The Washington State baseball team jumped out to an early lead and used a couple of late-inning home runs to post a 6-4 victory over Cal State Northridge at Bailey-Brayton Field on Monday.
The Cougars improved to 14-8 overall, having taken three of the four games in their series with the Matadors (12-13).
WSU received two-hit games from Danny Sinatro, James Rudkin and Blake Clanton while Clanton and J.J. Hancock each hit solo home runs. Washington State owns a 10-1 home record, matching the 1988 team that went on to post a 22-1 mark in Pullman.
Scotty Sunitsch worked a perfect ninth inning to seal the win. Freshman starter A.J. Block was solid again, striking out four and allowing one earned run on two hits in 4.2 innings. Junior reliever Colby Nealy picked up the win after working 2.1 innings before Sunitsch took over and notched his seventh save.
Northridge 000 011 020-4 7 0
Washington State 201 101 01X-6 10 0
W - Nealy (4-1). L - Atlee (0-2). Save - Sunitsch (7).
Northridge hits - Toerner 2 (2B), Smith, Riley (2B), Weiss 2 (2B, 3B), Bumstead.
Washington hits - Sinatro 2, Ramsower (2B), Matheny , Hancock (HR), Rudkin 2, Clanton 2 (HR), Waterman.
