BSB: Cougs' ninth inning outburst falls short at Stanford
Washington State brought the tying run on deck after scoring six runs in the ninth inning but No. 3 Stanford held on for a 9-6 victory at Sunken Diamond Saturday afternoon.
WSU (15-30-1, 7-18-1 Pac-12) received two-hit games from Andres Alvarez, Dillon Plew and Brody Barnum. Blake Clanton had a three-run triple as part of a six-run ninth inning for the Cougars, who saw the game's final out made after Barnum singled to right field to drive in a run.
On the play, the ball was bobbled by the Stanford rightfielder and Barnum tried to move up to second but was thrown out on the play. Stanford used 16 hits and pair of three-run innings in the second and fourth to claim the second game of the series and improve to 42-8 overall and 20-6 in conference play.
In the first inning, Stanford used a leadoff double and a couple of hits to push a run across. Sunitsch ended a bases-loaded threat with a strikeout and foul out to Dillon Plew at third base.
In the second inning, the Cardinal took advantage of a couple miscues by WSU and pushed three runs across on four hits for a 4-0 lead. In the fourth, Stanford pushed the lead to 7-0 with a three-run homer. A pair of RBI-hits in the sixth inning pushed the lead to 9-0.
In the ninth, pinch-hitter Brody Barnum drove a ball deep to right centerfield for a double and he moved to third on a Stanford error on the play. Barnum later scored on Wyatt Segle's RBI-groundout. WSU added another run on a James Rudkin bases-loaded walk, Clanton followed with a three-run triple to centerfield and Ryan Ramsower followed with a walk before Barnum singled in a run but was thrown out at second.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE: Scotty Sunitsch made career appearance No. 84, tying Ryan Walker for 3rd-most in WSU history Sunitsch worked 4.1 innings, allowed 7 runs on 10 hits and struck out 5. . .Blake Clanton drew a walk to leadoff the 2nd inning, extending his on-base streak to 11 games Andres Alvarez recorded his team-leading 15th double of the season
COMING UP: The series wraps up Sunday at Noon on the Pac-12 Network.