PULLMAN, Wash.  – Junior catcher
Joey Morgan homered twice for 30
th-ranked Washington, but Cory Meyer walked with the bases loaded in the 11
th inning to give host Washington State a walk-off, 5-4 win in the first game of the series Friday night at Bailey-Brayton Field in Pullman.
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The Huskies (20-15, 7-6 Pac-12) nearly dodged a bullet in the inning as Dillon Plew was thrown out at home trying to score the winning run from second on a single. Instead, he was the second out of the inning and the Huskies had new life temporarily. But, after JJ Hancock was hit by a pitch to load the bases, Meyer took four-straight pitches from UW pitcher
Jordan Jones (4-5) to force home Shane Matheny for the game-winning run.
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The loss erased a big night by Morgan. He was 3-for-5 with homers in the sixth and eighth innings for his first career multi-homer game.
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The Huskies had the best opportunities to get on the board early, but it was the Cougars (17-18, 3-10) that ended up scoring first. Washington had runners in scoring position in each of the first four innings but WSU broke the ice in the fifth inning, taking a 1-0 lead on a sacrifice fly by catcher Cale Waterman.
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The lead was short-lived as Morgan answered back with a solo home run in the sixth inning. With one out, Morgan put the first pitch of his at bat against Colby Nealy over the left-field fence for his second home run of the season.
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The back-and-forth action continued when the Cougars re-took the lead in their half of the seventh on a RBI single by James Rutkin. Rutkin chased home Plew from second on a seeing-eye single to make the score 2-1. They would go on to load the bases with less than two outs, but
Noah Bremer escaped the jam with a strikeout and ground out.
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Bremer wasn't as fortunate in the seventh inning as he allowed two more after there were two outs to fall behind 4-1. Justin Harrer singled home the first run of the inning and Rutkin came through two batters later with his second RBI hit of the day.
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Morgan brought the Huskies back within one run going long again in the eighth inning. With
Jack Meggs on base after a lead-off walk, Morgan took a 1-1 pitch from Ryan Walker to almost the exact same spot of his first home run over the left-field wall to make the score 4-3. It was the 10
th career home run for Morgan.
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The Dawgs weren't done in the inning as
Josh Cushing plated the equalizer to tie things up at 4-4. After Morgan's homer,
Willie MacIver walked and took second on a wild pitch. After
John Naff struck out, Cushing singled on a 1-2 pitch by Scott Sunitsch to score MacIver.
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Washington State had a chance to end the game in regulation, but Washington pitcher
Greg Minier was able to escape a bases loaded jam with less than two outs in the ninth. He got Rutkin to ground into a fielder choice with a force play at home and he finished the inning off getting Hancock to fly out.
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Sunitsch (1-2) pitched 3 2/3 innings to earn his first win of the season.
Minier equaled a season-high with three scoreless innings on the mound,Â
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The Huskies had 10 hits on the night with Morgan and Naff (2-for-4) combining for half of them.
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The Huskies and Cougars continue the serietravel across the state to play the Cougars in a three-game series on the Palouse. The first game is Friday at 5:00 p.m. and all three games will be televised by the Pac-12 Network.
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