It seems as if the Cougars found a new grove on Thursday, all thanks to senior right-handed starting pitcher Sean Hartnett. Hartnett’s confidence was palpable Thursday night against Oklahoma (3-3) as he led Washington State to a 4-3 win over the Sooners. The game was the first of four in the Big-12/Pac-12 challenge. Hartnett (1-1) held the Sooners to just two runs on six hits over 7 and 1/3 innings.

WSU (3-2) jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning, sparked when senior catcher P.J. Jones was hit by a pitch with one out. Senior second baseman Ian Sagdal singled to right on the very first pitch allowing Jones to advance to third base.

Redshirt junior left fielder Ben Roberts made the bruise Jones received pay off with a double to left center, scoring Jones from third and allowing Sagdal to advance to third. Sophomore center fielder Cameron Frost grounded out to Sooners sophomore short stop Sheldon Neuse, allowing Sagdal and Roberts to score giving the Cougars a 3-0 lead.

That was all Hartnett needed. He retired nine of the first ten batters he faced. The Sooners’ first hit came when junior catcher Chris Shaw singled to left field with no outs in the top of the third inning.

Oklahoma cut into the Cougars’ lead in the top of the fourth. Junior center fielder Craig Aikin reached on an infield single and Neuse followed suit with a ground ball through the left side of the infield. The Sooners successfully executed a double steal, putting Aikin at third and Neuse at second with one out.

Junior third baseman Anthony Heremlyn made the move pay off with a groundout to second, scoring Aikin for Oklahoma’s first run of the game. Sophomore designated hitter Austin O’Brien batted in the second run of the inning with a sacrifice fly to right center allowing Neuse to score, cutting the Cougars lead to 3-2 in the bottom of the fourth.

The Cougars added to their lead in the bottom of the seventh inning when Sagdal singled to right with one out, scoring freshman designated hitter Daniel Fredrickson from second to push the Cougar lead to 4-2.

The inning would prove to be the only bump in the road for Hartnett, who shut the Sooners down over the next three innings. He repeated the success he had through the first three innings, retiring ten-straight batters from the fifth through the eight inning before the Sooners got their next base runner.

That runner was redshirt senior right fielder Taylor Alspaugh, who notched his first and only hit of the game with a bunt down the third-base line to give the Sooners one runner on with one out. Senior Joshua Ake pitch-hit for freshman second baseman Kyle Mendenhall and singled to center on an 0-2 pitch, the final batter Hartnett would face on the night.

Senior right hander Sam Triece came in to relieve Hartnett and made quick work to get the final two outs of the inning, stranding Ake and Mendenhall at second and first, respectively, to keep the score at 3-2 heading into the bottom of the eighth inning.

Oklahoma made one last comeback attempt in the bottom of the ninth after sophomore closer Ian Hamilton came in to seal the win. With two outs, junior first baseman Kolby Carptenter reached on an infield single to third, scoring freshman Quin Walbergh, who was pitch running for Heremlyn.

But Hamilton forced Shaw to pop-out to Sagdal at second, clinching the win for the Cougars and recording his second save of the season.

Washington State will face No. 7 Oklahoma State today at 3:30 p.m. in Surprise, Arizona.