WASHINGTON STATE HOSTS RIVAL No. 30 WASHINGTON
Washington State (16-18m 2-10 Pac-12) hosts rival No. 30 Washington (20-14, 7-5 Pac-12) for a three-game Pac-12 Conference series at Bailey-Brayton Field. Friday is set for a 5 p.m. start, Saturday at 4 p.m. and Sunday at Noon, all three games will be televised by the Pac-12 Network.

FOLLOW ALONG
Cougar baseball fans can follow all the season's action on the Washington State baseball official twitter page @CougBaseball, instagram page @Coug_Baseball and wsucougars.com. Links to live stats and radio streams will be available at the baseball schedule page on wsucougars.com. Every Cougar home game will be webstreamed through Pac-12.org.

LAST TIME OUT
WSU used a go-ahead two-run double from Blake Clanton to post a 9-4 win over Seattle Wednesday.

ON DECK
The Cougars will host Gonzaga Tuesday at 5 p.m. on the Pac-12 Network.

ABOUT WASHINGTON STATE
Washington State owns an 16-18 record including a 2-10 mark in Pac-12 play after dropping three games at Arizona State in Tempe last weekend. The Cougars lost a 9-4 contest at Gonzaga Monday but bounced back with a 9-4 victory over Seattle Wednesday. Sophomore leftfielder Justin Harrer paces the club with a .324 batting average and 14 doubles and shares the lead of 24 RBI with junior third baseman Shane Matheny and junior first baseman James Rudkin. Junior reliever Scotty Sunitsch enters the weekend third in the Pac-12 with seven saves. Head coach Marty Lees is in his second season at Washington State.
UW-WSU SERIES HISTORY
Washington State leads the all-time series 240-192 after two of three from the No. 14 Huskies in Seattle last season, the Cougars first series win in Seattle since 2004. The Cougars have claimed the last two series, also taking two of three in Pullman in 2015. UW claimed the 2015 series in Seattle and all three meetings in Pasco in 2014. WSU has won three straight series in Pullman with UW's last series win in Pullman coming in 2007.

PAC-12 LEADERS
WSU enter the weekend among the top of the Pac-12 Conference in a couple categories. Offensively, the Cougars are second in the league in doubles (73), second in runs (190) and on-base percentage (.377), and fourth in slugging (.399). The pitching staff has picked off eight baserunners, second in the Pac-12, while the defense is tied for third with 28 double plays turned. Justin Harrer enters the weekend third in the Pac-12 with 14 doubles, tied for ninth with 24 RBI and tied for ninth in home runs with four. Sophomore catcher Cory Meyer is tied for the league-lead with 10 hit-by-pitches while freshman Dillon Plew is tenth in on-base percentage (.439). On the mound, Scotty Sunitsch enters the weekend third in the Pac-12 with seven saves while Cody Anderson is eighth in ERA (2.57), tied for sixth in batting average against (.213) and ninth in strikeouts (42).

BY THE NUMBERS
73 - WSU owns 73 doubles in 34 games this season after hitting 70 last season in 54 games
32 - 32 years since the last WSU no-hitter, Kurt Waananen - Rockford College (Ill.) (3/14/85)
16 - 16 players have made their Cougar debuts
17 - WSU owns 17 home runs in 34 games this season after hitting 16 last season in 54 games
13 - James Rudkin leads the team with 13 two-out RBI, J.J. Hancock is second with 12, Matheny - 10
9 - WSU owns nine comeback wins this season
7 - The first seven wins this season were all come-from-behind wins
7 - WSU's seven-game winning streak was the longest since the 2013 team won eight in a row
7 - Junior LHP Scotty Sunitsch enters the weekend third in the Pac-12 with seven saves
4 - In his last four appearances (7.2 IP), Sunitsch has not allowed a run and recorded four strikeouts
4 - Four players own 10+ doubles this season after just two reached that mark last season
.545 - In his last 4 games, Cal Waterman has gone 6-for-11 with his first career HR and 4 runs scored
.442 - In the last 12 games, Justin Harrer is hitting .442 with 6 2B, 2 HR, 13 RBI, 12 runs scored,
slugging .721, an on-base percentage of .519 and 8 multiple-hit games
.444 - In his last 4 games, Andres Alvarez its hitting .444 (8-18) with 3 multiple-hit games
.344 - Since taking over the starting CF job 9 games ago, Danny Sinatro is hitting .344 with 6 runs and a .400 on-base percentage

