WSU baseball (10-1) finished week three with their first homestand of 2023 where they took on Southern Indiana for three games. WSU won all three games.

The Cougs were led by Sam Brown and Jacob Morrow as the starting pitchers produced solid outings. The Cougs are 10-1 on the season, their best start since 1980. The 1980 team started the season 18-0.

During the three-game series, Brown had six hits and eight RBIs, including a home run in all three games, putting him on a three-game home run streak. Morrow had four hits and four RBIs in the second game to help the Cougars secure the series win.

Game 1, WSU 7-5:

The first game of the series against Southern Indiana took place Friday. The Cougs wasted no time getting on the board early, as they scored three runs in the bottom of the first inning and added another in the bottom of the second to take the early 4-0 lead. The runs were scored by Brown’s two-run homer and an RBI single from Elijah Hainline.

Southern Indiana got on the board in the top of the third inning as they had starting pitcher Dakota Hawkins give up three runs in the inning to cut the Cougs’ lead to one. That was the only hiccup for Hawkins in the game. He went four innings where he allowed three runs on seven hits, but struck out five batters in his time of action.

There were no runs scored until the top of the sixth when Southern Indiana tied the game with an RBI sacrifice fly.

The Cougs would then answer in the seventh with an RBI single from Cam Magee to take back the 5-4 lead.

In the eighth, the Cougs extended their lead as both Brown and Morrow picked up RBI singles to give WSU the 7-4 lead and they never looked back.

After Southern Indiana scored in the top of the ninth, closer Chase Grillo came in and struck out three batters after allowing a hit to earn his third save of the season as the Cougs won 7-5.

Game 2, WSU 12-5:

The second game of the series saw the Cougs have to come from behind early as they allowed three runs after three innings. Starting pitcher Caden Kaelber went 4.1 innings where he allowed three runs, two of which were earned. He also had eight strikeouts and walked three batters.

The Cougs exploded in the bottom of the third for four runs to take the 4-3 lead. Morrow hit a two-run homer and Bryce Matthews had a two-RBI single in the inning.

In the bottom of the fifth, the Cougs tacked on another run as Greg Fuchs scored on a wild pitch. Two more runs were tacked on in the sixth from the two-run bomb from Brown.

After the fourth inning, the Cougs scored at least one run in every inning from then on.

The best inning from the Cougs was the seventh when they scored four runs. Morrow had a two-RBI double to headline the inning as the Cougs cruised to a 12-5 victory.

Game 3, WSU 6-0:

After clinching the series win Saturday, the Cougs looked to sweep Southern Indiana Sunday, where they produced their second shutout of the season as they won 6-0. Their first shutout was the first game of the season when they defeated Villanova 7-0.

Starting pitcher Grant Taylor got the win as he went 5.1 scoreless innings where he allowed one hit with seven strikeouts. He also walked three batters in the game. The relieving pitchers allowed a total of three hits and had four strikeouts as they put zeros on the board and won their 10th game of the season.

Scoring from the Cougs started in the first inning when Brown had a sacrifice fly RBI to lead 1-0.

The Cougs would double their lead in the bottom of the second as Hainline picked up an RBI single. Hainline would then smash a two-run home run in the fourth inning to lead 4-0.

Brown would homer in the fifth inning to extend the pugs’ lead to five. Brown has hit a home run in three consecutive games and has also hit a home run in every home game so far.

Magee would pick up an RBI in the seventh inning to see the Cougs reach six runs as they swept Southern Indiana in three games.

The next time the Cougs take the field will be 2:05 p.m. Tuesday at Bailey-Brayton field as they host Seattle U for one game.