With a few more than a dozen games left this year, the Washington State baseball team is going into the final leg of its season with three consecutive Pac-12 Conference series wins after winning two of three against Utah.

The Cougars (23-19, 7-11 Pac-12) avoided dropping lower in the conference standings by grabbing two games on the road against the 10th place Utes (14-25, 6-12 Pac-12) this weekend. WSU is currently in ninth place in the conference as of April 25, and has some chances to gain ground with four more conference series left this year.

Washington State kept its momentum rolling with a big 10-3 win in the opener Friday. Senior outfielder Ben Roberts led the way going 2-4 with three RBIs, including a huge two-run double in the fifth that highlighted a five-run inning.

It was all tied up at three runs apiece going into the fifth, but Roberts and the rest of the Cougar offense made the Utes pay for their three errors by posting five scores. Roberts also contributed on the final two scores in the eighth with an RBI single then reaching home thanks to a Cameron Frost single.

Game 2 was more of a struggle for the Cougars as they failed to score until the sixth inning and ended up losing by a score of 4-1. Senior left-hander Joe Pistorese went seven innings and allowed four runs on six hits and recorded only two strikeouts, suffering his fourth loss of the year.

Utah scored runs in the second and third innings, followed by two runs in the seventh. WSU recorded seven hits but could not find home plate, and were also hampered by two errors in the game.

The Cougars sealed the series win Sunday with a 6-1 victory, fueled by senior right-hander Sam Triece’s six shutout innings. Triece is now 3-0 on the year after Sunday’s performance where he struck out seven, allowing only one hit and giving up no walks.

Senior infielder Ian Sagdal continued his recent hot streak in the game as he went 2-4 with one RBI on a triple to right-center. Sagdal scored on the following play and made it a 5-0 lead for the Cougars.

WSU will visit Seattle to take on Washington in a single nonconference game Monday. The Cougars met the Huskies earlier this season in conference play where they won 2-1.

Washington State has gone 6-2 since beating the Dawgs over Mom’s Weekend, notching double-digit runs in three of those contests.

UW is 4-3 since their last game against the Cougars, and is 23-18 on the season (8-13 Pac-12). They most recently lost an extra innings contest at Oregon to drop the three-game series to the Ducks.

The Cougars’ game against the Huskies is scheduled for 7 p.m. today in Seattle and will be televised on the Pac-12 Networks.

Reporting by Steffen Stroup