Despite suffering a 19-5 loss to No. 8 Arizona (23-8, 7-5) on Friday, the WSU baseball team (15-14, 2-7) played competitively in the series.

The Cougars won game two, 9-3, and gave the 6-5 nail biter loss their all on Sunday.

Game One

No. 8 Arizona sent 15 batters to the plate during a 12-run sixth inning as the eighth-ranked Wildcats handily took game one from the Cougars’ junior right-hander Colby Nealy. Nealy earned his first start of the season Friday night in place of redshirt junior left-hander Damon Jones, who started all seven previous Friday games.

Head Coach Marty Lees said he wanted to try something different with starting Nealy, but noted they still planned to use Jones on Friday.

Arizona, the top offense in the country, wasted no time in jumping on Nealy. The Wildcats’ leadoff hitter, junior outfielder/pitcher Cal Stevenson, homered on the third pitch of the game.

Arizona followed with three straight singles to load the bases and pushed across two more runs on two sacrifice flies to center field, giving them an early 3-0 lead.

Arizona’s senior left-hander JC Cloney started for the Wildcats on Friday night but lasted just one batter, leaving the game with an undisclosed injury in the bottom of the first. Sophomore outfielder Alfonso Rivas III, who started the game as Arizona’s designated hitter, replaced him on the mound.

WSU failed to score after the bases were loaded following walks given up prior to a pitching change. Rivas struck out junior outfielder/catcher J.J. Hancock on three pitches to escape the first inning jam.

Arizona chased Nealy with one out in the top of the third after a leadoff hit-by-pitch, double and sacrifice fly made it a 4-0 game.

Jones entered the game with a runner on third and one out, and got a strikeout and flyout to end the inning.

The Cougars got on the board in the bottom of the third after sophomore outfielder Justin Harrer beat out an infield single and junior infielder Shane Matheny followed with his third home run of the season to right field, cutting the deficit to 4-2.

The Cougars continued to put pressure on Arizona in the bottom of the fourth. With two outs, sophomore infielder Andres Alvarez doubled into the right field corner to score freshman utility Danny Sinatro from first. Alvarez scored after freshman infielder Dillon Plew singled, tying the game at four.

The Wildcats answered in the fifth with two more of their own and from there, it was all Arizona.

With a 6-4 lead going into the top of the sixth, Arizona scored 12 times and sent 15 batters to the plate to make it an 18-4 game. Jones allowed seven runs on seven hits and a walk before being removed in favor of sophomore right-hander Chandler Greenfield.

Greenfield fared no better, as Arizona pushed across five more runs on two home runs before Greenfield got a groundout to end the inning.

WSU scored one more in eighth on a pass ball, but it did not make a dent in Arizona’s 14-run lead.

Arizona finished off the Cougars 19-5, taking the first game of the series.

The Wildcats showed why they are regarded as the top offense in the nation with 21 hits, seven of them doubles and three of them home runs. Six players for Arizona recorded a multi-hit game, including the Pac-12 leading hitter junior infielder JJ Matijevic, who went 4-for-4 with two doubles, a home run and six runs batted in.

Game Two

After a 19-5 loss to start the series on Friday, the Cougars took down No. 8 Arizona 9-3 to even the series.

“[This performance] is everything that we’ve been telling these kids they can be,” Lees said. “But it does start on the mound, and it started on the mound today with more than just a great effort from Ryan Walker.”

Walker (3-3, 5.31), a junior right-hander in his third year with the program, nearly silenced Arizona’s high-powered offense over five and two third innings.

While not as statistically eye-catching as his six and two-thirds shutout innings against Utah Valley, Walker’s start against Arizona was his best of the season. An offense that leads the Pac-12 in runs scored by a margin of 111 was muzzled, and the Cougars were able to get back in the win column after five straight losses.

“I felt really good,” said Walker. “I felt like I was hitting my spots really well, the team was backing me up very well staying with the play, and our hitting just made me feel even better out on the mound.”

WSU got on the board early with two runs after a two-out rally in the first inning sparked by back-to-back walks by Harrer and Matheny. The Cougars later took advantage with runners in scoring position after sophomore catcher Cory Meyer hit an RBI single to center to give WSU a 1-0 lead.

Junior first baseman James Rudkin followed and hit a bloop single to right field to drive in the second run of the inning.

