PULLMAN, Wash. (March 9, 2024) – Washington State had its seventh and eighth inning rallies turned away by the Utah bullpen as the Utes evened the series with a 5-4 win at Bailey-Brayton Field Saturday afternoon.
 
WSU (8-5, 1-1 Pac-12) received an impressive start from senior righthander Connor Wilford who set career highs of eight strikeouts in 7.2 innings. Four Cougars recorded two-hit games led by leadoff man Max Hartman who doubled and drove in three runs while second baseman Crew Parke scored twice. Joey Kramer and Nate Swarts each added two hits for WSU who outhit Utah 10-6 but left 11 runners on base.
 
The Cougars scored a run in each of the first two innings and built a 4-1 lead with two more in the fourth but Utah (10-4, 1-1 Pac-12) rallied with one in the sixth, two in seventh and one in the eighth to even the series.
 
KEY MOMENTS OF THE GAME
In the first inning, Max Hartman worked a leadoff walk and moved to third on a Case Taggart two-out single to right-centerfield before Kramer muscled an RBI-single into left center to core Hartman for the 1-0 lead. Hartman added to the lead in the second with a two-out RBI-double into left-centerfield that Crew Parke scored all the way from first for a 2-0 advantage.
 
Wilford retired the first 11 hitters of the game before Utah hit a solo homer with two outs in the fourth inning for its first hit of the game and made it a one-run game. Things got a little crazy in the bottom of the inning as Hartman appeared to hit a three-run home run to right field but was called out for passing the runner in front of him who was tagging on the play, resulting in a two-run single for Harman and a 4-1 lead.
 
Wilford fired a scoreless fifth before Utah made it a two-run game with an RBI-double off the left field wall in the sixth inning. The Utes came right back with two more runs in the seventh on a walk, stolen bases, RBI-double down the right field line and an RBI-groundout to first to even things up at four.
 
WSU threatened in the bottom of the seventh, loading the bases with two outs but the Utah bullpen ended the threat with a fielder's choice groundout to shortstop that kept the game tied.
 
In the eighth, Utah used a one-out single, a groundout and a two-out go-ahead two-out RBI-double off the left field wall to take a 5-4 lead. For WSU in the bottom of the inning, Parke punched a single the other way into right field and Hartman was hit by a pitch to put runners on first and second with one out but the Utes closer ended the threat with a strikeout and groundout.
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
Casen Taggart walked in the 2^nd inning to extend his on-base streak to 10 games
Nate Swarts singled in the 2nd inning to extend his on-base streak to 12 games and hitting streak to 7
Alan Shibley has his 12-game on-base streak snapped
Cole Cramer has his 12-game on-base streak and 7-game hitting streak snapped
 
NEXT UP
The series with Utah wraps up Sunday 12:05 p.m.