PULLMAN, Wash. (March 17, 2023) – Washington State pitching combined for 17 strikeouts in the Cougars 7-1 win over Oregon in the series-opener at Bailey-Brayton Field Friday evening.
WSU improved to 14-3 overall for the its best start since 2006 and 3-1 in Pac-12 Conference play after scoring three times in the second, three more in the fourth and added another in the seventh as four Cougar pitchers combined for 17 strikeouts, tied for the third-most strikeouts in program history after doing so in the 2023 season-opening win over Villanova. The Ducks dropped to 9-7 overall and 1-3 in conference play after being held to five hits.
Cougar starting pitcher
Dakota Hawkins matched a career-high with 10 strikeouts in 5.1 innings, four WSU hitters recorded multiple-hit games including
Will Cresswell and
Jacob McKeon who each homered. Hawkins earned the win after allowing one earned run on four hits while working into the sixth inning. McKeon doubled, homered and drove in two runs whole Cresswell hit a two-run homer and scored twice while
Sam Brown walked to extend his on-base to 17 games.
KEY MOMENTS OF THE GAME
In the second, WSU took a 1-0 lead after back-to-back doubles from
Elijah Hainline and
Bryce Matthews and Creswell followed with a 419-foot two-run blast to left field for a 3-0 advantage. Cresswell's third home run of the season exited his bat at 108 MPH.
Hawkins kept Oregon off the board the first four innings before three Ducks hits led to a run in the fifth but Hawkins stranded runners on second and third with a strikeout and fly out.
Reliever
Cam Liss ended a scoreless sixth with a strikeout, stranding two runners while Loss,
Connor Wilford and
Andrew Baughn tallied seven strikeouts and held Oregon to just one hit over the final 4.2 innings.
McKeon capped the scoring with a long solo home runs off the scoreboard in left-centerfielder in the seventh.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
Jacob McKeon walked in the 1
st to extend his on-base streak to 16 games
Sam Brown's 14-game hitting streak snapped, walked in 3
rd, has reached base in all 17 games
NEXT UP
The series continues Saturday at 2:05 p.m.
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