After the Cougars tacked on one more in the second, the offense exploded for a four-run third inning.

The inning started with two hit batters before a wild pitch advanced both players to second and third base. Rudkin then singled through the left side of the infield to give the Cougars a 4-0 lead.

Two batters later, junior infielder Ryan Ramsower grounded into a fielder’s choice that scored Meyer. A throwing error by the second baseman allowed WSU to keep up the pressure, as Rudkin was able to reach second base.

Later in the inning, Alvarez and Plew put the final nail in the Wildcats coffin after they each drove in a run to give the Cougars a 7-0 lead.

Arizona mounted a short rally in the ninth, but the game was out of reach. The Cougars snagged their first victory in six games and shocked eighth-ranked Arizona with a dominant performance.

“This was by far the best baseball game we’ve played all year,” Lees said.

Everything was working for WSU on Saturday afternoon, and Lees said that if the team can emulate what they did in this game, they can take on the best teams in the country.

Game Three

A late game rally proved not enough as the Cougars dropped the final match of the series 6-5 in a nail biter against Arizona.

Junior left hander Cody Anderson took the mound Sunday, coming into the game with a 2.37 ERA, ninth best in the Pac-12.

Anderson lasted just four innings, allowing four hits and four walks, but limited the damage to three runs.

The Wildcats got to Anderson in the second inning. With two outs and runners on first and second, Arizona junior catcher Ryan Haug singled to Hancock in right. Hancock’s throw to the plate took Meyer up the first base line, and his tag attempt was too late to get freshman infielder Nicholas Quintana, scoring from second out.

Anderson followed with a walk to load the bases and another walk to bring in the Wildcats’ second run. Anderson needed 38 pitches to get through the second inning.

Arizona continued to put pressure on the fourth. With a runner on second, two outs and two strikes on the batter, Anderson thought he had strike three and walked off the mound before the umpire called it a ball. On the next pitch, senior infielder Louis Boyd doubled down the line in left, putting Arizona up 3-0.

Lees said Anderson left too many balls up and nibbled off the plate more than usual.

The Cougars answered in the bottom of the inning. With runners on first and second and one out, Meyer grounded out to shortstop but stayed out of a double play with the hit and run on.

Rudkin followed with a two run single and eventually came around to score on a wild pitch, tying the game at three.

Junior right-hander Joe Rosenstein replaced Anderson in the fifth after the first two batters reached on walks, and a wild pitch moved the runners to second and third with no outs.

A diving stop by Alvarez on the following play kept the ball in the infield, but he could not get an out and a run scored.

Junior left-hander Scotty Sunitsch took over for Rosenstein after another walk loaded the bases with nobody out.

Arizona scored on a sacrifice fly to right but Hancock’s diving catch kept them from what would have been a bases clearing double. A single scored one more for the Wildcats, making it a 6-3 game. All three runs were charged to Rosenstein.

Sunitsch allowed two hits and no walks during his three and two-thirds scoreless innings of relief.

Lees said he was happy with the way Sunitsch limited the damage and kept his team in the game.

WSU continued to battle back in the seventh. Sinatro led off the inning with a hard single up the middle and Alvarez reached on a walk. A sacrifice bunt by Plew put runners on the corners for Harrer, who doubled down the line to make it a 6-5 game.

Freshman A.J. Block replaced Sunitsch in the top of the eighth. Block picked off a runner at first before throwing a pitch to end the inning.

The Cougars threatened again in the bottom of the eighth. Rudkin lead off the inning with a single to center field. Hancock followed with a double to put runners on second and third with no outs.

However, WSU could not capitalize. Freshman first baseman Jon Burghardt and Sinatro struck out, and Alvarez grounded out to second, ending the threat.

Two infield hits and a fielder’s choice put runners on the corners with one out as Arizona tried to extend their lead in the top of the ninth.

Stevenson laid a bunt down the first base line, but a crashing Rudkin made a diving glove flip to the catcher to nab the runner at home, keeping the deficit at one.

Despite a two-out single by Matheny in the bottom of the ninth, the Cougars could not push across the elusive run, and Arizona held on to win 6-5.

Lees said despite the loss, he was happy with the way his team competed. He said that getting younger players into close, late-game situations will help the team in the future.