Palouse storm: Wildcats blow away Cougs

Arizona is as good as advertised. Maybe even better.

Surely the Cougars knew that prior toFridaynight’s series opener, but on the off chance they were unaware, or at all skeptical, the Wildcats did a masterful job informing them.

What was once a competitive baseball game turned into one of the worst losses of coach Marty Lees’ young Washington State tenure: A 19-5 drubbing during which the eighth-ranked Wildcats tallied 21 hits, three of them clearing the crimson-colored wall at Bailey-Brayton Field.

Arizona (22-7, 6-4), the deadliest offensive club in the Pac-12 Conference, and one of the best in the nation, used a 12-run sixth inning to blow this one open and hand the Cougars(14-13, 1-6) their fifth consecutive loss, and the largest since an 18-3 defeat against Arizona State at home last season.

During this current skid, WSU has allowed 61 runs.

“I expect a better effort every time we go out to the field,” Lees said. “We did not pitch well. Left the ball up in the zone, it’s the same story. Our guys made some pretty good plays defensively. We had some pretty good ABs; I thought they fought for nine innings.

“But we’re going to need more than effort, we’re going to need execution. We need someone to step up on that mound and decide to quit being a punching bag.”

Arizona punched first, and it was no soft blow. Cal Stevenson smacked a leadoff homer to right off of Colby Nealy — making his second start of the season — and two sac-flies put the Cougars in an early 3-0 hole.

Nealy’s night ended in the third after JJ Matijevic’s sac-fly pushed the lead to 4-0.

The Cougars found the scoreboard on Shane Matheny’s third homer of the season, a two-run shot to right in the third.

Refusing to bow to the Wildcats — momentarily, at least — WSU knotted the game at four, getting to Alfonso Rivas with the top of its order. Andres Alvarez doubled down the right-field line to score Danny Sinatro, then Dillon Plew singled to left-center, providing a glimmer of hope for the home team.

Then the sixth happened.

Fifteen at-bats. Twelve runs. Ten hits. Three doubles. Two home runs.

“It was a mental toughness type game, our pitcher going down in the first inning,” Arizona coach Jay Johnson said, referring to JC Cloney leaving the game with a sore bicep after retiring Alvarez at the start of the contest.

“Washington State plays really well in the this ballpark, came right back at us when we gave them a window. They answered the bell really good and I just thought there were a lot of good at-bats.”

Lots and lots of good at-bats.

Jared Oliva and Matijevic had two-run doubles against lefty Damon Jones — WSU’s usualFridaynight starter — who allowed 10 runs and 11 hits in 3 1/3 innings, and took the loss. Chandler Greenfield’s time on the mound wasn’t much better, surrendering a booming three-run homer to Rivas, and a two-run bomb to Matijevic, making it 18-4. The outcome was essentially decided after that.

“They took advantage of the mistakes we made in the zone,” Lees said. “It doesn’t matter who you’re playing, if you leave pitches where those pitches were left, you get hit.”

Rivas, who replaced Cloney in the first, gave up four runs on six hits with three strikeouts in 3 1/3 innings of work. At the plate, the sophomore was 3-for-3 with a homer, three RBI and four runs scored. Matijevic was 4-for-4 with a homer, two doubles and six RBI.

Justin Harrer and Sinatro each had two hits for the Cougars, who host Game 2 of this three-game series at 2 p.m.today.

Arizona                301   02(12)   100—19   21   0

Washington St.        002       200   010—5     9   1

Nealy, Jones (3), Greenfield (6), Mullins (8) and Waterman and Inskeep. Cloney, Rivas (1), Deason (4), Soroko (6) and Salazar.

W — Deason (2-1). L — Jones (2-3). S - Soroko (2).

Arizona hits — Stevenson 2 (HR), Frazier, Rivas 3 (HR), Oliva 4 (2B, 2B), Matijevic 4 (2B, 2B, HR), Quintana 3 (2B), Salazar (2B), Lewis (2B), Boyd (2)

Washington State hits — Alvarez (2B), Plew, Harrer 2, Matheny (HR), Rudkin, Sinatro 2, Clanton

Michael-Shawn Dugar can be reached at(208) 883-4627, by email tomdugar@dnews.comor on Twitter to @MikeDugar.