Cougars overpower Illinois-Chicago
Jim Murphy and Nick Hall each homered and Nick Ison threw seven strong innings to lead Washington State to a 9-3 non-conference baseball victory over Illinois-Chicago Sunday afternoon at Bailey-Brayton Field.
Ison held the Flames scoreless through 6 2/3 innings before Illinois-Chicago (5-10) used three straight singles to score a run. In all, Ison gave up five hits and struck out four in a season-high seven innings.
Murphy opened the scoring for WSU (12-7) with a two-run homer in the fourth inning, while Hall blasted a pinch-hit solo homer to close out the Cougars’ scoring in the eighth.
•George Fox held off a furious Whitworth rally to defeat the Pirates 5-4 in Northwest Conference action at Whitworth.
The Bruins (15-1, 8-1 NWC) jumped out to a 5-0 lead before Whitworth (6-12, 4-5) scored two runs each in the seventh and eighth innings to close to within one run.
But with one out in the bottom of the ninth inning, Whitworth’s Dan Ramsey was tagged out at the plate by George Fox pitcher Josh Burch while attempting to score on a would-be wild pitch. Catcher Ryan Fobert then picked off Whitworth’s Mitch Ramsey at first base for the final out of the game.
•Shadle Park grad Billy Rigsby went 3 for 6 as Big Bend split a non-conference doubleheader with Thompson River of Lethbridge, Alberta, at Moses Lake.
Big Bend won the opener 8-4. Andy Greenslitt (Ferris) pitched four innings to pick up the win in relief. Thompson River rebounded to win the nightcap 16-6.
Softball
The Community Colleges of Spokane dropped a pair of games at the NWAACC preseason tournament at Pasco, losing to Big Bend 6-4 and to South Puget Sound 12-9.
The Sasquatch finished the 19-team tournament with a 3-2 record.
Rowing
The Gonzaga women’s rowing team swept Western Washington, including the featured Blue Cup race, at the 10th annual Blue Cup Women’s Rowing Regatta at Lake Samish in Bellingham.
Gonzaga covered the 2,000-meter course in the featured race in 6 minutes, 36.57 seconds for their eighth victory in 10 Blue Cup confrontations.
Women’s golf
Krystal Pitkonen finished fourth individually with a 24-over 168 to lead Whitworth to a second-place team finish at the Willamette Invitational at Woodburn, Ore. Whitney Ueno of Willamette and Emily Lau of Puget Sound tied for medalist honors at 155. Puget Sound took the team trophy.