COUGAR OFFENSE MAKING BIG STEPS IN 2017
The Washington State offense has made big strides in year two under head coach Marty Lees and hitting coach Jim Horner. In 34 games this season, the Cougars have surpassed last year's home run total (16) and doubles total (70). WSU enters the weekend with 17 home runs and second in the Pac-12 with 73 doubles. Four Cougars have recorded 10+ doubles in 2017 after just two players had double-digit doubles last year. This season WSU has also posted a higher batting average, averaged more runs and more hits per game compared to the previous two seasons.

RECORD BOOK WATCH
A couple Cougars are closing in on putting their names in some WSU career Top-10 lists. With his next save, junior lefthander Scotty Sunitsch will notch his ninth career save and move into a tie for ninth all-time in WSU history for career saves. Sunitsch also enters the weekend with 61 career appearances, needing nine more to move into the WSU Top-10 for career appearances. Junior righthander Colby Nealy owns 57 career appearances. Sophomore catcher Cory Meyer has been hit by a pitch 10 times this season, four away from moving into the WSU Top-10  for season hit-by-pitches.

COMEBACK KIDS
The 2017 Cougars have settled in as the comeback kids, coming from behind in their first seven wins this season and since added two more. It started with the first win of the season at Sacramento State, trailing 3-1 in the eighth inning before scoring three runs in the inning capped by Cory Meyer's go-ahead two-run homer. There have also been a couple big comebacks, erasing a 4-0 deficit in the sixth inning to beat Loyola Marymount Feb. 26 and overcoming a 5-0 third-inning hole against Stephen F. Austin March 5. Against Cal State Northridge, WSU overcame a 2-0 second-inning deficit to win 11-7. Wednesday, the Cougars trailed Seattle U 4-2 entering the fifth inning before scoring once in the fifth, once in the sixth and two more in the seventh before taking on three more in the eighth for a 9-4 win. It could all be traced back to the season-opening series last year when the Cougars rallied with two runs in the ninth to force extra innings at Texas State and went on to post a 9-8 win in 10 innings, giving head coach Marty Lees his first career victory.

HOME SWEET HOME
Washington State opened the 2017 season winning its first three home series before dropping a home series 2-1 to No. 8 Arizona. With Wednesday's win over Seattle, the Cougars now own a 12-3 mark at home after starting 10-1. That 10-1 mark matched the best home start by a Cougar team since the 1988 John Olerud-led team finished the season with a 22-1 record at Bailey-Brayton Field. The 12-3 home record matches the best home start since the 2009 team.

BACK-TO-BACK SWEEPS
Washington State has posted back-to-back series sweeps it first two home series of 2016, taking all three games from Stephen F. Austin and four from Utah Valley. WSU also recorded its first back-to-back series sweeps (3 or more games) at home for the first time since 1993 (4 at Hawaii – Hilo, 3 vs. Gonzaga in Richland, Wash.).

LONG BALL AT LONG BEACH
In an 8-7 defeat at Long Beach State March 15, the Cougars launched a season-best four home runs, the most since hitting four against Eastern Michigan in 2013. J.J. Hancock got things started with a solo blast in the fourth inning and Justin Harrer followed with a solo shot, the first back-to-back homers for WSU since Derek Jones and Matt Argyropoulos did so at Cal State Bakersfield in 2011. In the fifth inning, freshman Dillon Plew hit his first career homer and freshman Jon Burghardt hit a pinch-hit three-run shot in the seventh that gave WSU a 7-4 advantage.

