Robert Teel launches eighth-inning homer to push Washington State past Gonzaga

PULLMAN – After squandering 14 of their first 19 opportunities on a baseball diamond this year, the Washington State Cougars felt confident that 36 innings in front of a home crowd could help them atone for their early miscues and perhaps alter the trajectory of their season.

Well, it took them 39 innings – and more than a few tense moments – but the Cougars walked away from a homestand at Bailey-Brayton Field with three wins in four games, closing out a successful week in Pullman with a 4-3 nonconference victory over Gonzaga Tuesday night in front of 971 fans.

“It’s real nice playing at home,” WSU coach Marty Lees said. “We’ve played a lot of games on the road and I think coming home, getting our legs underneath us, getting extra time to work with our kids in the cages, in the bullpens. There’s no replacement for that.”

Robert Teel, who maybe felt he had some things to atone for individually, belted WSU (8-15) to win No. 8 in the bottom of the eighth inning when he lunged at a high, outside offering from Gonzaga’s Calvin LeBrun. Teel’s shot cleared the right-field fence, the Cougars went up 4-3 and closer Ryan Walker worked a quick ninth inning to notch the save and preserve WSU’s fourth victory in six games.

“It felt good. I’d had a rough day at the plate, so I needed that,” said Teel, who’d gone 0 for 3 up to that point with a strikeout. “It was a fastball high and out, and I knew the wind was blowing out to right, so that’s all I was trying to do in my approach – throw one out to right field, and it caught the wind and went out.”

The Cougars are 23 games deep into the 2018 season, but their junior catcher has been active for just one-third of those. Teel had dealt with a torn meniscus in his right leg and only was declared fit to play in the Cougars’ most recent road series against Arizona.

His season was only eight games and 15 at-bats old when he delivered Tuesday’s winning swing.

“Today was my first full (game) the entire year,” Teel said. “So that was nice. Felt good. Felt strong. I’ll see how I feel tomorrow morning, but today was promising.”

Teel was also the backstop for eight Washington State pitchers. He caught starter Bryce Moyle for two innings, then, in order, Hayden Rosenkrantz, A.J. Block, Nick Strange, Michael Newstrom, Parker McFadden, Collin Maier and finally the closer, Walker.

Maier, who went less than one full inning, earned both his first win and decision of the season. Walker collected his third save.

“We used a lot of pitching this weekend,” said Lees, whose club picked up two wins in a three-game home series with Arizona State, two of which spilled into extra innings. “So there wasn’t going to be anybody that was going to go over 25, 30 pitches. We just weren’t going to do that for them.”

The Bulldogs (13-14), meanwhile, let starting pitcher Justin Blatner chew up five full innings before finally pulling the Spokane native and Gonzaga Prep graduate. In those five innings, Blatner ran his pitch count to 102, but only conceded five hits and conceded two earned runs, giving up a first-inning homer to the Cougars’ Justin Harrer.

“Blatner did a good job, they hit one ball out early, obviously,” Zags coach Mark Machtolf said. “But he battled back, and he did a good job and gave us a chance to win.

“Whenever we play them, it’s a tough fight, and they’re well-coached and they did a good job late in the game. Put the ball in play and (Teel) hit an 0-2 pitch out that we left over the plate. And he hit it out.”

For the Cougars, it was their sixth comeback win of the season. All eight of their victories have come by a single run.