March 12, 2007 - Washington State 11 Rider 6
March 12, 2007
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
College Baseball
Washington State University 11, Rider University 6
PULLMAN, WA—Despite out-hitting the host Cougars 10-9, the Broncs lost to Washington State Monday night. “I think we led in every category except one, runs,” said Rider head coach Barry Davis.
Rider (2-6) scored five runs in the fourth inning on a two-run double by red-shirt freshman Matt McCollum (Tabernacle/Shawnee) and a three-run home run by junior Jon Leise (Woodbury/West Deptford), cutting the lead to 6-5. “6-5 in the seventh inning, that’s a winnable game right there,” Davis said. ‘We made too many mistakes (three errors) and against a team this good you can’t win like that.”
It was the second home run in the last two games by Leise, who also doubled in the sixth inning and singled in the eighth. “He’s hot right now,” Davis said. “He hit the ball to right, he hit to left and he hit the ball up the middle.”
WSU (9-6) scored four runs in the seventh inning on three hits to take a 10-5 lead. “We cut it to 10-6 and had the bases loaded,” Davis said. “A big hit there and who knows?”
The Cougars scored four runs in the first inning on a pair of walks, a sacrifice bunt, a double, a stolen base, a throwing error and a home run, and scored two more runs in the third inning on two hits and an error. “It’s a tough way to play, trailing 6-0 right off the bat,” Davis said. “But we came back, so that’s a good sign.”
Sophomore Jamie Hayes (Sunrise, Fla./Piper) led off the game with a bunt single and hit an RBI single in the eighth inning. “We had some good at bats,” Davis said. “I wasn’t discouraged with our hitting at all. We walked too many (eight) and they all seemed to hurt us, as walks usually do.”
Sophomore Sean Olson (Vineland/St. Augustine Prep), junior David Hayes (Sunrise, Fla), senior Brad States (Paoli, PA/Conestoga) and senior Jeff Reynolds (Denville/Parsippany Hills) also singled for the Broncs.
“Like most games we’ve played this year, we were in it, and I expect us to be in tomorrow’s game as well,” Davis said.
Rider plays the third and final game of the series Tuesday night.
-RU-
