Cougars edge Gonzaga in baseball
PULLMAN – Washington State coach Donnie Marbut’s 300th career win certainly wasn’t his easiest, and he didn’t get a chance to bask in the certainty of the victory until the final out.
“We started six freshmen, seven including the guy on the mound,” Marbut said. “They’re good players and even when they’re older and more experienced – baseball’s a crummy game, man.
“It’ll break your heart from time to time.”
The breaks went to WSU’s youngsters this time, barely. Patrick McGrath’s three-run home run in the sixth inning proved to be the decider, but the Cougars teased a crowd of 630 at Bailey-Brayton field by permitting Gonzaga to get the go-ahead run to the plate in each of the final three innings of their 4-2 nonconference victory.
With the win, the Cougars split their two-game season series against the Bulldogs.
Reliever Sam Triece got out of bases-loaded, one-out situations in both the seventh and eighth innings when he induced double plays to escape both jams. In the ninth, closer Ian Hamilton gave up a single to Cory LeBrun and a double to Jeff Bohling to give the Bulldogs second and third with no outs and the tying run at the plate.
Hamilton gave up just an RBI groundout from that point on to secure his eighth save of the season.
The call on McGrath’s first blast of the year was hit-and-run, but his short swing got all of the ball and sent it over the left-field fence. Ian Sagdal got the inning started with a single and the Bulldogs intentionally walked Wes Hatten one out later.
Scotty Sunitsch made his first start for the Cougars, allowing one earned run and two hits in five innings of work. Ryan Walker, Matt Bower and Triece then shut the Bulldogs out over the next three innings, with Bower picking up the win to improve his record to 6-2 this season.
“I thought our pitching was great today,” McGrath said. “The pitching has been able to back us up when we need them so it feels good to back them up when we can.”
The Cougars (15-16, 3-9 Pac-12) have now won three of their last four games after taking a pair on the road from then No. 12 California last week. The pitching has been stellar for WSU, which has allowed just six runs in its last four games, and never more than two runs in any of those games.
Joe Pistorese has been WSU’s ace pitcher and was named the Pac-12 Player of the Week after allowing just four hits in a complete-game shutout of the Golden Bears on Friday night.
The loss is a step back for GU (15-17, 5-7 WCC), which had a hot stretch of its own last week, beating the Cougars in Spokane and taking two of three from WCC-leading and 25th-ranked San Diego.
With its next two Pac-12 series against Washington and Utah – the two teams above the Cougars in the conference standings – WSU still has a chance to climb back into the middle of the conference.
“The Pac-12’s wide open right now,” Triece said. “There are a lot of teams in the bottom that were supposed to be in the top and vice-versa. It looks like if we can go above .500 in the Pac, we’ve got a good shot at making a regional.”