PULLMAN, Wash. (May 10, 2024) – Ten players recorded a hit for Washington State who opened the weekend with a 20-8 win over USC at Bailey-Brayton Field Friday evening.
 
WSU (21-27, 9-16 Pac-12) recorded a season-high 19 hits as 10 players recorded a hit and six players recorded multiple hits led by shortstop Kyle Russell and third baseman Cole Cramer who each had four hits. Russell homered, matched a career-high with four runs and four hits while driving in a career-high four. Leadoff hitter Max Hartman homered and scored three times while Cramer doubled twice and scored four times, and Brandham Ponce had a pinch-hit home run for the second straight game.
 
The Cougars 20 runs are the most since beating Villanova 22-7 on opening weekend last season in Arizona and are the most in a conference game since beating Arizona 21-2 in 2021.
 
WSU starter Grant Taylor worked five innings and tallied seven strikeouts to push his career total to 245, passing Matt Way (239, 2006-09) and Todd Meldahl (244, 1997-2000) for the fourth-most strikeouts in WSU history.
 
USC dropped to 22-27 overall and 12-12 in Pac-12 Conference play.
 
KEY MOMENTS OF THE GAME
USC led off the game with a solo homer to left-centerfield but Taylor struck out the side to keep the Trojan lead to 1-0. Hartman evened things up with a solo shot to right field on the ninth pitch of the at-bat, Russell singled and later scored on Joey Kramer's two-out RBI-single to left-centerfield for a 2-1 advantage.
 
In the second, the Trojans scored a pair of runs before WSU loaded the bases with nobody out. One run came across after Hartman was hit by the pitch with the bases loaded, Russell singled home a run and Cramer doubled home a pair to right-centerfield for a 6-3 lead. WSU pushed its lead to 8-3 as two more runs scored on a wild pitch after a strikeout.
 
In the fifth, USC scored a pair of runs and loaded the bases with one out but Taylor ended the threat with a 5-4-3 double play to preserve 9-5 lead. USC added another run in the sixth before the Cougars blew things open with nine runs in their half of the sixth, all with two outs. Alan Shibley tripled home two runs with a shot to centerfield, Nate Swarts, Crew Parke and Russell each singled home runs, one run scored on a passed ball and two more scored on a USC fielding error for an 18-6 advantage.
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
Nate Swarts doubled in the 2^nd inning to extend his on-base streak to 11 games
Joey Kramer singled in the 1^st inning to extend his on-base streak to 9 games
  
NEXT UP
The series continues Saturday at 2:05 p.m. on the Pac-12 Networks.