Cougs Explode On Offense, Pound Utah

PULLMAN, Wash. — Washington State hit four home runs to post a 14-5 victory over Utah in the series-opener at Bailey-Brayton Field Thursday afternoon.

The Cougars (16-31-1, 8-19-1 Pac-12) recorded season highs in runs and home runs and four players recorded multiple-hit games. James Rudkin, Blake Clanton, Justin Harrer and JJ Hancock each homered and reliever Ryan Walker fired three scoreless innings to earn the win. Walker made his 86 th career appearance, tied for second-most in WSU history, and recorded 13 th career relief win, tied for the school record. Utah dropped to 14-39 overall and 6-22 in league play.

In the first inning, Dillon Plew and Blake Clanton each worked walks before Justin Harrer drove an 0-2 pitch the other way into right field to score Plew for a 1-0 lead.

In the third inning, Plew led off the inning with a walk and later scored on James Rudkin’s RBI-double into the right centerfield gap. Clanton followed by pulling a single through the right side to scored Rudkin for a 3-0 advantage.

In the fourth, Utah used a two-run homer to cut the lead to one and added another homer to lead off the fifth inning, tying the game at three. The Utes used four more hits in the inning to push two runs across for a 5-3 advantage.

In the bottom of the fifth, Andres Alvarez was hit by a pitch and Rudkin followed with a two-run shot to left centerfield to tie the game at five. One batter later, Harrer beat out an infield single to shortstop and Hancock hammered a 1-1 pitch over the right field fence for a 7-5 advantage.

In the seventh, the Cougars used the long ball as Clanton and Harrer went back-to-back for the second time this season. WSU picked up two more runs with a Danny Sinatro RBI-single and another run scored on a wild pitch for an 11-5 lead.

In the eighth, WSU added three more runs after a Hancock two-run double to centerfield and an RBI-groundout from pinch-hitter Derek Chapman.