PULLMAN, Wash. – J.J. Hancock collected three hits and Sam Triece worked five innings of scoreless relief as Washington State defeated San Jose State 8-5 Sunday afternoon at Bailey-Brayton Field.
With the win the Cougars (21-18) take 3-of-4 during the series and conclude a nine-game homestand 7-2.
After scoring 14 runs Saturday, the Cougars picked right up Sunday by scoring three in the bottom of the first. Wes Hatten's RBI single scored Derek Chapman, who led off with a double to right. Hatten and Shane Matheny later scored on Hancock's two-out, two-run single through the right side.
The Spartans got one back in the third as Kyle Morrison led off with a single and came around to score on a wild pitch without the benefit of another hit.
WSU increased the lead to 6-1 with three in the third, all coming with two outs. Ben Roberts laced a two-out double to right, scoring Matheny from first followed by Hancock's single to right which brought Roberts home. Tyler McDowell entered the action with an RBI double to left, bringing home Hancock and chasing San Jose State starter Kalei Contrades.
SJSU opened the fourth with three-straight singles sandwiched around a Matt Bower balk, pushing a run across and ending the Cougar starters' afternoon. Sam Triece came on with runners at the corners and no outs. The senior pitcher quickly retired the first two batters before back-to-back fielding errors by McDowell and Ian Sagdal allowed two runs to score, cutting the lead to 6-4.
The lead grew to 8-4 in the seventh as Hatten added an RBI single, scoring Chapman, and Matheny reached on an error with Sagdal scoring on the play.
Ian Hamilton came in for the ninth for WSU and gave up a leadoff single to David Campbell, who came around to score two outs later on Brett Bautista's single to center.
At the plate WSU pounded out 13 hits, three from Hancock, to go with three RBI, and two each from Hatten, Matheny and Roberts.
Triece picked up his second win of the season, going five scoreless innings, scattering two hits while striking out four while Contrades suffered the loss to move to 3-7 on the season, going 2 2/3 innings, allowing six runs on nine hits.
The Cougars return to Pac-12 play Friday when they start a three-game series at Utah. First pitch is scheduled for 11 a.m. PT.-
