Washington State baseball earns first NCAA Tournament bid since 2010, powers past San Diego State in Mountain West championship
May 24-Washington State's baseball team earned a long-awaited dogpile.
It's been a while since the Cougars have had a chance to celebrate in such a way. Consider the program's recent history - WSU struggled for years in the Pac-12, then the conference fell apart, forcing the Cougs to join the Mountain West as affiliate members. Last year, in its first season as a MWC team, WSU finished last in the conference.
But the Cougars completed a remarkable turnaround Sunday, offsetting an extensive stretch of adversity with the program's best moment in 16 years.
Second-seeded WSU capped its short tenure in the Mountain West with a conference tournament championship, beating top-seeded San Diego State 14-4 by run rule at Sloan Park in Mesa, Arizona. The Cougars (30-26) rushed the field after their title-clinching double play in the seventh inning, piling on top of each other on the mound in a cathartic celebration - a rare sight for this program, which will be making its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2010 ahead of its move next year to the new-look Pac-12.
"Pretty pumped for these guys," third-year WSU coach Nathan Choate said on the Mountain West Network broadcast. "This is my favorite part right here, watching them celebrate. They've earned it - we were the last-place team last year."
Fittingly, a senior player who's stuck with WSU through several challenging seasons put the finishing touches on the Cougs' most memorable performance in recent years. Fourth-year outfielder Max Hartman hit the first pitch he saw in the top of the seventh deep over the wall in right-center for a three-run homer, putting the Cougars ahead 13-4.
Dane Chavez followed with a walk and Dustin Robinson doubled, then Ryan Skjonsby's RBI sac fly made it a 10-run lead, putting the mercy rule into effect.
WSU's Scott Rienguette (3-2) induced a fly out and a game-ending double play to conclude his sparkling relief effort. The junior right-hander kept the Aztecs (36-24) quiet over 3 2/3 innings, allowing the Cougars to build momentum and pull away. Rienguette gave up one hit and one walk, striking out six in his scoreless outing.
"Amazing, man," Rienguette said in a postgame interview with MW Network. "This is what we've been working for all year."
WSU will learn its NCAA Regional destination on Monday during a selection show, which will start at 9 a.m. on ESPN2.
"We're gonna compete wherever we gotta go," Rienguette said. "We have the team to do it. We have three really good starters. We have bullpen pieces that can contribute and our bats have been hot. We're gonna keep doing it."
Rienguette gave the Cougars a critical boost when he entered in the fourth inning. WSU starter Griffin Smith walked the first batter of the inning and was replaced by Ryan Falke, who gave up a run on a wild pitch and walked two batters. Rienguette was then called into action. He struck out the first batter and plunked the next to load the bases with two outs. But he struck out Mountain West Player of the Year Jake Jackson to end the inning, preventing the Aztecs from adding onto their 4-3 lead.
WSU captured all of the momentum in the next inning and stayed hot the rest of the way. Dustin Robinson hit an RBI double, forcing SDSU to make a pitching change, sending out star reliever in Isaac Araiza. But SDSU's best bullpen arm couldn't quiet the Cougs, who scored two more on Skjonsby's double to go up 6-4.
A sacrifice fly in the sixth extended WSU's lead to three. Rienguette then struck out the side in the bottom half before the Cougars put it away with a seven-run seventh.
WSU entered Sunday 2-0 at the tournament and had two opportunities to beat SDSU and clinch the conference tourney title. The Aztecs forced a second game with a 9-2 win earlier in the day, but the Cougars outmatched the conference's regular-season champions in the winner-take-all, outhitting SDSU 14-5.
Hartman, an all-conference first-teamer, went 3-for-3 with four RBIs. Fellow All-Mountain West pick Gavin Roy had two hits and scored three runs. Skjonsby drove in three. Matt Priest hit a full-count RBI double in the first. Freshman Trevor Smith hit a two-run double in the seventh before Hartman's blast.
Smith, WSU's starter, had allowed five runs in the first inning against SDSU on Saturday during the Cougs' 14-9 win. But the senior righty got a second shot at the Aztecs and kept it manageable, allowing four runs on four hits over three innings.
SDSU answered WSU's two-run first with a solo homer from Jackson and an RBI double in the bottom half. The Cougs reclaimed the lead 3-2 in the second and chased SDSU starter Alito McBean, who'd loaded the bases. Hartman drew an RBI walk against reliever Connor Abadie (1-2), who retired seven straight batters in one stretch but wound up surrendering three runs on two hits over 2 2/3 innings. SDSU's Tyce Peterson tied it at 3-3 with a solo shot just inside the left-field foul pole in the second.
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