Max Hartman smacked the ball over the right-field wall. As he rounded the bases and made his way home, the umpire called him out. The ball was not caught in a crazy, highlight-reel fashion at the wall and it certainly did not fall foul.

No, what happened was a stark reminder of a baseball rule designed for the days of yore. Hartman had passed the runner at first base, making him automatically out.

Crew Parke and Nate Swarts scored as the runners on base, but Hartman was called out.

“That is the rule,” head coach Nathan Choate said on the WSU postgame radio show.

Hartman’s mistake cost the Cougars a run. A costly mistake and a lost run which proved to be the difference in the game as WSU baseball (9-2, 1-2 Pac-12) lost to Utah, 5-4.

Despite Hartman’s mistake, the Cougs were in a position to win thanks to starting right-handed pitcher Connor Wilford.

Wilford was dealing on a career day with the Cougars. The senior starter pitched a career-high 7.2 innings with a career-high eight strikeouts. He allowed five runs on five hits.

“Knowing that you know, you only get one time a week to pitch is a big deal for me,” Wilford said.

Wilford gave a lot of credit for his improved start to his second power-five season to Choate, who serves as the Cougars pitchers coach in addition to leading the program.

“A lot of the pitches I throw are his plan and I stick to it,” Wilford said. “He just helps us a lot with keeping us composed and keeping us down to Earth.”

Choate said Wilford’s body language and effort have been key to his success.

“[Wilford has] really matured as a person and understands that being a starting pitcher here, you’re just trying to give your team an opportunity to win. There’s only so much you can control,” Choate said.

The Cougar bullpen allowed just one hit, but it certainly hurt. Sophomore right-handed pitcher Ryan Orr out of Tumwater High School conceded a two-out double to Kai Roberts which allowed his lone inherited runner, Core Jackson, to score, adding one more run to Wilford’s final line. 

“The game is gonna be won and lost on two or three pitches, and you know that going into it, you just don’t know which two or three pitches that’s gonna be so you just got to stay focused the entire game,” Choate said.

The Cougs trailed 5-4 and saw six hitters walk back to the dugout without touching home to lose by that same score.

Wazzu outhit Utah 10-6, but Utah’s hits were more explosive.

Another Roberts home run, two RBI doubles, a triple and a seventh-inning base runner who walked, stole second and scored gave Utah the edge.

After Wilford spun a 1-2-3 first inning, the Cougars capitalized off of a Hartman lead-off walk with two straight two-out singles from Casen Taggart and Joey Kramer to jump out to a 1-0 lead.

Following a Nate Swarts single in the second, Crew Parke reached on a fielder’s choice and scored from first base on a Hartman double. The Cougs led the Utes 2-0.

After facing the minimum for 3.2 innings and 11 batters, Wilford allowed Roberts to homer in the top of the fourth to cut the Cougar lead in half.

WSU had the opportunity to take a firm hold of the game in the bottom of the fourth, but a costly mistake stopped the Cougs in their tracks.

Swarts singled up the middle for his second hit of the day and Parke found his way back on base, this time advancing Swarts to third. With a runner on the corners, Hartman smacked the ball out to deep right field and began to round the bases.

One problem. As Parke was tagging back to first base before beginning his jaunt home, Hartman passed him on the base paths, ruling Hartman out and giving him the longest single of his career.

Hartman’s would-be three-run home run, became a two-RBI single, and the Cougs led 4-1.

Wilford turned in another 1-2-3 inning with a strikeout looking, a groundout and a flyout.

Utah’s starter Bryson Van Sickle, settled down with his first 1-2-3 inning of the day.

Wilford conceded a run to a Jackson RBI double. The Cougs attempted to cushion their two-run lead with a Will Cresswell lead-off single. Van Sickle had other plans as he stranded the runner and finished with a final line of 6.0 innings, 4 ER, 9 H, 3 K, 1 BB, 1 HBP.

Drake Digiorno engineered a run for the Utes as he drew a walk out of Wilford, stole second and scored on Karsen Bodily’s RBI triple to make it a one-run game.

Then 90 feet from home plate, Bodily scored on a fielder’s choice to tie the game at four.

The Utes bullpen shut the Cougars down with four pitchers covering three scoreless innings (although the Utes’ first reliever, Jackson Elder, faced just one batter and did not record the out).

The Cougars staged a bases-loaded threat in the bottom of the seventh with shortstop Kyle Russell reaching on a throwing error. Seeking a better matchup, the Utes went back to their pen to find Ernesto Lugo-Canchola. The senior from Pleasant Grove, Utah got one out via an Alan Shibley fly-out but saw Russell steal second under his nose before walking Taggart.

The Utes brought in their third pitcher of the inning in junior right-hander Jaden Harris. Harris forced Kramer to flyout but walked Cresswell to load the bases. He drew a grounder from Cole Cramer to end the inning as Cresswell was thrown out at second.

In the top of the eighth, Wilford drew his career-high eighth strikeout but allowed Jackson to reach on a single. He struck out TJ Clarkson and left the game with a career-high eight strikeouts in a career-high 7.2 innings.

After allowing his inherited runner to score, Orr settled down drawing the final out of the inning and working a 1-2-3 ninth inning.

The Cougs made some noise in the eighth, as Parke singled to force Harris to the bench, but could not get much, apart from a hit-by-pitch, going against left-handed junior Micah Ashman, who struck out four of the six hitters he faced, including Russell in the eighth and each hitter in the ninth inning. Taggart looking, Kramer looking and Cresswell swinging.

WSU lost to Utah 5-4, stranding 11 runners on the bases, including one who hit the ball over the wall.