April 24, 2007

Final Stats

PULLMAN, Wash. - Nick Hall drove in four runs and Ross Humes collected his eighth save of the season as Washington State University jumped out early then held on for a 12-9 win over Gonzaga in a nonconference baseball game Tuesday evening at Bailey-Brayton Field.

The Cougars (20-18) won their third straight as they collected 17 hits on the night, three each by Paul Gran and Simi Reynolds. WSU struck in the first scoring five runs and chasing Bulldog starter Bobby McEwen after 2/3 of an inning. McEwen retired the first two hitters before walking Jared Prince. That started a string of seven straight Cougars to reach base, five via base hits as Hall had the big blow, a three-run double down the left field line.

WSU added two more in the second and two in the fourth as it led 9-2 heading into the fifth inning. Gonzaga (26-19) got three back in the fifth as three straight hits to open the frame, followed by a Cougar error, cut the lead to 9-5. Darin Holcomb, whose solo home run in the first account for the first Bulldog run, and Ryan Wiegand each had RBIs in the fifth.

Hall added an RBI single in the bottom of the fifth and the teams traded runs in the sixth as the Cougars took an 11-6 lead into the final innings. The Cougars added another run in the eighth when Mike Gilbert's pinch-hit single drove home Reynolds for the 12th run of the night.

In the ninth a pair of walks to open the inning, followed by a passes ball, put runners at second and third with no outs. An infield groundout brought home the first run and one out later Dustin Colclough's single to left brought another run in. An error and a single accounted for the third run and left runners at the corners with two outs. Humes, the fourth pitcher of the inning and six on the night for WSU, came on and retired Evan Wells to end the game.

It was Humes' eighth save of the season, in eight opportunities, and moved him into a tie for second on WSU's single-season list. Michael Ratigan picked up the win for WSU to improve to 3-2. The 17 Cougars hits were the most since pounding out 17 Mar. 20 at Gonzaga.

Reynolds added three runs scored while Prince finished 2-for-4 with two RBIs and two runs scored.

Gonzaga was led by Wells and Holcomb, who had three hits each, while Holcomb added two RBIs and three runs scored to go with his fifth home run of the season. McEwen suffered the loss as he falls to 0-2 on the season. He was the first of six Bulldog pitchers, with none working more than three innings.

WSU is back in action Friday when it begins at three-game, Pacific-10 Conference series at USC. First pitch is scheduled for 7 p.m.

WSU BASEBALL
Gonzaga		101 031 003 -  9 12 2
Washington State 	520 211 01x - 12 17 2
WP - Michael Ratigan (3-2). LP - Bobby McEwen (0-2). Save - Ross Humes (8).
GON - Bobby McEwen, Chris Highmark (1), CJ McClure (4), Brandon Harmon (6)
Matt Fields (7), Jeremy Stumetz (8) and Dustin Colclough
WSU - Matt Way, Michael Ratigan (5), Seth Harvey (6), Steve Kost (9), Nick Cebula (9),
Ross Humes (9) and Greg Lagreid, Mike Gilbert
GON Hits - Darin Holcomb 3, Evan Wells 3, Dustin Colclough 2, Bryan Winston, Shawn Wayt,
Mike Terry, Brandon Blank
WSU Hits - Paul Gran 3, Simi Reynolds 3, Scott Suttmeier 2, Jared Prince 2, Nick Hall 2, Greg Lagreid 2, Jeff Miller, Josh Ashenbrenner, Mike Gilbert.
E - Suttmeier, Bartlett, McClure, Wiegand. 2B - Prince, Reynolds, Hall, Wayt. 3B - Terry.
HR -Holcomb.