Washington State baseball has not fielded a consistent offense thus far in the 2015 season. Staying true to form, the Cougars (8-8) split another four-game series this past weekend in the Big-12/Pac-12 Challenge.

The Cougars opened the challenge with a 4-3 win over Oklahoma, sparked by a strong second outing from senior right-handed starting pitcher Sean Hartnett. Even in victory, Oklahoma still led WSU in the hits category, 8-6. A common theme of the Cougars’ young season has been their timely hitting, which allowed them to secure the win against Oklahoma on Thursday.

Redshirt junior left fielder Ben Roberts drove in senior catcher P.J. Jones off a one-out double to left center. Sophomore center fielder Cameron Frost followed suit with a groundout to sophomore short stop Sheldon Neuse, scoring senior second baseman Ian Sagdal and Roberts to give the Cougars a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning.

That would be the Cougars’ main offensive output in the game with the fourth and final run coming in the bottom of the seventh when freshman designated hitter Daniel Fredrickson scored from second off Sagdal’s single to center. However, much like the Cougar’s first series in the SFA Tipton Ford Classic, the win was short lived.

Oklahoma State, coming in ranked No.9 in the country according to Baseball America, dominated the Cougars from wire to wire on Friday. The Cowboys opened the scoring with a three-run bottom of the first to grab an early lead. They added three one-run innings in the third, fourth and sixth innings, and put the game out of reach with a five-run bottom of the eighth.

Freshman left-handed starting pitcher Tyler McDowell (1-1) lasted just .2 of an inning while filling up almost every box on the stat sheet. He allowed three runs on one hit, walking one, hitting another, and throwing a wild pitch. Freshman right hander Ryan Walker and junior right hander Jesse Houser held the Cowboys to one run over the next 2.1 innings before Oklahoma State turned up the heat again.

Freshman right-handed reliever Colby Nealy, making his second appearance of the season, allowed two runs on five hits over 2.2 innings. The final dagger came when freshman left-handed reliever Drew Lunde was on the mound for the final 2.1 innings. The Cowboys scored five runs on four hits off the freshman while working three walks and getting another batter hit by a pitch.

The 11-1 loss against Oklahoma State would not be the last sour taste in the Cougars’ mouth over the weekend – Kansas State beat Washington State 12-3 in the final game of the Challenge on Sunday morning. Four Cougar pitchers – Houser, Nick Leonard, Layne Bruner and Scotty Sunitsch – allowed seven runs over the first four innings, which is all the Wildcats needed to secure the victory.

During that same four-inning stretch, the Cougars tallied one run on four hits. Their final two runs came in the top of the sixth and ninth innings, respectively. Unlike its other offensively-challenged games this season, Washington State was out-hit 11-9 by Kansas State in the loss. But when the Cougars got runners on, they didn’t have the timely hitting to make anything of it.

In between the two blowout losses was an impressive late win against Kansas, Saturday night. Freshman right fielder Wes Hatten got the Cougars going on the first pitch with a double to left center. Hatten scored later in the bottom of the first off a wild pitch, cutting the Wildcats’ lead to 2-1.

Over the next three innings, the Cougars took the lead again, due in large part to two-hit batters and timely hitting. Roberts and freshman designated hitter Patrick McGrath were hit by pitches in consecutive at bats to lead off the bottom of the second. Fellow freshman short stop Jack Strunc made the Wildcats pay with a two-RBI single to right, giving Washington State a 3-2 lead.

After a relatively uneventful three innings, Kansas State tacked on two runs in the top of the seventh to give them a 5-4 lead. But the timely hitting that was missing Friday night was back on display Saturday in the bottom of the seventh.

With runners at second and third, Jones doubled down the left-field line, scoring Hatten and freshman third baseman Shane Matheny to give the Cougars a 6-5 lead. Jones scored on an error that allowed Sagdal to advance to second. Sagdal would score the final run of the game, sealing Washington State’s eighth win of the season, when sophomore Wes Leow forced in a walk with the bases loaded.

Washington State returns to Pullman this week for its first home game of the 2015 season. The Cougars will host UC Riverside Thursday at 6 p.m. at Bailey-Brayton Field.

Reporting by Lars Hanson