After an offensive outburst Friday led to a final score of 8-7; Saturday’s battle between WSU and ASU was a pitcher’s duel between the Cougs Connor Wilford and the Sun Devils Connor Markl.
Wilford WSU baseball (14-8, 4-4 Pac-12) got the better of Arizona State (10-13, 3-5), beating the Sun Devils 3-2 to secure their first series win in Pac-12 play after winning one game in each of their previous two series.
“Felt good on the mound, stuff was working well and the defense behind me is always great,” Wilford said.
Last week, Wilford had gone just 3.0 innings in a loss to UCLA. He threw 67 pitches and gave up four runs, three of which were earned. The rough outing ballooned his ERA to above 5.00, being the first time this season he had not pitched to at least through the six inning.
Entering the ASU series, he said he focused on his rest and getting his mind right, which he benefited from by pitching 1.0 innings of work in Wednesday’s victory over Seattle U.
“Going whatever I went last week is not good enough for me,” Wilford said.
Going 7.1 innings, he only allowed a single earned run despite giving up nine hits and walking two batters. He consistently got out of jams despite not being a strikeout pitcher. He said he knows he is the kind of pitcher to allow contact but has full belief that his team will make any play behind him.
“They’re clutch. I can’t get those guys enough props. If they’re behind me, I got full faith it’s going to be an out,” Wilford said.
That defense came up clutch several times throughout the game, but no play was more clutch than out in the bottom of the eighth inning. Wilford came out for the eighth, holding a 3-1 lead and having the Sun Devils only run be unearned.
He gave up a leadoff double but induced a flyout that moved the runner to third. His night ended after he gave up his first earned run on a single, with Kaden Wickersham entering the game to try and get the final two outs of the inning.
Wickersham gave up back-to-back singles, loading the bases and giving ASU two outs to work with. But on a 0-1 count, he induced a lineout to Kyle Russell at shortstop, who made the snag while moving to his right and jump threw to second base to double off the runner who took too large of a secondary.
That 3-2 lead stuck, with Chase Grillo getting his second save in as many days, retiring the side in the bottom of the ninth and striking out the first batter he faced in the process.
Excluding his three-earned run outing against Rhode Island from March 3, Grillo has an ERA of 2.13 this season, having just three earned runs in his other 12.2 innings of work.
Joey Kramer was WSU’s offensive hero, driving in the game’s first run in the bottom of the first with a single to score Russell. That first inning could have opened up a scoring frenzy similar to last night’s fifth inning, but three straight one-out singles were quickly ended after a strikeout and fielder’s choice.
Kramer got his second RBI of the game in the bottom of the fourth inning. On a 0-1 count, he took the ball and sent it over the right-field fence, hitting his fifth home run of the season and eighth extra-base hit.
Of the eight hits the Cougs had, Kramer accounted for half. His 4-for-4 performance with two RBI was by far the best performance, as all other players with a hit had just a single hit. One of those players was Nate Swarts, who continued his on-base streak to 21, keeping up his impressive year at the bottom of the order.
