March 15, 2009
Game One Box Score
Game Two Box Score
Boise, ID --- Megan Miller continued her season long tear, getting six hits in her final six at bats against Boise State as the Bengals split a doubleheader with the Broncos, losing a 4-3 decision in game one before decisively winning game two 6-1. Miller, who ran her hitting streak to seven consecutive games, went 4-for-4 with a pair of runs scored in game two.
Boise State had not lost at home this season, going a perfect 7-0, and they ran that to eight straight with a tense 4-3 win in game one, a game that showed off the continued improvement of rookie pitcher Cristin Martin. Martin never got out of a first inning hole that saw BSU push a pair of unearned runs across when two runs scored on a Jennifer Martensen throwing error. Martensen was seemingly the victim of bad karma in game one, as she hit a line drive that looked like a sure double, only to be snared by first baseman Ashley Viers-Gordillo for a double play. Martensen also was thrown out on at the plate to end the sixth on a bang-bang play on a perfect throw from Kelsey Perkins.
With ISU down 3-0 in the top of the third after a Laurel Wyatt homer in the bottom of the second, ISU finally got on the board. After two singles, a walk and a fielder's choice loaded the bases with one out, Miller did some damage with her eyes, walking to force in a run, and starting a streak in which she would reach base seven straight times. Jessica Baca singled home a run to make it 3-2, but Bronco starter Allie Crump got out of any further trouble with back-to-back strikeouts to end the inning.
BSU's Kathy Cox pushed the lead to 4-2 with a fifth inning homer, and it stayed 4-2 until the seventh, when ISU just missed a major late inning comeback attempt. Kristin Armstrong doubled, and she scored one out later on an Emily Hu single to make it 4-3. Miller then doubled, but Hu couldn't score on the play, leaving runners at second and third with one out. Baca grounded out to third, with Hu holding at the bag, and Crump got Brittany Olsin to ground out to end the game.
BSU won the first game despite getting outhit 11-8. Martin, who dropped to 1-5, had another solid pitching performance, allowing just two earned runs and striking out three.
ISU's bats kept at it in game two, as the Bengals finally broke through against the Broncos, ending their eight-game home undefeated streak as Miller went 4-for-4 and Kandis Clesson pitched a three-hitter. The Bengals broke through on starter Mandy Klein with a big third inning. Caitlin McGrath got it started with a single up the middle, and then Emily Hu's sacrifice bunt attempt was good enough for an infield single. Miller followed with a hit to drive in McGrath and make it 1-0, and cleanup hitter Merissa Jannsen brought Hu and Miller home with a double to right center, making it 3-0. Baca then doubled with one down to make it 4-0, and it stayed that way until the fifth.
BSU had their best chance in the fifth, as a pair of one out singles and a walk loaded the bases and Laeha Hill got one run back with a sacrifice fly, but BSU couldn't dent the lead further. Boise State had nearly taken the lead earlier in the game back in the second, but with runners at second and third and one out, Martensen, so snakebit in game one, had a brilliant defensive play snagging a ground ball and firing home to cut Kathy Cox down at the plate to keep the game scoreless.
ISU tacked on a pair of unearned insurance runs in the seventh when, with the bases loaded and none out, Janssen grounded to third. Cox threw home to force McGrath at the plate, but catch Lexi Stratton's throw on the double play attempt sailed into the outfield, allowing two runs to score.
Clesson, who allowed just a solitary single in the second and two in the fifth, threw a perfect seventh to give ISU their sixth win of the season, and push ISU to a 6-6 mark in their last 12 after starting the season 0-5. Clesson improved to 5-6 on the year, and she struck out four in allowing just one earned run in seven innings of work.
While ISU's pitching was solid all day, allowing just three earned runs in 13 innings, it was ISU's burgeoning offense that was the story, headed by Miller, who now has a seven-game hitting streak, and is hitting .519 over that span (14-for-27) with eight runs scored and eight runs batted in. McGrath isn't too far behind either, with a five-game hitting streak of her own, hitting .524 (11-for-21) with six runs scored.
The Bengals now take their 6-11 record, one win fewer than they had all last season, to the Saint Mary's Tournament in Moraga, California this upcoming weekend.
NOTES: Miller's average is all the way up to .393, and McGrath is second at .367 ... very quietly Emily Hu is having a terrific sophomore season, as she has raised her average all the way to .351. Hu's nastiness at the plate can be attributed to her accuman with two outs, as she is 7-for-15 (.467) with two outs ... Clesson's ERA continues to fall, down to 3.21 ... Whitney Chaffe threw out Lexi Stratton in game one, making her 3-for-8 catching runners this year ... ISU has alternated wins and losses over the last nine games ... Idaho State's three wins this season over Division I programs equals the total number from the 2007 and 2008 seasons combined.
