After falling short in their own comeback attempt Friday, WSU went into the top of the ninth inning, holding a 10-2 lead over their Pac-2 counterparts in the No. 6 Oregon State Beavers. With breathing room, a win seemed in the books.
A five-pitch walk started the inning, followed by back-to-back-to-back hits, including back-to-back doubles. After Spencer Jones came in and struck out the first batter he faced, a runner got on via error and he allowed a single and a home run.
Kaden Wickerham then got the nod to come in, inducing new groundouts and letting the Cougs (20-25, 8-15 Pac-12) squeak past the Beavs (34-12, 13-9) by a final score of 10-9. As Wickersham came in with just a single run cushion, the confidence of a team that scored double-digit runs for the first time since March 20 never wavered.
“We all had each other’s backs. We had his, and he had ours. It was a great team win,” outfielder Casen Taggart said.
Up until the eighth inning, the WSU pitching held OSU at bay. Starter Connor Wilford pitched 5.1 innings, allowing just one first-inning run and striking out four batters. While he had some command issues, dishing out five free passes, he locked in to allow just the single run to cross home.
As for the offense, Logan Johnstone started things off early with a first-inning leadoff double. Driven in by Taggart’s own double, the Cougs looked more like their ninth-inning performance than their first eight from the night before.
“Willie performed well and set the tone. Johnstone came out the gate and gave us a double, It felt great as a team win,” Taggart said.
In the win, WSU scored in five different innings, including scoring at least one run in each of the first three frames. While they hit a dry spell in innings four and five, they scored one run in the bottom of the sixth and a game-high four runs in the bottom of the eighth to secure their cushion.
Will Cresswell led off the bottom of the eighth with a fly out and Crew Parke followed him up with a ground out. All with two outs, WSU hit three singles, drew two walks and were hit by one pitch to score their four runs, providing just enough support to squeak out a win.
At the top of the lineup, Johnstone had a career night, finishing 4-for-5 with a pair of doubles and a stolen base. Not far behind in production, Taggart went 3-for-5 with two doubles of his own and three RBI.
Joey Kramer and Cole Cramer joined in on the multi-hit action. Both finished 2-for-4 with a pair of singles, a walk and a strikeout. On this night, similar last names had not been the only connection the duo shared.
The Cougs and Beavs will battle it out Sunday in a rubber match to see who wins the Pac-2 Pullman series.
