The Cougs secured a huge conference win as they overpowered New Mexico 10-3, improving their record to 22-20 and 10-6 in Mountain West Conference play. Washington State takes New Mexico’s place at 2nd in the Mountain West Standings, putting themselves in a great spot to qualify for the conference tournament. 

As for game one of this three game series, redshirt sophomore Nick Lewis was able to settle in after a long first inning, giving up three runs to the Lobos. But once he got back on the mound in the second, he cruised through five scoreless innings to shut out New Mexico from having any chance to make a comeback.

“You know, I don’t feel like I have to be perfect,” Lewis said. “On a day where I don’t really have my best stuff, I can just go out there and really just throw strikes and I know those guys will support me.” 

The Cougs offense was able to give tons of run support for their starting pitcher as they put up ten runs on the board after five innings, starting off with four runs in the first to erase New Mexico’s lead. With the bases loaded, redshirt sophomore outfielder Dustin Robinson hit an RBI groundout to bring in WSU’s

first run of the game. Next in the lineup senior outfielder Ryan Skjonsby crushes a three-run bomb to give the Cougs a 4-3 lead. Skjonsby is leading the Cougs in home runs as he is now at seven on the season. 

After a quiet second inning, redshirt freshman outfielder Matt Priest led off in the third with a solo blast to get things going. Next up, junior catcher Cam Macleod stepped up to the plate with runners in scoring position and hit a hard line drive to the center fielder to bring in another run off a sacrifice fly. Following Macleod, sophomore infielder Kyler Northrop hit a triple past the right fielder to bring in the third run of this inning, extending the Cougs lead to four. 

With New Mexico completely rattled after three innings, Robinson brought in another run off an RBI single in the fourth, followed by two more runs scored in the fifth that were not even brought in from hits. With runners on second and third, a balk allowed outfielder Trevor Smith to come across the plate. After the bases were filled up, Priest was drilled to add the Cougs’ tenth run of the game. 

After five strong offensive innings and six dominant innings from Lewis, the bullpen came through and finished the job as five bullpen pitchers all allowed zero runs from New Mexico’s offense. The Cougs showed up and completely dominated the Lobos, earning a 10-3 win to start off this home series, as well as giving Lewis the win to improve his record to 6-2. 

“We won tonight and we have an opportunity to win a series tomorrow and hopefully we get a good crowd out,” head coach Nathan Choate said after wrapping up game one. 

The Cougs take on New Mexico in game two of this three-game series at 6:05 pm Saturday at Bailey-Brayton Field.