[Quack Attack]

Cougars get back-to-back homers in the sixth to stay alive

By John Shinn
Special to the Times


NORMAN, Okla. — For five innings, Washington State was baffled. Wichita State pitcher Jordan Cooper had the Cougars guessing, and guessing wrong. Then in the bottom of the sixth, he walked Joe Ponciano on four pitches and the Cougars finally guessed right. Derek Jones belted a two-run homer and Jared Price followed with a solo shot on consecutive pitches. It was enough for a 3-2 win over the Shockers to stay alive in the NCAA tournament's Norman Regional on Saturday afternoon.

"Baseball is a crazy game," Cougars coach Donnie Marbut said, thinking back to his team's nine-hit performance in 10-3 loss against Arkansas on Friday. "We had nine [hits] yesterday and lost. Today we get punched out 10 times and only got three hits, but they came up big."
Washington State (32-24) now plays another elimination game at 11 a.m. today against Oklahoma.

"I have been struggling and feeling the pressure to perform," Jones said. "I was like, 'Come on, I have to do this,' and I finally got it fixed and put a good swing on it. It changed the course of the game."
Cooper threw all eight innings for the Shockers (30-27), striking out 10.
Cougars sophomore right-hander Chad Arnold matched Cooper's performance with a career-high 10 strikeouts in 7-1/3 innings.

"I tried not to let the game itself and the pressure of it get to me," Arnold said. Arnold left a runner stranded at third in the third and runners stranded in scoring position in the seventh.

Adam Conley and Connor Lambert came out of the bullpen and squashed a potential rally in the eighth, and Jeremy Johnson, who gave up seven runs in Friday's loss, closed out the ninth to get his 10th save.
"Jeremy had a rough day [on Friday], but he came back today and had his best stuff," Marbut said. "It's baseball: you're going to win some and you're going to lose some."

Note
• Cal State Fullerton defeated Gonzaga 7-4 in the NCAA regional in Fullerton, Calif.
Gonzaga plays Utah today at 2 p.m. in an elimination game.