Cougars thumped by Portland Pilots

A nine-run first inning started the Portland Pilots on the way to a 16-9 non-conference baseball win over Washington State on Monday at Portland.

Clayton Shaw’s two-run double and a two-run single by Danny Meier highlighted the inning that saw the Pilots (21-27) parlay eight hits with two walks and a balk into their biggest inning of the season.

WSU (25-23) trailed 15-0 when it erupted for six runs in the sixth inning that featured a two-run triple by Scott Suttmeier and a two-run home run by Paul Gran. The Cougars tacked on three runs in the eighth, highlighted by Jim Murphy’s two-run single.

The Cougars paraded seven pitchers to the mound trying to quell Portland’s 21-hit assault. Starter Adam Dentz, making his first appearance of 2007, lasted just two-thirds of an inning and was tagged for seven of the runs. Brandon Howard led the assault with four hits, three runs and two RBIs.

•Today’s scheduled makeup game between Washington State and Lewis-Clark State has been canceled. The game, originally started May 8 at Bailey-Brayton Field, was stopped in the bottom of the fifth inning due to lightning.

•For the third time this season, Gonzaga’s Clayton Mortensen is the West Coast Conference Pitcher of the Week, this time for a five-hit, 7-1 complete-game win over 17th-ranked Pepperdine that helped the Bulldogs secure a spot in the WCC championship series against San Diego May 25-27.

Mortensen (8-2), a senior, struck out 15 – his fifth game of 10 or more strike outs this season – and raised his season total to 116, fourth on GU’s single-season strikeout list.