On a night of fireworks, Nick Lewis and the Cougars put on a show with their four-run win to start the weekend series. Nick Lewis spun nine innings, five strikeouts, five hits allowed, no walks and only one earned run.

In spite of the individual performance, Lewis was more concerned about the team win. 

“Yeah to be honest, I was a little happy I threw my first CG, but it’s just awesome every game we win when I’m on the mound,” Lewis said.

The best bat of the game was Max Hartman who went 3-for-4 with two runs, one RBI and an intentional walk. Hartman also got his eight triple of the season, which is a new school record for WSU. 

To top off the excitement of baseball, it was also Fireworks Night at Bailey Brayton Field after the game concluded. 

The matchup of pitchers was between Lewis for the Cougars and Drew Townson for the Bulldogs.

Townson would only survive three innings, giving up four of the five Cougar runs in the ballgame. 

The start of the scoring in Bailey Brayton field started off sharply with two runs in the bottom of the first. Two hits were rocketed by Trevor Smith and Hartman. Smith led off the inning with a stand-up double to right field which almost cleared the wall. Following Smith, Hartman drove him in by smacking a triple off the left field wall, also coming inches within a home run. Hartman was then driven in with a high chopping infield single from Matt Priest. 

The Bulldogs would score their one and only run in the game in the top of the third inning. After two outs, Lewis hit Mikey Lewis of Fresno State to send him to first base. Following the hit-by-pitch, Brady Hewitt pushed a double down the right field line to drive Lewis in. That run would be the only one given up on the night from Lewis. 

Following the threat of the Bulldog offense, the Cougars would respond with two more runs in the bottom of the same inning. Hartman started the inning by continuing his day with a soft fly-ball single to left field. Priest then followed with another single through the infield to put runners on the corners. With a runner in scoring position, Dustin Robinson came through with a double over the left fielder’s head scoring one run. Priest on third would then be driven in with a Ollie Obenour sacrifice groundout which was also a fielding error by the Bulldogs third baseman. Ending the third with a 4-1 lead, Lewis and the Cougars didn’t look back. 

Lewis would only face 18 more batters, not allowing any more runs in quick and efficient innings. The closest the Bulldogs got to scoring again was in the top of the eight inning. Ryan De La Maza would reach on a fielding error from Kyler Northrop, and he would be stranded on second base after Michael Boyd grounded out to first base to end the inning.

The Cougars added one insurance run in the bottom of the eighth, as Northrop would make up for his fielding error by hitting a leadoff double. With smart base-running, he scored on a sacrifice fly from Gavin Roy. 

In the top of the ninth, Lewis gave up one base-runner with a single from Owen Faust, but a deep flyout to Trevor Smith finished the ballgame where the Cougars rounded around Lewis to celebrate the win and his amazing night. 

Lewis had a dominant showing, but the offense also showed up getting 12 hits in the matchup. Five Cougars got one RBI, with Hartman, Roy, Priest, Robinson and Obenour coming up clutch when needed.

A hero for the Bulldogs that couldn’t save his team was relief pitcher Brandon Thomas. He had come into the game in the bottom of the fourth to relieve Townson. Thomas finished the game with five innings pitched, one earned run, five hits allowed and four strikeouts. 

Lewis moves to 7-2 on the year, with Townson taking the loss falling to 0-6. 

The home environment certainly played a role in the Cougs performance, specifically for Lewis.  

“There’s nothing better,” Lewis said. “The fans just being here, it’s comfortable. We love it, and we love all of the things about Washington State that makes it special. We really appreciate it when we get a chance to play at home.” 

The Cougars conference record sits at 12-7 with the win and are tied for second with Nevada and Air Force. They have a tie-breaker above Air Force but are below Nevada, sitting third after Friday. 

The Cougars will look for their first series win against Fresno State ever with game two and three taking place over Saturday and Sunday. The next game is set for Saturday at 6 p.m. in Bailey Brayton Field.