WSU’s Joe Pistorese shuts down Oregon after graduation ceremony

PULLMAN – There aren’t many legitimate Pac-12 aces that end their careers with a uniform and a graduation gown in their closets – most trade the pomp for a major league paycheck and leave school a year early. But just a few hours after finishing his graduation ceremony, Joe Pistorese was back on the mound, teaching a talented freshman a few tricks. Granted, he had some help. Cameron Frost drove in the tying run and scored the go-ahead run in the sixth inning, injecting just enough offense into Saturday’s pitcher-dominated game to give Washington State (25-22, 8-14 Pac-12) a 3-1 victory over the visiting Oregon Ducks (28-21, 10-12). The Ducks trotted out freshman pitcher David Peterson and he nearly went the distance. At 6-foot-6, 235 pounds, he cuts an imposing figure on the mound. Even more so, his fastball generates almost as much movement as his turbulent slider and the combo kept the WSU batters off-balance throughout 71/3 innings. “He’s going to be fantastic,” WSU coach Donnie Marbut said. “The outing that he had today, you’re going to see a lot of those out of Peterson in his career.” Peterson (4-6) fanned nine batters but didn’t get much help from his offense, which scored just one run on Pistorese, who improved to 7-4 with the win. The WSU ace lowered his season earned-run average to 2.58, scattering seven hits in 71/3 innings. Pistorese was perfect through 32/3 innings before giving up back-to-back singles. His catcher, P.J. Jones, got him out of the fourth-inning jam by twisting around the umpire while flinging his mask aside to secure a popup behind the plate. The veteran pitcher got out of another situation in the fifth, allowing a runner to second base and then striking out consecutive batters to end the inning. In the sixth, the Ducks scored a run, and tried for another but failed when Mitchell Tolman was caught trying to steal home. Frost provided the offense for the Cougars, plating Wes Hatten with a single in the sixth inning to match UO’s score. He then stole second base and made it home on a single from Jones. The Ducks coaches sent Peterson out for the eighth, but took him out after he gave up a single to Ian Sagdal. It may have been a costly decision – Sagdal scored on a wild pitch by reliever Cooper Stiles to provide a little insurance with the game’s final run.