Close, but no cigar; Cougar baseball falls short to Matadors

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A thriller unfurled on Thursday afternoon when the Cougars and Matadors were locked in a pitcher’s duel that needed extra innings to determine a winner.  

Cal State Northridge’s junior catcher, Nick Murphy, singled with two outs in the bottom half of the 10th inning, bringing home senior centerfielder Ranny Lowe from second base to score the winning run.

The Matadors beat the Cougars 3-2 giving WSU its sixth loss of the season, and the team committed five errors in the game, including three in one inning.

The teams subdued each other for seven complete innings of shutout ball, behind strong outings from both starting pitchers. The Cougar’s senior pitcher Jason Monda threw 6 2/3 innings and gave up only four hits, striking out three. Meanwhile, Northridge starter junior Jerry Keel threw seven full innings, allowing six hits and striking out six.  

The scoring began when the starters departed, and the Matadors struck first in the bottom half of the eighth inning. Junior left fielder Nick Blaser led off with a single, and then senior shortstop Brett Balkan reached on a sacrifice bunt that WSU senior reliever Kellen Camus could not field cleanly. Blaser advanced to third on a throwing error from Camus during the same play.

Matador redshirt junior right fielder Chester Pak, followed with a sacrifice fly that scored Blaser for the first run of the game. Balkan advanced to second base on a throwing error from WSU junior catcher P.J. Jones during a pickoff attempt, and Cal State junior designated hitter Alexis Mercado hit an RBI double to cap the scoring for the inning.

After being held scoreless for the entire game, the Cougar bats came to life in the top of the ninth. Sophomore first baseman Matt Mendenhall was hit by a pitch to start the inning, and two straight pinch-hit singles by redshirt sophomore outfielder Ben Roberts, and junior infielder Ian Sagdal loaded the bases.

Redshirt junior shortstop Trace Tam Sing drove in the Cougars’ first run on a fielder’s choice that retired Sagdal at second. Sophomore centerfielder Trek Stemp was hit by a pitch to load the bases again, and senior right fielder Collin Slaybaugh hit an RBI single to tie the score. However, the Cougars could not capitalize any further, as redshirt sophomore third baseman Nick Tanielu and junior designated hitter Yale Rosen struck out consecutively to end the inning.

The Cougars stranded the bases loaded. Tanielu was 3 for 4 before he struck out, and finished the day 3 for 5.

Freshman cougar reliever Ian Hamilton came on to pitch the bottom of the ninth and got himself into a bases-loaded jam, but he worked out of it without allowing any runs. Hamilton had not allowed a run all season in four innings of work.

Hamilton almost escaped the bottom of the 10th, but when Lowe stole second after his single, it set up Murphy for the game-winning hit.

Barring any weather complications, the second game of the series is scheduled for 2 p.m. today.