Prince gives Cougars boost in Sunday’s finale

Most college conferences play weekend three-game series and the Pac-10 is no exception.

Most college teams throw their ace on Friday and by Sunday are just getting a warm arm to the mound.

In this, Washington State has found an exception. A big exception.

Freshman Jared Prince came up big in the third game of the Cougs’ Pac-10 series with USC, lifting WSU to a 2-1 series win over the then-Pac-10 leaders.

On the mound, Prince (6-1) scattered seven hits over five innings as the Cougs built a 5-3 lead. Then he put the game away with his fourth home run of the year in the eighth – accounting for his team-leading 44th RBI.

Prince’s performance gave the Cougars their first Sunday win in conference. They had also won a non-conference game the previous Sunday at Northern Colorado, and it was Prince who earned the victory.

Saturday’s 13-7 victory included 13 hits and two five-run innings. The offensive outburst handed USC’s Tommy Milone his first loss after seven wins.

Zach McAngus sparked the offense last week, hitting .583 with two doubles, a home run and six runs scored. The senior’s hot bat earned him his first Pac-10 Player of the Week honors.

The Cougars, who are in finals this week, have another non-conference series this weekend, facing Utah Valley State (14-32) for three in Pullman starting Saturday.

Around the area

Gonzaga: If there is a black hole for the Bulldogs, one that sucks in their West Coast Conference title chances, it is at Loyola Marymount. After the Lions swept last weekend’s three-game series, GU has lost nine consecutive games at LMU.

The Zags (7-8, 26-19) tried everything to break the streak, including starting usual closer Brandon Harmon (Shadle Park) in the series finale. Harmon went five innings, yielding three runs, but GU was blanked 5-0. That followed on the heels of a strong seven innings by first-game starter Patrick Donovan (North Central) in a 4-3 loss, and a complete-game, 6-3 loss for Clayton Mortensen on Saturday.

Conference-leading Pepperdine (10-5, 30-16) comes to town this weekend for a three-game Avista Stadium series starting Friday at 3 p.m.

Whitworth: The Pirates ended their season 13-11 in the Northwest Conference (19-20 overall), tied for fourth, after dropping two of three at home to Pacific Lutheran. The two losses last weekend were by one run, continuing a trend. The Pirates’ last four conference losses were all by one run.

Team leaders included junior Nick Froman in batting average (.379), junior Mike Marlow in home runs (five), seniors Todd Phillips and Caleb Reaber in RBIs (27) and junior Brandon Zimmerman in wins (8-3).

CCS: The Sasquatch dropped three of four NWAACC contests to the league leaders, Columbia Basin and Big Bend. In the Sasquatch’s lone win, 7-6 in the finale last Saturday vs. Big Bend, Mike Campo singled home the game winner in the bottom of the ninth, to give Chad Flett (Mead) the win in relief.

The Sasquatch (9-11, 14-22) head to Oregon this week with a doubleheader today in Pendleton against Blue Mountain (8-12, 14-26) before another doubleheader Saturday in Ontario against Treasure Valley (12-8, 30-12).