March 12, 2011

PULLMAN, Washington -- A ninth-inning rally fell short on Saturday as Utah Valley dropped an 8-7 contest to Pac-10 Washington State at Bailey-Brayton Field.

Austin Haws homered and Austin Heaps finished with three hits for the Wolverines (3-9). Five players had two-hit days for UVU, which finished with a season-high 13 hits but lost for seventh time in row. Five of the losses have come by two runs or less.

The Cougars built an early 4-0 lead after scoring once in the first and three times in the second. The big blow came on a bases-loaded single by Derek Jones, scoring two of the WSU runs.

Haws' first career home run came in the third, on an 0-2 pitch, after Goose Kallunki singled with one out.

After the Cougars got one of the runs back in the bottom of the third the Wolverines got two more in the fourth to make it a 5-4 contest.

Billy Burgess doubled to lead off the fourth and came home to score when Austin Heaps singled to center with one out. Kallunki drove in Heaps when he delivered a much-needed two-out RBI on a double to right center.

The Wolverines tied it the sixth; Heaps singled and Alex Exon sacrificed him to second before Kallunki reached on an error, allowing Heaps to score.

The Cougars would regain the lead quickly though when Tommy Richards singled home Jones with one out.

Washington State threatened to add to the lead in the seventh but Jason Zundel threw out Jason Monda trying to score from second a base hit by Jones, ending the inning.

The Cougars got two big insurance runs in the eighth to make it an 8-5 game before the comeback attempt. In the ninth, Haws singled and Willie Pratt doubled him home to make it 8-6.

With one out Chris Benson singled home Pratt to get UVU within a run but the Wolverines would strand Benson at third and Kai Hatch at first to end the game.

Utah Valley will try to salvage the third and final game of the series on Sunday at 1 p.m. MT behind senior righthander Kyle Beecher.