The WSU baseball team got their first series win of the season this weekend, taking three out of four games against the Long Island Sharks.

Their first season series against the Hawai’i Rainbow Warriors resulted in a 2-2 split. With the three wins this weekend, WSU is now 5-3.

The Cougs started off the series against Long Island strong, winning the first game 10-0 on Thursday. They then had a doubleheader on Friday. The afternoon game resulted in an 8-3 loss for the Cougs, however, they got their revenge in the evening game, winning 8-0. On Saturday, the Cougs finished off the series by winning 9-2.

Game 1:

The first game of the series between the Cougs and Sharks was all WSU, who won 10-0. This was the first time this season the Cougs have scored double-digit runs in a game and also the first time the Cougs held an opponent scoreless in a game. Grant Taylor was credited with the pitching victory, his first of the season, while Long Island’s Shane Tucker picked up his first pitching loss. 

In this game, the Cougs scored in five separate innings, including scoring six runs in the seventh inning. Hylan Hall led the Cougs in RBIs with three on two hits. Justin Van De Brake had two RBIs on two hits, one of them a triple. Taylor pitched six innings for the Cougs and gave up only three hits. He also had one walk and five strikeouts. Jack Lee also had three strikeouts in one inning of action.

Game 2:

The Sharks got their revenge early Friday with the first game of the doubleheader, winning 8-3 over the Cougs. Joshua Loeschorn earned his second pitching win of the season for the Sharks, improving his record to 2-0, while Elias Farland earned his first loss for WSU, his record now 0-1. The Sharks’ eight runs came on 13 hits and zero errors, while the Cougs’ three runs came on eight hits with one error.

The Cougs scored early in this contest with a two-run homerun from Jacob McKeon and then a solo homerun from Bryce Matthews to take a 3-0 lead. The Sharks answered back with two runs of their own in the third inning, and then tied the game up in the fifth inning.

In the sixth inning, the Sharks scored their final five runs of the game on three hits, all of them doubles. Two of them were multi-RBI hits to give the Sharks their 8-3 lead that was the final score of the game. Giovanni Ciaccio had three RBIs on two hits for the Sharks. WSU’s McKeon had two RBIs on one hit and he also scored a run. 

Game 3:

The evening game on Friday was where the Cougs came back to life, beating the Sharks 8-0 to take the series lead heading into the final game of the series. McKabe Cottrell earned his first pitching win of the season, putting his record at 1-1, while Jarod Wade earned the loss for the Sharks, his record now stands at 0-2.

The Cougs scored their eight runs on 10 hits, while the Sharks only had two hits in the game and had three errors. The Cougs scored two runs in the second and third innings and three in the fourth to help lead them to victory.

The Cougs had three players with two RBIs in the game — Hall, Jack Smith and Will Cresswell. Smith led the game in hits going 3-5, he also scored two runs. McKabe pitched seven innings for the Cougs and gave up two hits and a walk. He struck out eight batters in the contest. 

Game 4:

The Cougs closed out the four-game series Saturday in style, defeating the Sharks 9-2 and winning the series 3-1. Connor Barison earned his first pitching win of the season, setting his record at 1-0, while Long Island’s Ryan Neuweiler now has an 0-1 record after the loss.

The Cougs’ nine runs came on 10 hits and one error. The Sharks scored their two runs on six hits, but had five errors in the game which led to their loss. There was no scoring until the third inning, when the Sharks scored one run on an RBI single. The Sharks then doubled their lead in the fourth inning on a throwing error from the Cougs. WSU scored one run in the fourth after Elijah Hainline was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded.

The Cougs then took the lead in the latter half of the game with two runs in the fifth inning and three runs in both the sixth and seventh innings. Hainline led the team in RBIs on the day with three on one hit. Cole McMillan had seven strikeouts and gave up five hits in four innings of action. 

The Cougs are now set to travel to Stephenville, Texas, for a game against the Tarleton State Texan Riders on Wednesday.