The Cougars dropped the opening game of the Kleberg Bank Collegiate Classic to the Michigan State Spartans by a score of 9-2 on Friday.
The Spartans started strong, scoring four runs off WSU starter Griffin Smith in the first inning. Smith settled in and worked four scoreless innings, keeping the Cougars within striking distance for most of the game, but the Cougars could not find the offense they needed.
In the sixth inning, the Spartans made it 5-0, and in the seventh inning, they heated up, scoring four more runs and making it a 9-0 game. The Cougars plated two runs in the bottom of the ninth.
Noah Thein and Will Cresswell knocked in the RBI’s for the Cougs in the bottom frame of the last inning. For Thein, the junior catcher who transferred from Des Moines Community College, it was his first RBI as a Cougar.
