Box Score
PULLMAN, Wash. – Washington State freshman Dillon Plew recorded three hits and scored twice to pace the Cougars in an 8-4 victory over Utah Valley at Bailey-Brayton Field Friday evening.
 
WSU (7-4) notched its fourth-straight win as J.J. Hancock and James Rudkin each drove in three runs and Shane Matheny also homered. Cougar starter Damon Jones worked around a two-run first inning and went five-plus innings, striking out four to earn his first win of the season.
 
Utah Valley (3-9) used four hits to push two runs across in the opening frame before the Cougar offense answered in a big way. Plew singled to left to lead off the game before Matheny pull the first pitch he saw down the right field line and just inside the foul for his second home run of the season. Cory Meyer and Hancock both singled before Rudkin lined a double into the left centerfield alley for a two-run double and a 4-2 WSU lead.
 
Jones posted a scoreless second, allowed a run to score on an RBI-groundout in the third before retiring the next seven hitters. The redshirt-junior lefthander gave way to the bullpen after facing one batter to the start the sixth.
 
Washington State got a big hit from Hancock in the fifth. Plew opened the inning with a single back up the middle, Matheny was hit by a pitch and Meyer was also hit by a pitch before Hancock pulled the first he saw into the right-centerfield gap for a bases-clearing triple and a 7-2 WSU advantage.
 
Senior reliever Trenton Dupre ended a UVU threat in the fifth with a strikeout after two runners had reached. Dupre then struck out two in a perfect seventh before junior right-hander reliever Colby Nealy got a 5-4-3 double play groundout to keep the Cougar lead at 8-4 to end the eighth.
 
The Cougars, who received a two-out RBI single from Rudkin the seventh that made it 8-4, saw junior reliever Scotty Sunitsch post a scoreless ninth to seal up the win.
 
The series continues Saturday with a doubleheader starting at 10 a.m.