Cougars jolt Zags to ruin GU’s night debut

Gonzaga University turned the lights on Tuesday night, but the power was supplied by Washington State.

Home runs by Cody Bartlett and Greg Lagreid paced the Cougars to a 7-4 non-conference victory over Gonzaga in the first night game played at the new Patterson Baseball Complex and Washington Trust Field.

Bartlett, the Cougars’ No. 9 hitter, belted a three-run homer to cap a four-run second inning and drove in another run with a sacrifice fly in the fifth. Lagreid added a big insurance run with a leadoff blast in the ninth as WSU (17-17) won for the second time in three tries against Gonzaga (23-18) this season.

The last game of the series is set for Tuesday in Pullman.

A crowd of 781 watched the Bulldogs rally from 6-1 deficit with three runs in the sixth inning, Shawn Wayt coming up with a bases-loaded single with no outs. But Aaron McGuinness’ attempted sacrifice bunt was turned into a double play and Jeremy Johnson struck out Mike Terry to end the inning.

The Zags also left two runners stranded in both the seventh and eighth innings against reliever Ross Humes, who picked up his sixth save.

Freshman Michael Ratigan (2-2) got the win for WSU with a solid five-inning performance. Bobby McEwen (0-1), touched up for those four early runs in two innings of work, took the loss.

While Gonzaga failed to capitalize on its late opportunities, the Cougars missed chances to break the game open earlier. They left a pair of base runners in both the third and fifth innings, and saw Travis Coulter thrown out at home by GU center fielder Brandon Blank on Lagreid’s bases-loaded fly ball in the fourth.

Paul Gran had three hits and a pair of RBIs in five at-bats for the Cougars.