Cougs take game two of baseball Apple Cup

Jayson Miller pitched a nine hitter for his first complete game of the season to give the Washington State Cougars a 5-1 win over the Huskies before 1,361 fans in the second game of a three game Pac-10 series at Husky Ballpark on Saturday afternoon.

The Cougars evened the series at a win apiece and improved to 6-11 in the Pac-10 and 27-21 overall while the Huskies dropped to 9-8 and 30-17.

The Cougars got all the offense they would need against Cam Nobles (4-4) in the top of the third.

Travis Coulter and Scott Suttmeier singled and advanced a base on a wild pitch to Paul Gran. Gran drove in Coulter with a sacrifice fly to right, with Suttmeier taking third. Jim Murphy then drove a 1-0 pitch from Nobles into the visitors bullpen in left field for his team leading 13th home run and a 3-0 lead.

The Cougars made it 4-0 in the seventh when Suttmeier reached on an infield single, took second on a throwing error by second baseman Bradley Boyer and scored on a double off the left field wall by Murphy.

They scored their final run in the eighth when Michael Weber singled, moved to second on a sacrifice, and scored on a single by Coulter.

The Huskies broke up Miller's bid for a shutout in the last of the ninth with two outs. Sean Meehan and Jarrett Jackson singled and Ty Rasmussen pinch hit for Doug Cherry. Miller (7-1) only needed one more strike for the shutout but Rasmussen lined a 2-2 pitch down the left field line to plate Meehan and put runners at second and third. Miller then fell behind 2-0 in the count to Brett Wilcox but came back with three straight strikes, the final one swinging, to secure the win and the complete game.

In addition to the nine hits, Miller walked three and struck out nine. For the Huskies, Nobles lasted four and two thirds innings, giving up three runs on seven hits and two walks. He struck out three.

The Huskies and Cougars conclude the series at 1 p.m. Sunday at Husky Ballpark. Left hander Nick Haughian will start on the mound for the Huskies.