HCA: Cougar bats come alive for win over Gonzaga

For just the 10th time this season, the Washington State baseball team has recorded a win. This time against Gonzaga in the final game of their three game season-series. The Cougars recorded 14 hits in their 9-5 win in Spokane on Monday night.

Freshman Kyle Manzardo got things started with a double off the wall in left-center in the top of the second inning and would eventually score the first run of the game. Manzardo would finish his night with four hits, two RBI’s, and would score twice. Gonzaga would answer back in the bottom of the inning and take advantage of two Cougar errors and push two runs of their own across to take a 2-1 lead.

The scoring continued in the third inning when Dillon Plew would bring in two on a single down the first base line and freshman Tyson Guerrero would extend the lead to 4-2 with a two-out single to center. The Zags would once again answer in the bottom half of the inning and cut the lead to just one.

Danny Sinatro hit his fifth triple of the season and would bring in a run in the fourth inning and Manzardo would push across another with a two-out RBI-single to give the Cougs a 6-3 lead.

Freshman right-hander Zane Mills would find himself in a tough spot in the fifth inning when he would come on in relief with the bases loaded but would give up just one run on a sac-fly. He would go on to retire all 8 of the batters he would face in his 2.2 innings pitched.

Plew and Manzardo would highlight the scoring again, this time in the sixth when they would each add another RBI to their stat line and extend the Cougar lead to 8-4. That wouldn’t be all for Manzardo as he would record his fourth hit in the game in the top of the ninth inning with a single to left field and would end up scoring a few batters later.

Gonzaga would end up pushing across another run of their own in the ninth inning but would be unable to get more going.

The win on Monday night locked up the Cougars 10th win of the season and gave them just their third series win of the season - the first since they beat Cal State Northridge twice in the beginning of March.

The Cougars will return home this weekend to host top-ranked UCLA beginning on Friday at 5pm and will continue Saturday at 2pm and will wrap up Sunday at noon. They will then hit the road for a mid-week match-up with Utah Valley next Tuesday before heading to Salt Lake City to take on Utah next weekend.

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Baseball:

Manzardo Paces Cougars in 9-5 Win at Gonzaga - Washington State University Athletics
Kyle Manzardo had four hits and two RBI in Monday's win.

Kyle Manzardo leads Cougars to 9-5 win over Bulldogs | The Spokesman-Review
Kyle Manzardo went 4 for 5 with a double, driving in two runs and scoring twice to guide the Washington State Cougars (10-33-1) to a 9-5 victory over the Gonzaga Bulldogs (25-20) in nonconference baseball action on Monday night at the Patterson Baseball Complex.

Basketball:

Deion James to Join the Cougar Basketball Program - Washington State University Athletics
James becomes the first signee under first-year head coach Kyle Smith.

Washington State’s Robert Franks, CJ Elleby and Gonzaga’s Josh Perkins to participate in G League Camp | The Spokesman-Review
The Cougars’ Robert Franks and CJ Elleby, and the Bulldogs’ Josh Perkins, have chosen to attend the inaugural three-day scouting event at Quest Multisport, designed to give NBA hopefuls and top G League prospects more exposure leading up to the 2019 NBA Draft.

Football:

Ranking college football's 25 best Power 5 coaches
Our ranking of college football's 25 best head coaches entering the 2019 season.

State of the Program: Washington State looks to build on historic 11-win season – The Athletic
If the Cougars can adequately replace QB Gardner Minshew, they should again contend for an elusive Pac-12 North title.

Soccer:

Soccer Adds a Pair of Seattle Clinics - Washington State University Athletics
WSU to host a pair of camps in late May.