Cougars 3, Shockers 2 – Final. WSU goes 0 and 2 in a regional for the first time since 1997.
Shockers need one run in the ninth. Caster leads off, followed by Sossamon and Baez.
3-2, bottom of the 8th.
Cougars 3, Shockers 2 (8th) - Jones homers on Arnold’s 101st pitch. He is out after striking out McKeever and going 2-0 on O’Brien, who is 2-3. Adam Conley is in for the Cougars.
Cooper has thrown 85 pitches. Expect him to continue. WSU has 3-4-5 up this inning. It better get something done. Once again, the bottom of the order is an issue. Better than Friday, but not good. The bottom four batters are 1 for 9 with a walk, single and wild pitch.
Mitch Caster is 3 for 3 in NCAA play, all on pinch hits. He homered last season in the super regional at Florida State. He singled last night and singled today.
Cougars 3, Shockers 1 - Cooper gives up a walk and back-to-back home runs on back-to-back pitches in the sixth.
Still 1-0 going to the bottom of the fifth. WSU has stranded runners at first the past two innings. Cooper continues to cruise.
Shockers 1, Cougars 0 (bottom 3rd) - Ryan Jones drives in Bret Bascue with a sac fly. Bascue reached on wild pitch after he struck out on a ball in the dirt. A fielding error on the shortstop moved Bascue to third.
0-0 – Cooper with an extremely efficient first inning. Seven pitches.
Fantastic no-prize for the person who can name Washington State’s pitcher the last time these two met in regional play? Hint: It was 1987 and the pitcher went onto great fame as Ricky Henderson’s teammate .
Also known as, the “If only we had listened to Jim Schaus and his logo plan we wouldn’t be confused as to which WSU is which” elimination game.
Jordan Cooper vs. Chad Arnold to extend the season. No idea how this might go. Both teams spent last night thinking “We blew that game.” After watching the Shockers this season, I would say they are fragile enough mentally to struggle with the turnaround. They are looking at four straight games to advance, and I can’t say anybody believes that is possible. As we saw last night, however, with good pitching the Shockers are a different team. Cooper will give them a chance, of that I am reasonably confident.
I have no idea how the Cougars will react. They are a long way from home, making their first NCAA appearance since 1990. They don’t have much reason to believe things are going to go well, either.
The Shockers have not gone 0-2 in a regional since the 1997 team lost to North Carolina State and Alabama.
- The OU bullpen gets credit for saving the Sooners on Friday. From all over the state.
- WSU signee T.J. McGreevy hits a three-run homer of KU signee Tanner Poppe in the Class 4A tournament. McGreevy, Hayden’s top starter, did not pitch. Coach Aaron Becker saved him and it worked.
- Former Shocker Braden Looper remembers his grandfather, the man who took him to a WSU pitching camp.
- One big inning was enough for Arkansas on Friday.