BERKELEY, Calif. (April 24, 2021) – Washington State junior righthander
Zane Mills struck out 10 in a complete game effort to lead the Cougars to a 4-2 victory over California at Evans Diamond Saturday afternoon.
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Mills scattered six hits, allowed just two eighth-inning runs to help WSU (18-15, 6-11 Pac-12) even the series and record their first win in Berkley since 2015. The Portland native recorded the Cougars' first complete game effort since
Scotty Sunitsch fired a no-hitter at Oregon in 2018.
Kodie Kolden,
Kyle Manzardo and
Jack Smith each recorded three hits while Manzardo added a double and two RBI while Smith scored twice.
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California dropped to 19-18 overall and 6-8 in conference play.
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KEY MOMENTS OF THE GAME
In the second inning,
Kyle Russell gave the Cougars an early lead with a two-out RBI-double down the left field line to score Smith from second who had led off the inning with a base-hit. I
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Mills retired the first eight hitters he faced before Cal reached on a fielding error in the third but Mills ended the frame with a ground back comebacker. In the fourth, the Cougars pushed the lead to 3-0 following a pair of two-out RBI-hits from Kolden and Manzardo.
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With one out in the fifth, Mills allowed the first hit of the afternoon but the righthander induced a 4-6-3 double play on the very next pitch to end the inning. Mills worked around a one-out double to post a scoreless sixth inning and retired the side in order in the seventh before running into some trouble in the eighth.
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The Cougars pushed the lead to 4-0 with a two-out RBI-single back up the middle from Manzardo in the top of the eighth. In the bottom of the frame. Cal doubled home the first run and used back-to-back singles to cut the lead to two. With the bases loaded and two outs, Mills buckled down and ended the threat with a groundout to second.
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Mills was at his best in the ninth, opening the inning with strikeouts, allowed a one-out walk but struck out the next two hitters to seal up the win.
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INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
Collin Montez started in CF for the second straight game, just his 4
th career start in CF
WSU scored all 4 of its runs with 2-out base-hits
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TOP SOCIAL MEDIA POSTS
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