May 15, 2010
STANFORD, Calif.-- James Wise (2-1) pitched eight shutout innings as Washington State (27-18, 10-10 Pac-10) survived a ninth inning rally to defeat No. 25-ranked Stanford (27-19, 11-9 Pac-10) 4-2 on Saturday afternoon to even the series.
Against three Cougar pitchers in the ninth, Stanford had four hits, but Adam Conley would pick up his tenth save with a game ending double play by Adam Gaylord.
Seth Harvey pitched to the first two batters in the ninth, before Paris Shewey came on and gave up a single followed by a sacrifice fly by Kenny Diekroeger and an RBI single by Jake Schlander to make it 4-2. Conley then relieved Friday night's loser and gave up a single to Zach Jones followed by Gaylord's groundout.
Wise had given it over to the bullpen after a career-high eight innings and career-best eight strikeouts. He walked just one, giving up four hits and pitched to four over the minimum over the first eight.
The Stanford bullpen kept it close after Jordan Pries (3-3) gave up four runs on seven hits over 5.2 innings. Scott Snodgress, Danny Sandbrink and Sahil Bloom combined to retire the next nine in a row until a two-out single in the ninth, WSU's eighth and final hit.
Matt Fanelli and Jay Ponciano, who fell a double short of the cycle, homered early to stake the Cougars to a 4-0 lead.
A two-run home run by Fanelli gave WSU a 2-0 lead in the third, before a two-out single by Cody Bartlett made it 3-0 in the fourth. Ponciano's first home run of the season, in the sixth, made it 4-0. Ponciano went 3-for-4.
Sunday's finale will be at 1 p.m. Neither starter has been announced.
NOTES: It was the second time this season Pries has given up two home runs in a contest and first since the series opener with Rice. It was the first homer given up by Pries in three starts... Pries has gone at least five innings in 10 of 12 starts this season... Diekroeger's lead off single in the fifth extended his hit streak to 20 games for the Cardinal, the longest since Bryan Hall's 21 game streak in 2004. Ryan Garko hit in 20 straight games in 2001.