CLEBURNE, Texas (February 28, 2025) – Washington State rallied for two runs in the sixth inning and added two more runs in the seventh before Luke Meyers closed out the 7-4 victory over Iowa at La Moderna Field in Texas.
 
The Cougars received three hits and three RBI from shortstop Gavin Roy while Meyers fired the final 2.1 scoreless frames to clinch WSU's second straight win over the Hawkeyes. Starter Griffin Smith picked up his first career after striking out five over five innings, lefthander Troy Shepard worked a scoreless sixth and recorded the first two outs of the seventh before Meyers sealed up his first career save.
 
Logan Johnstone singled, scored twice, stole a base and made a sliding catch in right field to end the eighth inning, designated hitter Ricco Longo had two hits, doubled and scored twice, and first baseman Jack Weise had two hits including a triple and scored twice.
 
KEY MOMENTS OF THE GAME
In the first inning, Iowa worked a two-out walk and took the early lead after an opposite-field two-out RBI-double down the left field line. Smith settled in and posted scoreless second and third innings, striking out three along the way.
 
The Cougar offense threatened through the afternoon, leaving a pair of runners on in the first, put two on in the third before the Hawkeyes made a nice defensive play on Ollie Obenour's line out to the second baseman who was able to double off WSU. Washington State played small-ball to take the lead in the third inning as a Gavin Roy push-bunt past a diving Iowa pitcher played Ricco Longo from third and Luke Thiele bunt saw Iowa throw the ball wide of third base to score Jack Weise who had reached on a bunt single earlier in the inning. A Longo double and three bunts resulted in a 2-1 Cougar lead. The Hawkeyes answered right back with a leadoff solo homer off the batter's eye in centerfield in their half of the fourth and used a walk and pair of two-out hits to take a 3-2 lead in the fifth.
 
In the sixth, Weise drove a 1-2 pitch the other way over the Iowa right fielder for a double and ended up on third after a Hawkeye error on the play. Roy lined an 0-1 pitch right back up the middle to score Weise and later scored after Will Cresswell's line drive double to centerfield was lost in the sun, resulting in a 4-3 Cougar lead.
 
WSU added two more runs after loading the bases in the seventh as Roy brought home a run with a fielder's choice groundout and Thiele lined a single to left to make it 6-3. Iowa came right back with a two-out RBI-single back up the middle and later loaded the bases but Meyers ended the threat with a flyout to left field.
 
In the bottom of the eighth, Iowa put runners on first and second with two outs, and lined a ball to shallow right field that Johnstone made a sliding catch to preserve the two-run lead. After making the clutch catch to end the eighth, Johnstone led off the Cougar ninth with an opposite-field single through the left side, stole second and scored on Ryan Skjonsby's groundball RBI-single up the middle.
 
In the ninth, Iowa put a runner on with a one-out infield single but Meyers picked up the second out with a fielder's choice groundout and ended the game with a long fly ball that Cole Watterson ran down in centerfield.
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
Obenour was hit by a pitch in the 1^st to extend his on-base streak to 5 games
Longo walked in the 1^st to extend his on-base streak to 8 games
Cole Watterson singled to right field in the 2^nd to extend his on-base streak to 5 games
Roy's RBI-squeeze bunt single in the 4^th extended his on-base streak to 5 games
Weise picked up his 1^st career multiple-hit game
 
NEXT UP
The series continues Saturday at Noon (PT) / 2 p.m. (CT).