PUEBLO, Colo. (March 15, 2025) – Washington State evened the series with Air Force with a 10-4 victory at Rawlings Field on the campus of CSU – Pueblo Saturday afternoon. The first two games of the series were moved 45 minutes south of the Air Force Academy due to snow in the Colorado Springs forecast.
 
Eight Cougar starters recorded a hit led by Ryan Skjonsby's first career three-hit game who doubled and scored twice. Leadoff Max Hartman and two-hole hitter Ollie Obenour both had two hits and doubled while Hartman scored twice and Obenour drove in two runs. Logan Johnstone hit a solo homer and WSU received six innings from starter Nick Lewis before Rylan Haider closed out the win with three scoreless frames. Lewis and Haider each struck out four while Lewis improved to 2-2 and Haider earned his second save.
 
The Cougars scored four in the second inning and turned a one-run game in the fifth inning into a 10-4 win with a run in the fifth, two in the seventh and two more in the eighth.
 
KEY MOMENTS OF THE GAME
In the first inning, Air Force used a single to rightfield, a balk, groundout and wild pitch to take a 1-0 lead. The Cougars answered with four runs in the top of the second after loading the bases. Jonah Shull was beaned that brought a run in, Hartman followed with a run-scoring fielder's choice that Air Force threw away trying turn a double play at second to allow another run to score. Obenour capped the scoring with a two-out RBI-single back up the middle to score Hartman for a 4-1 lead.
 
Johnstone hit a solo homer to straight away centerfield but Air Force used a three-run home run to make it a one-run game in the fourth inning.
 
In the seventh, Skjonsby doubled to right to start the inning and Gavin Roy was hit by a pitch before Thiele drove a 2-0 pitch the other way just inside the right field line to score both runners for an 8-4 lead. WSU picked up a pair of runs in the eighth after an Obenour RBI-double off the centerfield wall and Ricco Longo followed with a two-out two-strike RBI-single he muscled into left field for a 10-4 lead.
 
Lewis gave way to Haider to start the seventh and retired the first six hitters he faced for scoreless seventh and eighth innings before allowing a single to start the ninth but sealed the win with a fielder's choice ground out and a pair of strikeouts.
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
Ryan Skjonsby singled in the 1^st to extend his on-base streak to 11 games
Gavin Roy singled in the 2^nd to extend his hitting streak to 8 games
Ollie Obenour singled in the 2^nd to extend his on-base streak to 14 games and hitting streak to 8
Max Hartman singled in the 4^th to extend his hitting streak to 13 games
 
NEXT UP
The series wraps up Sunday at 11:05 a.m. at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs.