Michael Franz

WSU Cougars Starting Pitcher

WSU went with Redshirt Junior Brock Blatter to start the game against the No. 7 ranked Oregon State Beavers. He started very good with making it through the first inning with no damage getting star Bryce Hubbard to strike out on a dropped third strike to end the 1-2-3 inning. Then in the second inning gave up a leadoff double to Josh Proctor but bounced back with a couple of strikeouts to end the inning and go into the third scoreless.

 

Oregon State Beavers Starting Pitcher

Oregon State started Junior Eric Segura coming into the game with a below 2 ERA he was dominant throwing the fastball very well and throwing the off-speed great as well getting the Cougs to swing and miss a lot in the first getting Gavin Roy to strike out swinging and Chavez and Hartman get out on weak contact. Then in the second inning the Cougs had a bit more fight with Ollie Obenour getting a hard hit single off the left field wall but 2 groundouts and a strikeout were the end of that small rally as Segura got through the first 2 innings untouched.

 

Oregon State Breakout Inning

Oregon State then opened up the scoring with a single from Glassco, a sac bunt by the 9 hole hitter Tyler Inge to advance Glassco to second. Then the Beavers got to the top of the order and opened the floodgates. Talt doubled down the line to score Glassco, Haight got hit by a pitch, then Hubbard singled with the runners moving to bring in another run for the Beavers to give them a 2-0 lead. Proctor got a hold of one on the first pitch for an RBI single to bring in Haight from third. Blatter really struggled in this inning but walking Galloway ended his day, loading up the bases. The Cougs then decided to go to Right Handed Senior Erik Rodriguez who gave up a single to Singer, and then hit Paul Vazquez to load up the bases for Glassco who opened up the inning with a single he adds on to his great inning this time going with the long ball a grand slam to right field blew the doors off this game making it 9-0 in the third inning.

 

Late Inning Storylines

Cougar pitching really struggled in this one even after the big inning from the Beavers in the third as they score in every inning after that completing the Mercy Rule 18-0 in 7 innings. Gavin Derr, Taber Fast, and Dillon O'Neil combine to complete the next 3 innings giving up 6 ER over only 3 hits walking 5 in the process. Some command issues in this one really helped the Beavers lineup be even more dominant in this one. Finishing out the 7th inning was Freshman Brock Cross who got on a college diamond for the first time in his career getting 1 out and completing the inning.

 

Oregon State pitchers were very dominant with a very quality starter Eric Segura going 4 scoreless giving up only 4 hits and getting 6 strikeouts but walking 4 in his shortened outing due to the score. AJ Hutcheson and Tanner Douglas combined for the final 3 innings working 3 perfect innings with Hutcheson striking out 5 out of the 6 batters that he faced and Douglas striking out 2 out of the 3 batters that he faced.

 

Preview to Game 2

Cougars will look to bounce back with a quick turn around having Game 2 on Tuesday at 1:05 PST in Pullman.