In the deciding match of the Pac-2 Pullman series, Oregon State got a lead early and never looked back. Scoring four runs in the top of the first and scoring in five of the nine innings, OSU avenged their Saturday loss with a 10-6 win Sunday.
WSU baseball (20-26, 8-16 Pac-12) continues to fall down the standings as they lose to No. 6 OSU (35-12, 14-9), but the Cougs fought their hardest against an AP top 25 team.
Despite tallying 11 hits, one less than the Beavers, the Cougs scored four fewer runs. Somehow, despite hitting .421 (8-for-19) with runners on to OSU’s .167 (4-for-24), only one team managed to score double-digit runs.
Early in the innings, OSU got runners on, going 7-of-9 to leadoff innings and from there, they took advantage of mistakes by the Cougs arms and two errors made by the defense.
Eight seperate times, including four times by reliever Kevin Haynes, WSU pitching walked a batter, giving up free 90 feet to give OSU more scoring opportunities. The Cougs also hit an additional two batters, bringing the total number of free bases to an astounding 10 on the game.
That capitalization from the Beavers started instantly. In the top of the first inning, a leadoff home run by Travis Bazzana put OSU up 1-0. After a single and double, two walks and an error committed by the Cougs allowed three more runs to cross home.
Bazzana became the Coug killer Sunday, hitting another leadoff home run to begin the fourth inning and a two-run blast in the top of the seventh for his third and fourth RBI. Perfectly captivating how the Beavers won; he also drew two of the eight walks in the win.
Duke Brotherton got the nod to start the game for WSU. Pitching into the fourth inning, he got pulled after giving up his second home run to Bazzana, giving up a single and hitting a batter.
Haynes came in after Jack Lee faced, and walked, one batter. The righty Haynes threw 3.2 innings, giving up three runs while walking a game-high four batters.
WSU’s offense struck out 12 times in the loss, with Casen Taggart striking out a trio of times to lead the team. Despite punching out twice himself, Kyle Russell led the team with three hits, one being an extra-base knock.
With the loss Sunday, the Cougs have lost their sixth consecutive series and sit just above one team, the UCLA Bruins, in the Pac-12 standings. WSU can still sneak into the Pac-12 Tournament for the first time in program history with six Conference games left, but with additional series losses, that opportunity goes out the window.
