SAN DIEGO (February 24, 2023) – Washington State split its two games on the opening day of the Tony Gwynn Legacy in San Diego Friday. The Cougars (5-1) dropped the day's opener 8-3 to UC Irvine but bounced back with a 14-1 victory over host San Diego State in the afternoon. Both games were played at San Diego State's Tony Gwynn Stadium.
Washington State improved to 5-1 for the second time in the last three seasons after starting 2021 9-1.
In the opener, WSU saw its early 1-0 lead disappear after UC Irvine, picked to finish second in the Big West Conference, scored in three straight innings and answered Cougar rallies in the seventh and eighth innings with two in the seventh and three in the eighth. UC Irvine improved to 5-0 after starter David Vizcaino struck out five in seven innings.
WSU received two hits from
Greg Fuchs who also drove in a run while
Will Cresswell hit his first career home run, a solo shot to left field in the seventh.
The Cougar offense exploded for an eight-run fourth inning in the second game of a day and posted a 14-1 victory over host San Diego State behind three hits and five RBI from
Jacob McKeon who also homered.
Sam Brown and
Greg Fuchs each drove in three runs while
Jacob Harvey tallied two hits and scored two runs. WSU starter
Caden Kaelber was impressive for the second straight start, allowing just one earned run while striking out seven in six innings to earn the win.
KEY MOMENTS AGAINST UC IRVINE
In the first, Advincula lined the third pitch of the game the other way into left field for a leadoff single and later stole second base. Two batters later, Shibley delivered a two-out RBI-single back up the middle to score Advincula for a 1-0 WSU lead.
In the third, UCI used a leadoff single, a sacrifice bunt and single to right field to even things up. The Anteaters added single runs in the fourth and fifth innings to take a 3-1 lead.
Cresswell provided a spark with a long home run to left field to lead off the seventh inning but UC Irvine followed with a two-out two-run double down the left field line in their half of the inning. The Cougars rallied an inning later as
Jacob McKeon punched an RBI-single through the right side to score
Jacob Harvey to make it a two-run game. WSU later put runners on first and third with one out but the UCI bullpen ended the threat with a pair of strikeouts.
In the bottom of the eighth, the Anteaters pulled away with three runs to cap the scoring at 8-3.
INSIDE THE WSU-UC IRVINE BOX SCORE
Andrew Baughn made his team-leading 4
th appearance of the season
Greg Fuchs recorded his 2
nd straight multiple-hit game
KEY MOMENTS AGAINST SAN DIEGO STATE
In the first inning, WSU thought they had a 1-0 lead on a sacrifice fly but
Jonah Advincula was ruled to have left third base early and was called out. A couple pitches later,
Jacob McKeon raced home from third on an SDSU wild pitch.
In the fourth inning, WSU exploded for eight runs on five hits started by an RBI-single from
Cam Magee and a squeeze-RBI-bunt single by
Jacob Harvey. McKeon later drew a bases-loaded walk,
Sam Brown doubled in two runs with a shot to left-centerfield and Fuchs capped the inning with an opposite-field three-run double down the left field line for a 10-0 lead.
McKeon pushed the lead to 12-0 with a long two-run homer to left field in the fifth.
Kaelber was impressive throughout the day, allowing just two walks and did not allow a hit until the fourth inning, striking out five along the way. SDSU pushed a run across in the sixth but WSU ended the inning with a ground ball to McKeon at first base who threw to second base to start the double play and shortstop
Elijah Hainline fired on to Kaelber covering at first base for the 3-6-1 double play.
I
NSIDE THE WSU-SAN DIEGO STATE BOX SCORE
Jonah Advincula was hit by a pitch to lead off the game, has reached base in all 6 games
NEXT UP
Due to rain in the forecast, no games will be played Saturday. WSU will face UC San Diego Sunday evening at 6 p.m. and close out tournament play Monday against UNLV Monday at 1 p.m.
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