A 40-minute break from the last pitch of game one to the opening toss of game two did little to slow down the WSU baseball (7-3), who scored 17 runs in just seven innings to take down Rhode Island (1-7) via run-rule, 17-7 (7). 

Spencer Jones got the nod on the bump, his third of the young season. While he said he wanted his sixth-inning performance back, he still picked up the win and pitched a solid five-plus innings. 

His final line is 5.1 innings, five hits, five earned runs, three walks and four strikeouts, a season-high. He found success early with the command of his fastball, generating in-play balls that the defense could easily make plays on. 

“I just knew that if I gave our infielders a chance to make a lot of plays, we’d have a good, successful day. So that was kind of my game plan going forward today,” Jones said. 

It helped that the offense showed no rust after the break between games, scoring one run in the bottom of the first inning to give Jones an early lead.

While most of the offensive production came later in the game, the early advantage was enough to give their starter extra confidence to really attack the strike zone. 

“As a pitcher, it’s always great when you can have your offense back you up and it gave me a lot more confidence on the mound today,” Jones said. 

From top to bottom, the WSU offense got to work in game two. All nine starters got at least one base hit and six had multi-hit games. Once again, Hartman had three hits and Kyle Russell joined his leadoff hitter in the three-hit club. 

“Not one guy is just gonna do it for the whole team. We’re gonna hit one through nine. Everyone in the lineup can hit for power; we can put that on the ball when we need and we need a guy to do something in a certain scenario. They’ll get it done for us,” Cole Cramer said.

Hartman finishes his Saturday (plus one at-bat from Friday’s delay) 6-for-10 with five RBI and two walks, one of the most productive two-game stretch of any. 

After going for the golden sombrero (four strikeouts in one game) in game one, Alan Shibley leveled up in a 2-for-3 effort with two additional walks in game two. While his two hits likely did not change the outcome that drastically, he got back on track after his scorching hot start to the 2024 season. 

Putting up 17 runs, the Cougs had 27 total runs in their doubleheader, keeping the offense going through 16 innings.

Impressively, after a six-run fifth inning, the offense poured on seven more runs in the bottom of the seventh to walk off the win via run rule. 

The bottom of the seventh play-by-play read as follows: 

Fly out. Walk. Single. (Wild Pitch). Walk. Pop Up. Single. (Passed ball). Walk. Single. Triple. Walk. Walk-off single. 

Despite it being the 15th inning of the game and it being six and half hours after the first pitch of the day, it had been the best all-around inning the Cougs played all day.

Part of that ability to stay locked in is their chemistry. 

Jones said that the team is able to play for each other no matter what because of their strong bonds, calling it the closest team he’s been a part of.

“I’ve never been a part of a team that loves each other as much as we do. I mean, we’re all buddies off the field. We love playing together and I think we’ve shown that in our play, no matter what the score is, we enjoy being around each other that plays into these long days,” Jones said. 

After winning the first two, the Cougs and Rams will close out their weekend series at 1:05 p.m. today at Bailey-Brayton Field.