WSU baseball (14-6, 3-3 Pac-12) is winless in their last three games and only have one win in their last five games after a 12-7 defeat Tuesday against the Gonzaga Bulldogs.

After the Cougars scored two runs in the top of the first inning the Bulldogs jumped all over starting pitcher Shane Spencer, scoring seven runs in the first two innings en route to a victory to improve the Bulldogs’ record to 7-12.

Gonzaga scored 12 runs on 15 hits with no errors. The Cougs scored seven runs on 10 hits with one error in the game. 

Jonah Advincula was hitless in three at-bats in the game.

The bright spot for the Cougs was that they scored one run in the last five innings of the game. They were consistently scoring runs throughout the game, just not enough to win and their pitching and defense let them down against the Bulldogs. 

Sam Brown and Jacob McKeon each added two more RBIs to their tallies on the season. They both had two hits in the game as well. 

Freshman Max Hartman hit a solo homer in the top of the sixth inning to give him his first homer in collegiate baseball. 

The pitching for the Cougs was decent, they just let the first inning get away from them as they allowed five runs. Six pitchers appeared in the game for WSU and they combined for seven strikeouts with only two walks. Gonzaga used five pitchers who combined for 11 strikeouts and eight walks, three of which were against Elijah Hainline. 

For the Bulldogs, Connor Coballes and Sam Stem stole the show on the offensive end. Coballes had four hits in five at-bats for two RBIs. Both of his RBI hits were singles. For Stem, his four RBIs came off a: fielder’s choice, a sac fly and a two-run homer. There were four home runs in the game, two from each team. The Bulldogs scored one or more runs in every inning except for the bottom of the sixth. 

They were consistent at the plate the whole game and used that to their advantage as they lit the Cougs up for 15 hits and 12 runs. 

Scoring Plays:

First Inning: Two runs from Cougs, Five from Bulldogs

In the top of the first inning, the Cougs jumped to an early 2-0 lead. McKeon got WSU on the board first after an RBI double which scored Cam Magee, who reached base on a single early in the inning. McKeon would then score one batter later as Brown hit an RBI double to extend the Cougs’ lead to two.

The Bulldogs answered in a big way in the bottom of the first, lighting Spencer up for five runs. This is the fourth time in the last five games that the Cougs have allowed five or more runs in a single inning. The only game where they have not allowed five runs or more in an inning as of late was the first game of the series against the Oregon Ducks where they only scored one run in the game. 

The first six batters for the Bulldogs reached base on either a single, double or walk as the Bulldogs sent nine batters to the plate in the bottom of the inning to help them get their 5-2 lead. 

Second Inning: Two Runs from Gonzaga 

After a one-out walk by the Bulldogs in the top of the second Gonzaga held the Cougs to no hits to hold the lead at three.
Gonzaga would then tack on two more runs in the second inning by way of a two-run homer from Stem to increase the Bulldogs’ lead to five. 

Sixth Inning: WSU homer

In the top of the sixth inning, Hartman would help bring some hope back into the Cougs’ hearts as he hit his solo homer with one out. This is Hartman’s first home run, RBI and hit as a Coug.

Ninth Inning: WSU homer

Hainline would try to bring the Cougs back in the top of the ninth inning with a solo home run, but the Cougs could not rally and lost their third straight game heading back into conference play.

The next time WSU will take the field is Friday as they head down to Los Angeles to take on the USC Trojans for a three-game. The first pitch will be at 6:30 p.m. Friday.