Cougs lose finale but gain national ranking
Washington State will have to be satisfied with its first baseball series win at Stanford and its first national ranking since 1989. A first-ever sweep of the Cardinal will have to wait a while longer.
Stanford avoided a sweep at the hands of the Cougars with a 5-3 Pac-10 victory Monday at Stanford, Calif.
Randy Molina had a key two-run double in the seventh inning to break up a 3-2 game and relief pitcher Jeremy Bleich squelched the Cougars the final 2 2/3 innings as the Cardinal (12-9, 1-2 Pac-10) ended a four-game losing streak.
WSU (20-7, 2-1), which is ranked 28th this week by Collegiate Baseball, pounded out double-digit hits for a second straight game, outhitting 17th-ranked Stanford 13-8, but left 10 runners on base, including the tying run in the eighth inning.
The Cougars got their runs on Jeff Miller’s sacrifice fly in the sixth, a Paul Gran single in the seventh and a throwing error in the eighth that allowed Jared Prince to score.
Jay Miller led the Cougars with three hits, giving him eight in the series and bringing his career total to 271, which is tied for third all-time at WSU.
The last time WSU was ranked was in 1989, when it was 25th by Collegiate Baseball. The Cougars’ highest national ranking was 18th in 1988 by Baseball America.
Basketball
University High School junior Angie Bjorklund was named the 2006 Washington Gatorade Player of the Year.
Bjorklund, who led the scoring with a 20.6 average for the Titans, who placed third at the State 4A tournament and was named to the all-tournament team, was selected for athletics, academics and individual character.
The selection process is administered by Scholastic Coach & Athletic Director magazine. The 51 state and District of Columbia winners are considered for National Player of the Year.
Seattle Prep’s Spencer Hawes was the Washington Gatorade boys winner.
Wrestling
Adam Hall of Bonners Ferry was named the Outstanding Wrestler at last week’s High School Wrestling Nationals in Pittsburgh, Penn.
Hall, 161-4 during his career and a three-time Idaho state champion, won the 152-pound bracket of the National High School Coaches Association-sponsored event.
He went 7-0 in the tournament and defeated three-time Michigan state champion Jonathan Reader (231-6) 8-7 for the title. Both were unbeaten during the high school season this year.
Rodeo
Ryan Gray used spring break to spring up the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association bareback standings.
The Cheney native, who is trying to finish up his degree work in agriculture leadership at Texas Tech University, won $9,607 at the 69th annual Rodeo Austin, which boosted him to third in the national standings.
Gray was second in the first round with an 85 on Show Biz of the Beutler and Son string and tied for first in the second round with an 85 on Rafter G Rodeo’s Low Bucks.
That put him in the average lead heading into the Tour Round, and he clinched the title with an 81 on Beutler’s Wayward Wind.
Gray, who qualified for his first National Finals Rodeo last year by finishing in the top 15 in season earnings, has won $23,747 in eight rodeos, less than $8,000 behind the leader and defending world champion Will Lowe.
More importantly, Gray picked up 31 points in the Tour standings. The top 12 in 12 selected winter and spring rodeos qualify for a big rodeo in May. Gray’s 56.5 points are second behind Lowe’s 85.33 with five Tour rodeos remaining.
Golf
Washington junior Alex Prugh from Spokane is tied for ninth, three shots behind the leader, heading into today’s final round of the National Invitational in Tucson, Ariz.
The Ferris High graduate shot a 1-over-par 73 in Monday’s second round of the 54-hole tournament for a 36-hole total of 141.
As a team, UW is 10th at 582, 20 shots behind leader UCLA.
•Whitworth placed two players in the top five – Jordan Carter in second at 152 and Andrew Parrott tied for third at 153 – in winning the Pacific Invitational by a stroke over Linfield (613-614) on Sunday at Pumpkin Ridge in North Plains, Ore.