Following the dominant Thursday night win, WSU baseball fell flat with two chances to secure a series win over their rivals on the road.
In Seattle Saturday night, WSU baseball (16-11, 6-6 Pac-12) lost to Washington (8-12-1, 3-6) in an 11-5 rubber match finale. WSU won game one behind Grant Taylor’s career night but lost game two as the pitching floundered.
On Saturday, the pitching once again had a difficult time getting outs, allowing 11 runs to come across the series finale and the Cougs never claimed a lead.
Spencer Jones got the nod for Saturday’s loss. He pitched a 1-2-3 inning to start the game, throwing just 11 pitches and inducing two groundouts. Things went downhill from there, as he allowed two runs in the bottom of the second.
He got UW team MVP Jeter Ybarra to line out but hit and walked the two subsequent batters. Then he allowed a double and single, both hits driving in one run.
Jones got out of the jam with a strikeout and induced groundout, but the two runs gave the Huskies a lead they never gave up despite giving up five runs.
WSU nearly got things going in the top of the fourth inning. Max Hartman led off the inning with a double and Jacob Morrow drove him in with his own double. Despite having a runner in scoring position with zero outs, Morrow never got past third base.
Despite the lackluster inning, the Cougs had their best offensive inning in the very next frame. All with two outs, the Cougs drew a walk, singled and Hartman’s second double of the game drove in two runs.
The rally only reduced the deficit, as the two runs by then made it a 6-3 game.
Wazzu got one run in each of the seventh and eighth innings, but with UW’s offense posting two separate four-run innings, the deficit proved too extreme for the Cougs.
In the loss, Hartman’s two doubles led the team, with the top three of the order doing most of the damage. Hartman, Morrow and Alan Shibley went a combined 4-for-11 with four extra-base hits. The rest of the lineup went a combined 3-for-22, with two of those hits coming courtesy of nine-hole hitter Crew Parke.
As for pitching, the first two Cougs to touch the mound each pitched 3.0 innings, with both allowing at least three earned runs to come across. But, the worst performance came from the arm of Chase Grillo, who entered for the seventh inning.
Grillo came out to start the inning, with his night being welcomed with three straight walks. After an error brought in his first unearned run, he walked the next batter he faced to allow the inning’s second run. While his night was finished, two more runs scored in the inning, making his line for the game 0.0 innings, three earned runs and four walks.
From the offset, he struggle wit his command, the only silver lining being that his three earned runs did not make a difference in the loss, as the Cougs only scored five runs to UW’s 11.
WSU is now 6-6 in Pac-12 action despite winning at least one game in each of their Conference series.
Things are only getting more competitive, as their next series is against Stanford. The three-game set starts at 6:05 p.m. Friday and will be played at Sunkren Diamond in Stanford, California, against the Cardinal.
