The WSU baseball team came back from the dead Monday to split the series with Cal Poly and move to 3-4 on the young season.
Max Hartman and the Cougar offense clawed their way back from the ropes against some tough Mustang pitching. The Cougs scored five runs on nine hits, winning 5-4.
The scoring started in the first inning with an RBI single by Ryan Skjonsby that brought in Kyler Northrop. Cal Poly stranded two runners on base to end the inning.
In the third inning, designated hitter Dustin Robinson smacked a two-RBI double, scoring Smith and Northrop. The Mustangs would tie the game in the bottom of the third on a Casey Murray Jr walk.
The will of the pitchers would be a theme for the Cougars in this one, overcoming multiple blunders. The bats picked them up too, scoring runs in the eighth and ninth innings to take the lead back.
“We’re pretty resilient, you know, that’s what we’re about to find out and when we come back to Pullman, we’re still gonna be more resilient than ever,” second baseman Luke Thiel said.
Head coach Nathan Choate had to use eight pitchers who gave up three earned runs, nine hits and six walks on five strikeouts. Scott Rienguette got the save, his first of the year.
In the seventh inning, a wild pitch from the Cougs allowed Dante Vachini to score from third and take a 4-3 lead. Luke Meyers came in to relieve in the seventh after starting Friday night’s game. He stranded two runners on base in a big inning for the Mustangs.
Thiel brought in Dane Chavez from first on a double down the left field line to tie the game at four in the top of the eighth. Chavez was pinch running for Skjonsby. A few pitches later, Thiel was caught between second and third and got hurt trying to get back to second base and had to be removed from the game.
The Cougars got out of a jam in the eighth when Trevor Stowe came in and got the remaining two outs, stranding a runner on first.
Everything was going right for the Cougars in the ninth inning. Trevor Smith roped a double with one out and was followed by a Kyler Northrop walk on a wild pitch, allowing Smith to advance to third. Max Hartman would give the Cougars a 5-4 lead, hitting a chopper up the middle, to bring in Smith. Hartman was out at first on the play after initially being called safe before it was overturned.
In the bottom of the ninth, Rienguette gave up a lead-off single. After that, he was nails. He got Alejandro Garza to fly out. Then Murray Jr reached base on a fielder’s choice, while the runner on first was out at second. To end the game and finish off the comeback, Rienguette got Ryan Tayman to fly out to right field.
The Cougars will travel to Long Beach to play both BYU and Long Beach this week for their third series of the year. The first game will be at 1:05 p.m Thursday, Feb. 2,6 in Long Beach.
