Cougs Complete Sweep Of Brown

Washington State (15-8) sweeping their home series with Brown (1-10) appeared to be a foregone conclusion after the first three lopsided contests. Not so fast Cougar Nation.

The Bears clearly came ready to play competitive baseball Monday evening but in the end came up short. WSU earned a 3-1 victory to complete a 4-game sweep of the Ivy League visitors.

Pitching dominated from the get go.

Kevin Carlow was stellar for Brown, going 6-innings and striking out 7 Cougs along the way. WSU bats were silenced by Carlow who allowed just 4-hits.

The Cougs matched the Bears pitch-for-pitch. Jason Monda made the most of his first collegiate start going 4-innings and fanning 5 Brown batters. Monda has yet to give up an earned run in 12-innings. Just how sharp was Jason? Of the 62-pitches he threw, 43 were strikes. You be the judge as to whether that’s a pitcher on his game or not. Monday night was Monda’s 8th appearance on the mound for Washington State.

"“Our pitching was outstanding again tonight,” Washington State Coach Donnie Marbut said after the game. “We ran into a quality arm on the mound (Brown starter Kevin Carlow) and needed every bit of the pitching we got tonight.”"

It was important for WSU to be tested. This series was their last non-conference opponent for weekend play this season. The Cougs will be facing Pac-12 opponents for the next nine weeks which is a challenging if not monumental task ahead.

Brown took the lead in the top of the sixth with the first run of the game. Showing resiliency, the Cougs came right back with a run of their own in the bottom of the inning to tie the score. Washington State drove in the go-ahead run in their next turn at bat, then added some insurance with a final score in the bottom of the eighth.

Following an offensive outburst by the Cougs in this series, the team batting average has risen to astronomical heights now standing at .333 on the season while producing an average of 7.6 runs a game.

After solid starts by Joe Pistorese, Tanner Chelborad, Scott Simon and Jason Monda, the staff ERA has dipped below 4-runs a game for the first time all year, standing at 3.87. “A really good job by the pitching staff the entire weekend,” praised Coach Marbut.

GO COUGS!!!

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WASHINGTON STATE NOTES

– Washington State swept a four-game series for the second time this season

– WSU outscored Brown 45-4 in the sweep.