Baseball gets swept in Tempe
Cougars lose series, fourth straight game after poor offensive performance
OLIVER MCKENNA | DAILY EVERGREEN FILE
Then-junior pitcher Zane Mills throws the ball during the game against Seattle U on March 5, 2021 at Bailey-Brayton Field.
March 29, 2021
WSU baseball lost all their games in a three-game sweep to the Arizona State Sun Devils on the road in Tempe, Arizona this weekend, losing 10-0, 5-4 and 9-0.
The Cougars (12-8, 1-5) are now on a four-game losing streak after losing on Wednesday to UNLV. WSU ended their long road-stand losing four of their last five games.
The Sun Devils (15-5, 4-2) bounced back against the Cougars after losing a close series to the No. 16 Oregon Ducks in their previous series.
WSU struggled from the plate all weekend and the runs just could not produce in the series opener and series finale, with the Cougars combining for nine hits in those two games against ASU.
On Saturday, the Cougars got some late-run help with an RBI single from freshman outfielder Keith Jones II, and a two-run double from senior outfielder Justin Van De Brake gave the Cougars their one and only lead of the weekend, before ASU came back and won the game.
Meanwhile, on the mound, the Cougars could not figure out a way to hold the Sun Devils’ offense all weekend, with ASU scoring 24 total runs through three games, an average of eight runs per game.
Junior right-handed pitcher Brandon White struggled on Friday, allowing eight runs, seven of them earned, to come through the plate on nine hits through five innings. On Saturday, junior right-handed pitcher Zane Mills went 6.1 innings with three runs allowed, six hits and five strikeouts, a good bounce-back.
In the series finale, junior right-handed pitcher Dakota Hawkins only went 5.1 innings, giving up six runs, five of them earned, on seven hits. The Cougars’ pitching just could not match up with ASU’s offense all weekend.
The Cougars look to end this four-game losing streak with their second series at home when they play the Stanford Cardinal starting Thursday in a three-game series.
First pitch from Bailey-Brayton Field is set for 4 p.m. Thursday, 5 p.m. Friday and noon Saturday in the series finale.
This whole series can be viewed on the Pac-12 Networks and lineups and starting pitchers will be announced one hour before each first pitch.
