Cougs stick it to GU
On a raw, blustery kind of spring day that can make some pitchers hesitant to take the baseball, Washington State coach Donnie Marbut opted to send freshman Connor Lambert to the mound, hoping his young mind would prove to be as strong as his young arm.
Lambert, seemingly oblivious to Tuesday’s chilly temperatures and strong, steady wind blowing menacingly out to left field, responded with another quality start as the visiting Cougars rolled to an easy 13-2 non-conference win over Gonzaga at Washington Trust Field.
Lambert (2-1), a 6-foot, 212-pound right-hander from Olympia, battled the cold and wind – along with a brief hail storm – for 7 2/3 innings, scattering six hits, snapping GU’s four-game winning streak and handing the Bulldogs (14-11) their first loss in four games at their new stadium, which opened last week.
Lambert, who received all of the offensive help he needed from a pair of three-run home runs by Paul Gran and Cody Bartlett, pitched six scoreless innings before giving way to Michael Ratigan after allowing single runs in the seventh and eighth.
“Sometimes wind like this can play tricks on a pitcher’s mind, because you can make a good pitch and still watch it fly out of here,” Marbut said after watching his Cougars (13-7) win for the seventh time in their last nine games. “So for Connor to put up six straight zeros is just an outstanding performance against a good-hitting team.”
Lambert, who came in sporting a nifty earned run average of 1.53, had great command of nearly all of his pitches and allowed only one Gonzaga baserunner past first base in the first six innings.
“The wind was a little tough, but we try to pitch to the wind, and that really set the zone today,” said Lambert, who did a great job of keeping the ball low and away against right-handed hitters, while successfully jamming most of GU’s lefties. “In the end, there, I got a little bit tired and had some trouble locating my pitches.
“But for the first six innings, I felt like I was in the zone and locating pretty well.”
The Cougars backed up Lambert’s effort with what may have been their best offensive performance of the season.
“We put some good swings on it today,” Marbut said. “I thought we swung the bats better today than we have all year long.”
WSU abused four Zags pitchers for 17 hits, including six for extra bases.
Gran’s home run, his first at the Division I level, came off GU starter and loser Chris Highmark (2-4) in the fifth and fueled an eight-run outburst that all but decided the issue. Bartlett’s blast, also his first with the Cougars, highlighted WSU’s four-run ninth.
“I don’t think that’s our game. We’re not a big power-hitting team,” Marbut said. “But, shoot, on the right day, who knows?”
GU coach Mark Machtolf liked his team’s approach at the plate, noting, “We hit some balls hard,” but he was far from enamored with the work of pitchers.
“We had some guys who didn’t pitch well out of the pen,” he said. “And when you do that, and you make some mistakes and don’t compete, you’re going to get beat up.”
The Bulldogs will be back in action today when they take on the Washington Huskies in another 3 p.m. non-conference home game. WSU will take a couple of days off before opening Pacific-10 Conference play against UW at 5:30 p.m. Friday at Bailey-Brayton Field in Pullman.