After getting mercy-ruled by San Diego State in game one, the Cougs get their revenge highlighted by redshirt sophomore pitcher Nick Lewis’s most dominant outing of the year. Lewis earns his first win after throwing 6 2/3 innings; six of those being scoreless.
Head coach Nathan Choate gave his pitcher some praise for his incredible performance.
“It was a big-time performance when we needed it, and so you know he set the tone for the whole night,” he said in a postgame interview.
As Lewis did not allow SDSU a run until the seventh inning, WSU built a 7-0 lead with two separate three-run innings in the third and fifth, followed by one more run in the top of the seventh.
The Cougs were playing smart baseball after getting back-to-back walks in the third inning from freshman infielder Dane Chavez and senior catcher Noah Thein. Sophomore infielder Kyler Northrop advanced both runners with a sacrifice bunt, placing both runners in scoring position. Northrop’s bunt ultimately led to WSU’s three run inning with a sacrifice fly from freshman outfielder Trevor Smith, RBI single from senior infielder Gavin Roy, and a well hit triple from senior outfielder Max Hartman to round out the inning.
WSU would not let up against San Diego with another three-run inning in the fifth starting with Hartman grounding out to the pitcher, scoring the first run of the inning. Redshirt freshman outfielder Matt Priest came into the game as a pinch hitter and immediately got to work with a two-run single, extending the Cougs lead to six.
Later in the seventh inning, Priest continued to be an offensive threat with a double for his second hit of the game, bringing home Hartman to score for Washington State’s seventh run.
Heading into the bottom of the seventh, Lewis wraps up a spectacular performance after giving up his first run of the game with two outs in the seventh inning. Afterwards, redshirt senior pitcher Kaden Wickersham came in from the bullpen to finish the seventh with only one more run given up to the Aztecs. That was the last time SDSU scored as Wickersham threw a scoreless eighth, followed by redshirt junior pitcher Scott Rienguette to close out the game, giving the Cougs the win 7-2.
The Cougs’ early lead was able to give more breathing room for Lewis to relax and do what he does best against the Aztecs.
“I just kind of got rolling and you know, we had scored a couple runs by then. I was just able to attack with the fastball,” Lewis said. “First couple times throughout the order I was throwing a lot of off-speed, so then I just got to attack and you know it worked out. We had a plan.”
The Cougs are looking for a series win as they face SDSU at 1 p.m March 15 in the last game of the series.
