After a heartbreaking extra-innings loss in game one, the Cougars went on to win three-straight in what many considered to be an easy series for the Washington State baseball team against the struggling San Jose State Spartans.

It took WSU (21-18) some time to find its groove against the Spartans (10-28), who played very well considering their unimpressive record. But a young Cougar team rebounded well after falling in Thursday’s game.

“They can’t dwell on the negative, let us coaches dwell on the negative,” Head Coach Donnie Marbut said. “We’ll think about the Thursday game that we lost.”

In the bottom of the ninth, the Cougars were down 5-4 before sophomore outfielder Cooper Elliott tied it up with an RBI double to right. Sophomore closer Ian Hamilton came in to start the 10th, but suffered the loss as he gave up two runs and two hits in the final inning.

With the pinch-hit double that gave his team a chance to come back, Elliott said the Cougars showed some resilience that they might not have had in the beginning of the year.

“I think that we showed a lot of heart getting back to there,” he said. “We should have come back, but I think it does show a little more resiliency than the beginning of the year.”

Friday’s game was beginning to look like another disappointing loss before the Cougars rallied with three runs in the bottom of the ninth.

The team was down 3-1 going into the final frame, but freshman infielder Shane Matheny started things off with a double to right-center field. Elliott continued his heroics from Game 1 and smacked an RBI triple to the right-field corner, cutting the Spartan lead to one.

One out later, a wild pitch by SJSU senior pitcher Myles Richard allowed Elliott to come home and tie the game at three runs apiece.

It was sophomore outfielder Cameron Frost who scored the winning run when his sacrifice fly to center field sent junior outfielder Roberts home from third. Frost was excited after the game, and said the team’s mindset changed going into that final inning.

“It’s honestly one of the best feelings ever,” Frost said. “We haven’t come back in the ninth this whole year, and when it happens once, it’s going to continue happening because we’re going to stay in the game no matter what.”

WSU exploded in Game 3 for 14 runs on 17 hits on the back of another impressive Joe Pistorese start. The senior left-hander went seven innings, giving up six hits and two runs while striking out three. Pistorese was happy to see so many players come in and make contributions, helping him win his third straight game.

“It was nice to get the three run cushion in the first and then I got enough in me to where I can get a couple strikeouts and get the ball on the ground,” he said. “Got me a little nervous in the fifth but then we came out big in the sixth so it was nice.”

Pistorese made history in Saturday’s game when he became the WSU career leader in innings pitched with 331, passing Robert Ramsey, whose previous record was 326. Pistorese knew he was getting close to the record but was not aware he had reached that milestone.

“I think that’s one of the big things I can contribute to this team, maybe not necessarily strikeouts or anything big like that,” Pistorese said. “But I can go out there and pitch as many innings as I possibly could, so that’s always been my game plan.”

Offensively, it was senior infielder Ian Sagdal that led the way going 4-for-6 with four RBIs and his fourth homer of the year. His three run blast came in the sixth inning, where the team scored five runs.

Sunday’s game started off the same as Saturday’s, with the Cougars recording three runs in the first inning off of four hits. Freshman catcher J.J. Hancock, who would end up going 3-4 with three RBIs, hit a two run single through the right side to put his team on top by three in the first frame.

“I saw that he was struggling with his command with his fastball,” Hancock said. “So I knew he was going to come back with a slider, and each time he came back with that slider, so I just took it where it was coming in”

Senior right-hander Sam Triece picked up his second win of the season, going five innings while allowing just two hits and no runs, all while striking out four. Triece said he expected to get some work in the game, and that he just focused on making good pitches.

“I just kind of picked it up and ran with it and never looked back after those first couple innings,” he said.

The Cougars ended the scoring in the seventh by picking up two runs to grow their lead to 8-4.

WSU ended its nine-game home stand going 7-2, and will resume conference play on Friday when they begin a three-game series at Utah. Game 1’s First pitch is scheduled for 11 a.m. on Friday.