Cougars Sweep SJSU Spartans With 1-0 Thriller
Baseball off to best start since 1988.
February 28, 1999
SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Junior starting pitcher Todd Meldahl and hard-throwing
reliever Reggie Rivard combined to shut out the San Jose State Spartan
baseball team 1-0 in a non-conference game Sunday at Municipal Stadium
completing the three-game series sweep for the Cougars.
The win improved WSU's season record to 8-2, which is the best start the
Cougars have had since the 1988 team started 9-1. In 1990, 1991, and 1993
WSU came out of the gates with 7-3 records. The win Sunday marked the
100th career victory in head coach Steve Farrington's four-year WSU career.
The last time the Cougars have defeated a team 1-0 was against the same
San Jose State Spartans in a 13-inning game in 1992.
After a mediocre first start against New Mexico State, Meldahl (Butte,
Mont.) has caught fire over his last two outings to improve his season
record to 2-0. Meldahl pitched eight and one-third scoreless innings while
scattering 10 SJSU hits. The junior southpaw struck out five and did not
walk a batter.
Rivard entered in the ninth assuming his role as the Cougars' closer. With
one out and one man on Rivard struck out the first batter he faced and then
got Mike Rouse to fly out to Steve Gleason (Spokane, Wash.) in centerfield
for his second save of the year.
In the three-game series the Cougar pitching staff combined to give up only
21 hits and one earned run in 27 innings of work while recording 20
strikeouts.
San Jose State starting pitcher Vince LaCorte lived up to his 0.50 ERA he
compiled prior to Sunday's game as he allowed only three hits to the Cougar
lineup. LaCorte (2-1) went the distance for his first complete game of the
year and at one point between the first and eighth innings retired 18 of
the 20 batters he faced.
The normally potent Cougar bats were kept in check by LaCorte as only David
Perreira (Ewa Beach, Hawaii) and Jeron Gates (Seattle, Wash.) recorded
hits. Perreira, who started his first game in the designated hitter role,
was 2-for-3 with a pair of doubles.
San Jose State threatened to put a pair of runs up on the board in the
third inning when they had the bases loaded and only one out. Meldahl
worked himself out of the jam by getting Dan Winterberg to line into a
double play ending the Spartan scoring threat.
In the eighth Brad Philley (Puyallup, Wash.) drew a base on balls to
leadoff the inning for Washington State. After a sacrifice hit by Gleason
and a groundout by Jeff Scherer (Kennewick, Wash.) the table was set for
Gates. With two strikes and two outs, the true freshman drove a LaCorte
pitch back up the middle to score Philley breaking the 0-0 tie and giving
the Cougars their eighth win on the year.
Washington State will next travel to one of the premier college baseball
tournaments in the nation at the Hormel Foods Baseball Classic in
Minneapolis, Minn. The Cougars will face the University of Minnesota
Friday at 4:30 p.m., preseason No. 1 Wichita State Saturday at 5 p.m., and
current No. 1 Florida State Sunday at 3 p.m.
WSU 000 000 010 - 1 3 1
SJSU 000 000 000 - 0 11 0
