For the second night in a row, starting pitching failed the WSU Cougars on the baseball diamond. The Oregon Ducks guaranteed a win over the Cougars with a 6-3 victory on Friday night. 

Junior Tanner Chleborad gave up six runs on eight hits over 5 2/3 innings of work, which gave the Ducks’ pitching staff plenty of breathing room over a Cougar offense that had averaged three runs over its previous four games. 

WSU actually put up the first run of the game in the top of the third inning to support Chleborad. The Ducks floundered against Chleborad in the first three innings, going down in order in each frame against the right-hander. 

However, that all changed in the bottom of the fourth when Oregon exploded for five runs on five hits, putting them ahead for good. Senior Aaron Payne led the inning with a triple, and then scored on a groundout by freshman A.J. Balta. When senior Tyler Baumgartner struck out for the second out, it appeared that Chleborad would settle down and get out of the inning with limited damage. 

On the contrary, the Ducks rallied for four more runs that started with a single by sophomore Mitchell Tolman. He advanced to second on a balk, went to third on another single, and then scored on a bunt single. From there, a walk loaded the bases and freshman Austin Grebeck doubled to left field to clear the bases. 

The Cougars looked like they could come back as they posted two runs of their own in the following inning. WSU loaded the bases with one out, but sophomore Trek Stemp hit a pop-up to second base to dampen the rally. Then junior Yale Rosen stepped to the plate and launched a double to center field, which scored two runs easily. Senior Collin Slaybaugh tried to push across a third run but was thrown out at the plate on a relay throw from the shortstop to end the inning. 

That would be the last time the Cougars scored as Oregon starter Jeff Gold lasted two more innings for a total of seven. Two relievers threw an inning each and combined to allow one Cougar hit for the rest of the way, securing the victory for the Ducks. 

The final game of the series begins at 2 p.m. tomorrow. The Cougars will try to salvage one win in the series by putting senior Jason Monda on the mound to start the game.