Grant Taylor finished a clean first inning, getting past a two-out single and striking out two. In the bottom of the first, Max Hartman hit a leadoff double, Kyle Russell bunted him over and Alan Shibley drove in the game’s first run with an RBI groundout. 

It’s the first home baseball game of the season. Of course, that’s when things got interesting. 

Almost exactly 30 minutes after the first pitch Friday, the umpire crew got together and announced they were delaying the game between WSU baseball (6-3) and Rhode Island (1-6) due to weather. After another 30 minutes passed, the game was postponed. 

Originally a four-game series, after the delay, the two teams were set to pick up Friday’s game in game one of Saturday’s doubleheader and the rest of the weekend would go as planned. 

Friday’s game resumed exactly where it had been stopped: bottom of the first inning, WSU leading 1-0 and Casen Taggart up to bat with a 0-1 count. After he struck out looking, the Cougs were back on the field, this time without Taylor on the mound. 

Game two projected starter Connor Wilford got the nod and he acts as the start of an eighth-inning game — where you also start with a one-run lead. 

The Rams got on the righty early, as after he induced a groundout, Wilford walked the next two batters. A fielder’s choice got him to one out shy of getting out of the jam, but a double and single scored three runs, quickly putting the Cougs behind 3-1. 

Wilford locked in from there, giving up one more earned run over the next 5.0 innings, putting him in line for the win. Despite the rough first inning, he ended the day with a respectable 6.0 innings, five hits, four earned runs, four walks and two strikeouts. 

“It’s great playing defense for guys that want to fill up the zone and throw strikes for you. It’s just huge,” Cole Cramer said. 

Immediately after going down, the lineup had their pitcher’s backs. Putting up four in the bottom of the second, they regained the advantage and never looked back. 

Joey Kramer got the second started by getting hit by a pitch with a 0-2 count. Jacob Morrow doubled to make it second and third to set up Cramer’s two-RBI double. Nate Swarts singled, setting up a Crew Parke sacrifice fly and Hartman got his second double of the game to bring in the fourth and final run of the inning. 

Hartman drove in another run in the bottom of the sixth on a groundout for his second RBI of the game as well as to put the Cougs up 6-3. Add in his runs scored and he had one of the best performances of anyone in game one. Finishing 3-for-5 with two doubles, two RBI and a walk, he got it done across two days at the top of the order.

Game MVP is a debatable award as Hartman, Morrow and Cramer all had three hits to lead the team. 

Cramer has the best case, finishing 3-for-4 with a team-leading four RBI, two doubles and a walk of his own. 

WSU gave up its final run in the top of the sixth but, once again, immediately responded by scoring a run of their own in the bottom of the sixth to make it 7-4. That sixth inning could have been a lot worse, but a backhand deep in the hole at shortstop and picked by Kramer at first base got the team out of the jam. 

With hindsight, the Cougs had already won the game at that point, but they had another explosive-esque inning out of the seventh-inning stretch. 

Hartman got it started once again singled to get things going while Russell reached via error. Shibley struck out on a 3-2 count and Taggart hit a sacrifice fly to give the Cougs one run and two outs in the inning. 

A clutch team, being one out away, did not stop the Cougs. Kramer had an RBI single, Morrow hit a single and Cramer capped it off with an RBI double on a 0-1 count. Rhode Island went to the bullpen in search of an out to get out of the inning, a goal they accomplished when Swarts struck out swinging.

For the eighth inning, Choate went to the bullpen for the first time of the weekend. Called in to get the final six outs, Kaden Wickersham did so with little stress, especially given his six-run cushion. He navigated two eighth-inning hits to pitch a clean six outs, securing the 10-4 victory for WSU, their first at Bailey-Brayton this season.

Taylor, Wilford and Wickersham combined to strand eight batters on base and hold the Rams to a teamwide batting average of .235. 

WSU’s offense, on the other hand, dominated. They hit .385 with two outs, hit .333 with runners on and leadoff batters hit an astonishing .625. For the first time in front of fans in the 2024 season, they showed out. 

“I love to hear the fans. They are awesome. We want to do it for them,” Cramer said. “It’s great to bring baseball back to Pullman.” 

With a sweep in the double-header, vibes were good across the dugout surrounding the strong start to the home season. 

“You got these loyal fans that will come out here in the cold. It’s honestly a massive honor to be able to pitch in front of them for sure,” game two starter Spencer Jones said.