PULLMAN, Wash. – Sophomore left-hander Scotty Sunitsch pitched 4.2 scoreless innings of relief and the Washington State offense came alive to clinch the series with an 8-3 victory against No. 10 Oregon State University in front of 1,446 fans at Bailey-Brayton Field Saturday afternoon.
Redshirt-junior Trek Stemp recorded four hits, drove in two runs and scored twice to lead the Cougars (12-20, 5-10 Pac-12) to their first series win over the Beavers since 2010 and first series win over a Top-10 ranked team since taking two at No. 6 Oregon in 2012. Sophomore Weston Hatten scored three times, redshirt-sophomore Dugan Shirer had three hits and redshirt-sophomore Stefan Van Horn added two hits and drove in two runs.
The Cougars outhit OSU 11-8, scored once in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings before pulling away with four runs in the eighth.
Washington State jumped out to an early lead with a run in the first after Stemp led off the game with a single to right. He was bunted to second by Jack Strunc, later moved to third on a balk and came home on Patrick McGrath's sacrifice fly to left field.
The Cougar defense backed starter Ryan Ward with a pair of double plays to end the first and second innings before OSU got to Ward in the third. The Beavers used four hits to push two runs across in the inning and eventually chased Ward out of the game.
In the fourth, WSU evened things up at 2-2 after Hatten reached with a one-out infield single, advanced to third on a dropped popup and came home on a wild pitch. The Cougars added another in the fifth as McGrath took a pitch the other way for an RBI-single through the left side to score Stemp who recorded his third hit of the day earlier in the inning. Washington State added another in the sixth after Hatten reached on a dropped fly ball by Oregon State that saw him finish the play at third. Cameron Frost stepped in and drove home Hatten with a sacrifice fly to right field for a 4-2 Cougar lead.
Sunitsch cruised after taking over for Ward in the third, going a season-high 4.2 innings and retired nine straight at one point. The Federal Way, Wash. native didn't allow a hit, struck out three and walked just one in route to improving to 2-0.
Right-hander Ryan Walker came on in relief for the second straight game, taking over of Sunitsch to start the eighth. Oregon State cut the lead to 4-2 with a solo home run to right field in the eighth.
The Cougars pulled away with four runs in the eighth as Van Horn singled to left to score two runs and Stemp capped his impressive weekend with a two-run single to left center for an 8-3 advantage.
Walker worked a scoreless ninth to seal up the save, going two innings, allowing one earned run on three hits while striking out two and recording his third save of the season.
GAME NOTES…Stemp recorded his third straight multiple-hit game and third 4-hit game of the season…he has hit safely in six straight…Shirer tallied his second 3-hit game of the season…the Cougars continue their homestand Tuesday hosting Gonzaga University at 5 p.m.
--wsucougars.com--
