College baseball: Collin Montez clobbers pair of homers in WSU victory

Collin Montez homered twice and drove in five runs, and Washington State cruised to a 6-2 nonconference win over Hawaii in Honolulu late Thursday.

Montez’ two-run blast in the first inning spotted starting pitcher Zane Mills with a 3-0 lead. Montez connected on a three-run shot in the third inning to extend the Cougars’ advantage to 6-0.

Mills, who improved to 2-0, scattered five hits over seven innings and allowed two runs. He struck out seven and walked two.

Justin Van De Brake and Jack Smith joined Montez with two hits apiece for WSU (2-3)

The teams played late Friday and will conclude the four-game series with respective games Saturday and Sunday.

Whitworth 4, Occidental 2: Gage Gibson’s two-out, two-run double in the top of the ninth rallied Whitworth to the nonconference win in Los Angeles.

Trailing 2-1 in the ninth, Grayson O’Neil singled to keep the Pirates alive. Joe Howell singled before Gibson’s double down the right field line scored both runners. Gibson scored on Ben Wintringer’s double for the Pirates’ final run.

Austin Rice allowed one earned run in eight innings on the mound for Whitworth (6-1). He gave up six hits, struck out five and walked three.

Occidental (3-4) hosts a doubleheader between the two teams Saturday.