That’s win no. 20 on the season.
After being swept by one Arizona team, WSU got off to a better start against the other Arizona team. The Cougs scored twice in the fifth inning and twice in the seventh, and the bullpen held the Arizona Wildcats scoreless as WSU reached the 20-win mark with a 6-3 victory at home Friday night.
Trailing 3-2 in the fifth, the Cougs did things the old school way. Sam Brown drew a walk with the bases loaded to bring home Elijah Hainline and tie the game. Then Kyle Russell hit into a fielder’s choice that scored a run to give WSU a 4-3 lead.
WSU added insurance in the seventh when Cam Magee hit a two-out double that scored two runs.
WSU starter Dakota Hawkins left the game after four innings after giving up nine hits and three runs. Relievers Cam Liss and Connor Wilford took it from there and pitched five innings of shutout baseball while only allowing two hits and walking one.
WSU sits at 20-12 and 6-9 in Pac-12 play. The Cougs didn’t get win no. 20 last season until May 6. They’ll battle the Wildcats again today at 3 p.m. in Pullman.
Football scrimmage is today
If you’re reading this in the morning, live within a couple hours of Pullman and are interested in attending today’s football scrimmage, you better hop in your car, pronto.
WSU kicks off at 10:30 a.m. and it’s another chance to see the new-ish Air Raid in action. As Colton Clark of The Spokesman-Review tells us, it’s the secondary that has the eyes of Jake Dickert:
“Defensively, we gotta handle the (offense’s) tempo better,” Dickert said Thursday at Gesa Field after Day 11 of camp when asked about his goals for the scrimmage, which will begin at 10:30 a.m. Saturday.
“It’s been a really rough patch, as far as our guys having the ability to get aligned, communicate and execute, and that’s led to a bunch of explosive plays,” he said. “We’ve allowed way too many explosive plays in the defensive secondary. Today was a lot better.”
Make sure you read Clark’s scrimmage preview, as there are tons of notes on the secondary, Cam Ward, the running back position, the tight end position, and names of guys I’ve never heard of. At some point I’ll need to study the roster a bit more.
Go Cougs.