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“Everyone played really good,” said Scooter Cisneros, team co-captain and co-president. “Our pitchers had a lot of strikeouts, hitters hit and defense was sharp for the most part. It feels good to start conference play off with a win.”
On Saturday the Wildcats defeated the Utes in a double header. In the first game, the ’Cats dug themselves into a hole early in the first inning, getting down by six runs. “Slow and steady wins the race” rang true for the Wildcats as they came from behind to get a 10-7 win.
“We did good at battling back today,” said Anthony Rojas. “We got down at first and came back in both games.”
Cale Thurgood’s two-run home runs tied the game while Chans Porter’s two-run RBI in the top of the seventh inning secured the win. WSU’s Jake Messerly started on the mound and had 10 strikeouts.
“We hit the ball and put it in play more today than we usually do,” Rojas said.
WSU kept up its energy in the second game and jumped on and maintained an early lead. Rojas started on the mound and had six strikeouts. Mike Kilts also contributed a two-run homerun in the second game and had two home runs and two doubles for the weekend.
Cisneros went 6-10 on the weekend, getting on base eight times and hitting in five runs.
Co-captain and co-president Chris Abbott agreed with Rojas that offensively the team was strong.
“Our offense came up clutch when we needed it to,” Abbott said.
On Sunday afternoon, WSU gave the Utes one more chance to earn a victory, but the Utes couldn’t pull it together and lost 16-4. Kilts pitched for the Wildcats in the third and final game of the series.
WSU has some time off but will be back on the diamond April 14 at Idaho State University.
“We moved our batting order around and found a lineup that produces runs,” Cisneros said. “We want to keep our approach at the plate against ISU. We want to back up our great pitching with solid defense and gain the momentum we need going into our games against Utah State and UVU.”
Two years ago, the team made it to the World Series of club baseball after winning regional, and the team has plans to follow in that path.
“We are hoping to sweep the conference so that we can make it to regional championships and the World Series,” Cisneros said.
