Jun 21, 2013; Omaha, NE, USA; Oregon State Beavers pitcher Matt Boyd (31) reacts after their College World Series game against the Mississippi State Bulldogs at TD Ameritrade Park. Mandatory Credit: Dave Weaver-USA Today Sports
The Washington State baseball team went out and completed one of two very difficult tasks that they face this weekend on Friday night, they beat No. 5 Oregon State’s undefeated Ace.
Ben Wetzler was a perfect 6-0 entering the game, with a 0.38 era (for those of you who don’t do baseball talk that’s .38 earned runs given up every nine innings). He gave up two such runs Friday in just five innings, while WSU took advantage of two errors to score two more.
That was more than enough space for Joe Pistorese to work with, as he only gave up one run in the second inning and then didn’t so much as give up a hit until one out remained in the ball game. By the way, Pistorese is balling right now, as he’s thrown back-to-back complete games. A Coug pitcher hasn’t done that since 2011, when Adam Conley accomplished the feat.
Cougfan has more details on the game, but I want to quickly talk about the other difficult task the Cougars face. Beating OSU once is great and beating Wetzler is even sweeter, but it will all be for naught if the Cougs do not take the Beavers down in the series. That means this team need to win one more game this weekend to capitalize on what they just accomplished.
The Cougs have been red-hot and are 7-3 in conference play, tied with UCLA and a mere .5 games back of the second-place Beavs. They need to strike now, as a series win against the No. 5 team in the nation would give them a huge boost and a big-time weekend to point to when it comes to selection time for the College World Series.
Today at 2 p.m. would be the optimal time to go ahead and just take this series, since OSU sends another 6-1 pitcher to the mound on Sunday.