A Grip on Sports: Washington State does something no Cougar baseball team has done in 16 years while G-Prep tries to do something no GSL school ever has
A GRIP ON SPORTS • College baseball is different. Different than the professional ranks (still). Different than other college sports. One player on one day in one place can be the difference more often. Washington State’s Nick Lewis proved that truism Friday in Eugene in the NCAA tournament against Oregon State, with help from his friends.
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• Ya, the last Cougar who could win a game on his own might have been John Olerud, who turned in more than the occasional performance that rivaled what Lewis did yesterday. And was capable of supplying all the runs WSU needed with his bat.
But Lewis was all the Cougs needed in their first NCAA appearance since 2010. At least on the mound.
The lefthander threw 103 pitches in the usual Oregon drizzle. Only six of them resulted in Beaver hits. He started, finished and did the work in-between in WSU’s 3-2 win, lifting his team into today’s crucial winner’s bracket game against the host Ducks. That 6 p.m. game will only be available on ESPN+ as the self-proclaimed WorldWide leader will show games involving its SEC partners on its cable channels at that time. Oregon is in the Big Ten, a conference affiliated with FOX. Streaming it is.
The Cougs’ three runs? One came on an OSU error before Washington State had a hit. The second from a Matt Priest RBI single. The game winner? An eighth-inning double from Dustin Robinson, scoring Max Hartman from third.
It is college baseball, though, so Friday’s win isn’t the end of the Beavers’ chances, nor moves the Cougars on. Unlike hoops or football, one game doesn’t decide anything. Other than who has the best pitcher in the regional.
Washington State does. But Lewis’ weekend is more than likely done. It is up to the rest of the Cougar pitching staff now. They are rested. Ready. And were shown exactly what they have to do.
• Another thing about college baseball. No one is ever quite sure at the beginning of the season who is good and who is overrated.
The Cougars started slowly, but looking back at the highlights of their nonconference schedule – at Alabama, at Cal Poly, at Texas State, all of whom are in the NCAAs and also won Friday – the start was just a way to get better.
• Speaking of baseball, Gonzaga Prep is one win away from becoming the first Greater Spokane League team to win a WIAA-sanctioned title.
The Bullpups traveled all the way to Everett to meet Eastern Washington rival Richland for the second time in the playoffs. And, for the second time, won. Friday’s 4A semifinal? A 5-2 decision.
Today the Pups (23-4) face second-seed Sumner (22-4) for the elusive title.
• What the heck. Let’s stay with baseball. Professional variety.
The Mariners are still in first place. Though Friday’s visit from the red-hot Diamondbacks taxed every aspect of the A.L. West leaders’ offense, still without Cal Raleigh or Brendan Donovan.
It was J.P. Crawford who stepped up last night, leading off the game with a home run, hitting another later and scoring the game-winner in the bottom of the 10th in a wild 7-6 decision.
He supplied the main highlights, including one defensively in the top of the 10th. The lowlight? That might have to be the continuing off-and-on season from closer Andrés Muñoz. Given a chance to close out the win in the ninth, he couldn’t get it done. Instead, his fourth blown save ballooned his ERA to almost 5. Despite it, the M’s moved to 29-29, which isn’t great. But they are 1 ½ games ahead of the A’s, after their 8-2 loss to the Yankees.
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WSU: We linked Greg Woods’ game story above. And do so again here. … One last note about Lewis. He’s won 10 games, almost one-third of the Cougars’ 31. … John Canzano also has a column from Eugene on the Cougs’ win. His other one Friday, on retired Whitman County judge Gary Libey, is also worth your time. … Elsewhere in the (current, old and future) Pac-12 and the nation, did we say baseball is different? Yes. Top overall seed UCLA is in the loser’s bracket in its regional after Saint Mary’s upset the Bruins 3-2 in L.A. … Back to Eugene. The Ducks had no trouble with Yale, who will meet Oregon State in a loser-out game today. … The other L.A.-area schools also lost Friday, with USC falling to Texas State 5-4 and UC Santa Barbara dropping an 11-5 decision to Tarleton State. … Arizona State fell 7-6 in 14 innings to Ole Miss. … As we said yesterday, football recruiting never stops and Washington continues to prove it. … Jon Wilner has a couple pieces in the Mercury News, including passing along the weekly West Coast recruiting summary. His other one? A look at the Big 12 walking the middle in the CFP expansion debate. … Private equity money comes at a price, as a few Utah employees will learn first-hand. … At the softball World Series, UCLA bounced back in OKC with an 11-0 win that eliminated Arkansas. … In basketball news, summer workouts are coming everywhere, even Boulder.
Gonzaga: Ranking men’s teams this time of year seems to be something of a crapshoot. We checked out The Athletic’s post-draft-declaration Top 25 and found the Zags at No. 19. Then we checked CBS’s Top 25 and 1. They are No. 9.
EWU: Cort Gebbers was not a favorite to move on in the NCAA West regional’s discus competition. But he threw a personal best Friday, finished 11th and will get to compete in June’s national meet. … Elsewhere in the Big Sky, Portland State traveled to Europe for the latest addition to its men’s basketball roster. … Southern Utah mined the junior college ranks to add to its quarterback room.
Whitworth: Around the Northwest Conference, Linfield rebounded from a first-round loss to knock out the No. 1 seed at the NCAA Division III fastpitch tournament.
Preps: We linked Dave Nichols’ coverage of the baseball tournaments above. And do so again here. … The State track and field championships continued on Friday. Greg Lee was at Mount Tahoma High in Tacoma for the large school meets and has this story on the 4A, 3A and 2A boys and this one on the girls. … We can also pass along this roundup from the smaller schools in Yakima.
Indians: Despite a strong pitching performance from former Gonzaga pitcher Gabriel Hughes, making a minor league rehab start, Spokane fell 1-0 in 10 innings. Dave has coverage of the game from Pasco.
Mariners: We linked the game story above, as well as one on Raleigh’s status. We link both here too. … Emerson Hancock’s success has caught the national eye. … It’s too bad Seattle doesn’t have more homegrown players on its roster. Corbin Carroll would be a great addition. … The “piggyback” plan has another twist.
Seahawks: Their first-round draft pick? He’s officially a Hawk.
Reign: The road beckons. Then a World Cup-caused break.
Storm: An offseason signee is doing more than Seattle expected.
Cycling: It’s not often we link stories from the S-R’s Outdoors section. But one on the website today deserves your time. It’s from my friend Rich Landers, a composite piece on cycling, blending two stories he wrote about riding across America. The story made us wonder if it is possible to drive a parallel track. That’s the only way we could see what riders see these days. We are going to research it.
NBA: We find out tonight (5, NBC) whether defending champ Oklahoma City or San Antonio will meet the Knicks in the finals.
NHL: Oh, Canada. There will not be a Canadian Stanley Cup winner again this year. Carolina eliminated Montreal 6-1 on Friday night.
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• Not going to guarantee we’ll be here tomorrow or Monday. But we will try. Until later …