ieDespite the cold air Saturday afternoon, Bailey-Brayton Field was warm as the WSU offense heated up the ballpark defeating Central Washington University 19-2 in its first scrimmage of the year.

Despite the great offensive showing, perhaps the most impressive part of the Cougars’ victory was the dominance from the pitching staff, Head Coach Marty Lees said.

“I felt like our pitchers have been doing well all fall,” Lees said. “We have got higher [velocity], we’ve got better breaking balls, we are throwing a lot more strikes and some older kids are pitching with more confidence. And our new kids are advanced freshmen, that combination brings a chance at being really good.”

The Cougs opened up the game by scoring two runs when freshman infielder Kyle Manzardo brought in junior third baseman Dillon Plew with an RBI groundout to make it 1-0 for WSU.

Senior infielder Andres Alvarez then added another run to make it 2-0 on an RBI single from sophomore outfielder Collin Montez.

The Cougs kept up the offensive pressure in the second inning when Plew continued his hot start by bringing in freshman infielder Kodie Kolden and freshman outfielder Koby Blunt with an RBI single to make it 4-0. Alvarez then extended the lead to 5-0 with a double to split the right and center fielder, before a wild pitch brought him in to put WSU ahead 6-0.

The third inning was much of the same as the Cougs put up five more runs highlighted by an RBI double from Blunt.

The next few innings were quiet for both offenses until the Cougs added another run when Plew scored on a wild pitch in the bottom of the eighth inning. Right after, freshman catcher Anthony Notaro brought two more runs in on an error by Central Washington to make it 18-2.

The Cougs added another run when Alvarez scored in the bottom of the tenth to make it 19-2 after freshman outfielder Tyson Guerrero got an RBI single.

WSU finished its first scrimmage firing on all cylinders with an impressive 19-2 victory over Central Washington. The 32nd-ranked recruiting class for the Cougs showed its skill with a dominating performance to start the fall scrimmages.

The next scrimmage is 1 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 21 against Gonzaga University at Bailey-Brayton Field.