After a heartbreaking walk-off loss to the BYU Cougars just hours before, WSU trotted back onto Bohl Diamond at Blair Field to square off with the Long Beach State Dirtbags for game two of the double header. When the dust cleared after nine innings, WSU snuck out with the 10-4 win despite getting out-hit by the Dirtbags 9-7.
The game kicked off with WSU getting a trio of runners on-base in the top of the first. However, with the bases loaded and no outs, three straight Cougar batters were retired resulting in no runs and three runners left on-base.
The Cougs and Dirtbags then proceeded to trade back-to-back innings of quick scoreless baseball. It was not until the third inning where Long Beach broke it open, tallying three runs off a flurry of walks and hit-by-pitches to crowd the basepaths. Starting pitcher Gavin Derr was thus relieved by redshirt junior Rylan Haider who walked the first batter he faced, driving in the first run of the game. Then, Haider conceded a pair of singles to scrape two more across.
The Cougs responded right away, taking the lead with four runs tallied in the top of the fourth. It kicked off with a hit-by-pitch, two straight walks and then a hit-by-pitch on senior Noah Thein to bring the Cougs’ first run across.
Senior Gavin Roy then singled to bring home a pair of runs, followed by sophomore Kyler Northrop grounding out to the shortstop in order to take the 4-3 lead. For WSU, that fourth inning highlighted their approach at the plate.
“We just grinded out at-bats,” head coach Nathan Choate said. “Fouling pitches off [and] taking close pitches. I think we had 11 walks. So, we put pressure on them by making them come to the stretch.”
Flash forward to the sixth inning and that approach cashed in again. Thein and Roy drew back-to-back walks and were brought home by freshman Trevor Smith who scorched a double to right field.
“That’s Cougar baseball,” Smith said. “That’s our mindset coming into the game and we just did it. That’s why the outcome is like that.”
In the eighth inning, the walks came back to haunt Long Beach again. Thein drew one to leadoff and scored from first after Smith smacked a triple into right field. On the proceeding batter, Smith scampered home after a passed ball sailed to the backstop.
Thein, as a catcher, was a sparkplug all game behind the dish. With all five pitchers who appeared for the Cougs, Thein was repeatedly hyping them up after well executed pitches and keeping them competitive after tough misses.
“When [Thein] gets back there he’s a leader,” Choate said. “[He] has a lot of energy and kind of commands the field. Gave us a real spark back there today.”
Smith was the other sparkplug in center field. With a single, double and a triple Smith was just a home run away from hitting for the cycle. Despite the phenomenal performance, Smith says that the stats are not on his mind.
“No, I don’t look at that,” Smith said. “I stick to my game plan, just trying to win a ball game.”
Although Long Beach managed to tally one run in the eighth, it was immediately wiped away when Smith’s aforementioned single brought home freshman Dane Chavez in the ninth to secure the 10-4 win.
For the Cougs, the dominant 10-4 win was a direct result of their program’s identity.
“We’re tough,” Choate said. “You can see we’re tough. We have a tough group of kids [and] I’m really proud of them. This was a long day. Long Beach didn’t play yesterday, they didn’t play earlier today and we did. So, I found out a lot about our club.”
With an identity-building win against the Long Beach Dirtbags the Cougs move to 3-5 overall on the season. WSU will stay in California for the last game of the weekend against Long Beach at 1:05 p.m March 1.