-3 victory over the Pacific Boxers (4-4, 0-2) and a sweep of a Northwest Conference doubleheader at Marks Field.

Lindsay Davis ripped a three-run double in the bottom of the second inning to propel the Pirates to an 8-4 win in the opener.

Junior hockey

Queen City took control with a pair of second-period goals and cruised to a 3-1 victory Friday over the Spokane Flyers in Helena, Mont., in the Northern Pacific Hockey League playoffs. Queen City won the best-of-5 series 3-2.

Brett Kellogg scored the lone goal for Spokane in the third period.