Feb. 24, 2012
Photo Gallery 
Game 1 Box Score 
Game 2 Box Score
PULLMAN, Wash. - A dozen Cougars collected a hit and Washington State swept Nebraska Omaha 13-4 and 12-6 in a nonconference baseball doubleheader, Friday.
The Cougars (3-2) rapped out 25 hits as a team during the two games, including a home run by Derek Jones in the opener and a bomb by Taylor Ard in the nightcap.
"There were some times we did some things we really liked and there were some things we didn't like," WSU Head Coach Donnie Marbut said. "We played aggressive. We played fast and I think we were better at the end of the day than we were at the beginning."
In game one, the Cougars took advantage of some wildness by Nebraska Omaha (1-5) starter Matt Tew (0-1). Washington State scored five times in the bottom of the first without a hit as Tew walked four and hit three before leaving after 2/3 of an inning.
The Cougars added two runs in the third on a double by Tommy Richards, a triple by Collin Slaybaugh and a single by Ian Sagdal. After Nebraska Omaha picked up a run in the fourth, Washington State stretched its lead to 13-1 with a run in the fifth and five more in the seventh.
Nate Blackham led off the fifth with a single and scored on a two-out double by Ard. In the seventh, Jones blasted a three-run home run over the 410-foot sign in center field. Jordan Copeland added an RBI-double and scored on a ground out by Slaybaugh. The dinger was the 33rd-career for Jones, tied for sixth in WSU history.
Cougar starter J.D. Leckenby (1-1) struck out a career-high six in five innings and yielded one unearned run before the Mavericks scored three times against the WSU bullpen.
Nebraska Omaha scored in the top of the first of game two against Scott Simon (1-0), but the Cougars tied the game in the bottom of the frame when Adam Nelubowich was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded. Kyle Johnson's RBI-single in the third gave WSU the lead before the Mavericks tied the game with a run in the fourth.
The Cougars scored three times in the bottom of the fourth as Sagdal and Blackham each delivered an RBI-single sandwiched around a sacrifice fly by P.J. Jones. Ard's solo blast in the fifth put WSU on top 6-2.
In the sixth, P.J. Jones doubled home a run, Johnson knocked in two with a double and Jason Monda added a sacrifice fly for a 10-2 lead. After the Mavericks scored four runs in the seventh, P.J. Jones added an RBI-single and capped the scoring when he scored on a ground out by Johnson in the eighth.
GAME NOTES
Freshman shortstop Ian Sagdal, redshirt-freshman pitcher Scott Simon each made their first-collegiate start in game one and freshman catcher P.J. Jones made his first start in game two...freshman Jordan Copeland came off the bench to make his collegiate debut in game one...freshman pitcher Sean Hartnett (two-shutout innings) and redshirt-freshman Mitch McQueen each made their collegiate debut out of the bullpen in the opener.
