May 6, 2006
PULLMAN, Washington - Utah Valley State (16-32) got an RBI single in the ninth from freshman Chris Benson to pull off a 6-5 upset in the opener of a three-game series at Pac-10 Washington State.
Benson's single scored Nick Connor, who led off the ninth with a single and moved over to second on a sac-bunt by Eli Slesk.
Washington State (29-17) got a one-out single from Travis Coulter in the bottom of the ninth to bring the winning run to the plate in Jay Miller.
But Brett Guerrero (3-3) got Miller to hit a chopper towards Brad Hales at second, who flipped to Slesk, who barehanded it and threw to Dan Bulow to complete the 4-6-3 double play to end the game.
"We executed...we made the plays when we needed to. That's what you have to do to beat a team like this," said Wolverine coach Steve Gardner.
Guerrero earned the win after throwing two scoreless innings in relief while Steve Kost (1-1) suffered the loss after giving up both big hits in the ninth.
The Wolverines took advantage of two throwing errors by Cougar starter Mike Wagner. The first error came in the second inning off the bat of Cory Newton. Wagner's throw got by first baseman Jim Murphy to allow Vance to score from third.
Kade Boyer then drove Bulow home with an RBI fielder's choice to make it
Utah Valley took a 3-0 lead in the third after Connor led off with a single, stole second and then scored on a single by Benson.
Washington State got on the board in the bottom of the third after Jared Prince walked with two outs and scored on a triple off the wall in center by Murphy.
With Slesk at first in the fifth, Wagner made his second throwing error trying to retire Benson at first, as his throw sailed over Murphy again, allowing Slesk to score all the way from first.
Following a walk to Vance, Bulow had an infield RBI single to score Benson, making it 5-1 Wolverines.
The Cougars crept back into it in the bottom of the fifth after singles by Coulter and Miller preceded a three-run blast by Prince, his fifth home run and 47 th RBI of the year, to cut it to 5-4 UV.
WSU tied it in the sixth when Garrett Kimbrel stole third and scored on a throwing error by Newton.
The scored remained deadlocked at five until Benson was the hero in the ninth inning.
The defensive play of the game came in the bottom of the seventh with Prince on first and nobody out. Murphy ripped a pitch up the middle but Hales robbed him of at least a single, diving to his right to snage the line drive and double up Prince at first.
Vance had three hits to lead Utah Valley while Connor, Slesk and Benson had two hits apiece. The two through five hitters in the Wolverine order went a combined 9-for-18 and accounted for all but three of UV's hits.
The series will continue tomorrow at 2pm PT with the Wolverines scheduled to throw sophomore left-hander Dan Christensen against WSU's Wayne Daman, Jr.
