After a 7-6 upset win over the No. 7 Oregon State Beavers, the Cougs took the momentum into their series against Gardner-Webb. In the three-game sweep, WSU posted 29 hits, only five earned runs allowed and three home runs.
Although the series is out of conference, it still builds confidence and momentum for the Cougs who are getting ready to take on UNLV next weekend. With two series wins thus far in conference play, momentum is desperately needed. If they can pull into Sin City and sneak out a series win, they will put themselves in a good spot for the home stretch of the conference slate.
So, with the brooms broken out and the vibes high, what did we learn from this smackdown of the Runnin’ Bulldogs…
The Cougs get three big booms!
Small ball is typically WSU’s bread and butter. But, it was a trio of home runs that muscled them past Gardner-Webb. All three long balls came off the barrels of three different Cougs, giving WSU a different hero every game.
Game one had Dustin Robinson shooting a ball the opposite way for a solo shot. In game two it was Ryan Skjonsby ripping a ball to deep right field to tally three insurance runs in WSU’s 7-4 win. Finally, in game three, freshman Trevor Smith got his first career home run at home that banged off the light pole in left field to tie up the game in the fourth.
Despite the slugging weekend, the Cougs are still dead last in the Mountain West Conference for home runs with 19. What’s more is the team directly above WSU has seven more longballs. Above them the gap grows to 14.
On top of that, the Cougs are second to last for doubles (64) and RBIs (176). Basically, while the weekend was a loud one for the Coug bats, it barely put a dent in the chasm of production that separates the Cougs from their conference opponents.
WSU’s identity is not a power offense. They are a small ball program that bleeds you to death with papercuts. But, if this weekend is an indication of the offense heating up, then I’m all for it.
Groundouts, groundouts… and more groundouts
The Cougs got three stellar outings from their starters this weekend, limiting their relievers to only 7.0 innings of work. Three of those innings were from August Richie who won Mountain West Pitcher of the Week.
What stands out more from the weekend was the fact that Cougs only struck out 10 batters total. That’s an average of about three strikeouts per game.
Instead, the Cougs got most of their outs on the ground. After the dust settled, the Cougs forced 30 ground outs total on the weekend. Paired with that they forced 25 fly outs and two pop outs.
What exactly does that mean? It means the Cougs are limiting quality contact…big time. They allowed only three doubles total in the series, but did allow four home runs.
Despite that, the Gardner-Webb bats were kept in check for much of the weekend. Only 26 hits and seven extra base hits allowed them to only tally nine runs total.
If the Coug pitchers can continue to limit quality contact and use their infield to get out of jams, then they have nothing to worry about in conference play.
Slow and steady wins the race
One thing that might slip under the radar from this weekend is the consistency from the Cougar bats. What separates good teams from great teams is their ability to score in multiple innings, and that’s exactly what the Cougs did.
They scored all 15 of their runs in 11 separate innings, averaging nearly 1.5 runs per inning. That kind of consistency is how you beat teams above your weight class.
Additionally, the Cougs averaged almost 10 hits, two doubles and one home run per game. It’s one thing to have a big inning or a big game, but the Cougs did it in all three matchups.
In college baseball, consistency is king. Your team may be good, on occasion, but if you can’t do it consistently then it really doesn’t matter.
The Cougs have often struggled with consistency, having hot and cold streaks both from the team and individual players. However, recently, they have been red hot.
WSU is 9-4 in their last 13 games, and currently are on a five game win streak. Plus, they are above 0.500 for the first time since their Alabama series at the start of the year. The last time the Cougs had a winning record was in 2023 where they went 29-23 overall.
With the Cougs about to take on UNLV in a few days, they could not have picked a better time to get hot. A series win, or sweep preferably, would be just what the doctor ordered to build on the good vibes and keep the consistency in favor of the Cougs.
