PULLMAN, Wash. (March 19, 2024) –
Casen Taggart hit two home runs and
Kyle Russell recorded four hits in a 12-5 Washington State victory over Seattle U at Bailey-Brayton Field Tuesday.
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WSU (11-8) tallied 17 hits as six starters recorded multiple-hit games as Taggart hit a pair of two-run home runs, Russell recorded his second 4-hit game of the season to go along with three RBI.
Cole Cramer had three hits and scored twice,
Nate Swarts had two hits and two RBI while
Crew Parke tallied three hits. Cougar starting pitcher
Rylan Haider fired four shutout innings with a pair of strikeouts to earn his first career win in his first career start.
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The Cougars scored three in the first inning to back Haider and added four in the sixth and answered a four-run Seattle U (6-13) seventh with four runs in the bottom of the frame to take the opening game of the two-game set.
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KEY MOMENTS OF THE GAME
In the first inning, Hartman and Russell led off the WSU first with back-to-back doubles to right field before Taggart lined the first pitch he saw over the right field wall for a two-run shot and a 3-0 lead.
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Haider attacked the strike zone throughout his first career start and kept the Redhawks off the scoreboard the first four innings. Sophomore reliever
Liam Miller followed with a pair of scoreless innings, striking out one along the way.
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The Cougars pulled away with four runs in the sixth as Kramer scored on a Seattle U error, another Russell RBI-double and Taggart's 438-foot two-run blast to right-centerfield.
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In the seventh, Seattle U scored four runs on five hits and an error to make it a three-run game but the Cougars answered in their of the inning. WSU came right back with four runs on four-straight RBI-singles in the bottom of the inning to push their lead to 11-4.
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INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
Max Hartman doubled in the 1
st inning to extend his on-base streak to 8 games
Joey Kramer singled in the 3rd inning to extend his on-base streak to 12 games and hitting streak to 8 games
Cole Cramer singled in the 2
nd inning to extend his hitting streak to 6 games
Nate Swarts singled in the 4
th inning to extend his on-base streak to all 18 games
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NEXT UP
The series with Seattle U continues Wednesday at 2:05 p.m.
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