FOUR PITCHERS COMBINE TO NO-HIT STEPHEN F. AUSTIN
Four Cougar pitchers combined to no-hit Stephen F. Austin in the series-finale March 5, the second game of a doubleheader. It was the first WSU no-hitter since Kurt Waananen no-hit Rockford College in 1985, the first nine-inning no-hitter since Eric Wilkins (vs. Oregon State – 1976) and first combined no-hitter since 1974 (David Wright and Roger Stein – Idaho). Cougar starter Cody Anderson earned the win after striking out six and allowing just three unearned runs in six innings. The junior left-hander earned his first career win. Junior right-hander Joe Rosenstein followed with 1.1 innings of work and freshman lefty Isaac Mullins got the final two outs of the eighth inning before the junior left-hander Scotty Sunitsch worked a scoreless ninth to post the 24th no-hitter in school history and fifth combined no-hitter.

HARRER SETTLES IN
Sophomore Justin Harrer has adjusted well to the outfield after starting 34 games at shortstop last season. The Sisters, Ore. native and former 18th-round draft pick by the San Diego Padres caught fire at California and Pacific, hitting .667 (8-for-12) with two doubles, two home runs and nine RBI in the four-game road trip. At Pacific, he collected a career-high three hits including a pair of doubles and a grand slam, finishing the day with six RBI, the most in a game since Derek Jones drove seven against USC in 2010. He has produced a couple nice defensive plays, crashing into the left field wall to make a catch at Sacramento State, throwing out a runner at third in the Loyola Marymount series before turning in two diving catches in the USC series. Harrer enters the weekend third in the Pac-12 with 14 doubles and four home runs, and eighth with a .577 slugging percentage. He leads the team with a .324 batting average, shares the team RBI lead (24) and is second with 23 runs scored.

MATHENY STAYS HOT
Shane Matheny has been one of the country's top hitters this season and enters the weekend second on the team with a .308 batting average, tied for fifth in the Pac-12 with 12 doubles and No. 11 with a .521 slugging percentage. The junior had an 12-game hitting streak earlier this season and owns a hit in all but nine games he has played in this season including nine multiple-hit games with one four-hit performance. Matheny owns three homers and shares the team lead of 24 RBI.

J.J. HANCOCK HEATS UP
Junior outfielder J.J. Hancock matched Shane Matheny's monster weekend against Utah Valley earlier this season with a .533 batting average after going 8-for-15 with a pair of triples, six RBI and four runs scored during the four-game sweep. Against CSUN, Hancock recorded two doubles and a homer and added another home run at Pacific. He enters the weekend hitting .303, tied for the team lead with four home runs to go along with 18 RBI, seven doubles, two triples and three stolen bases.

PLEW KEEPS HITTING
Freshman infielder Dillon Plew has opened his career with hits in 23 of his 33 games played and reached base in 29 games. He already owns nine multiple-hit games including three 3-hit performances against Utah Valley, No. 8 Arizona and at Arizona State. He also had two hits including his first career home run at Long Beach State March 15. The Kennewick, Wash. native enters the weekend with team-bests of 23 walks, 24 runs scored and a .439 on-base percentage, good for 10th in the Pac-12.

NEALY NOTCHES THREE STRAIGHT WINS
Junior reliever Colby Nealy enters the weekend with a 4-1 record in 17 appearances, tying for the tenth-most wins in the Pac-12. Nealy suffered the loss in the season opener at Sacramento State but bounced back in a big way, recording the win in each of WSU's three wins beginning Feb. 24 at Loyola Marymount with 1.1 innings of work. He then earned the win Feb. 26 at LMU after throwing just two pitches as his pitch-out helped WSU throw out a baserunner attempting to steal second to end the eighth inning and the Cougars went to score three runs in the ninth for a 7-4 win. Nealy then earned the win after working 1.2 innings of relief against Stephen F. Austin. Against Cal State Northridge, he tallied his fourth win after 2.1 innings of work.

CODY CRUISES ALONG
Junior lefthander Cody Anderson has burst on to the scene in his first season with the Cougars. The Bellevue College transfer struck out seven in his first career start at Sacramento State, threw six innings in the combined no-hitter of Stephen F. Austin before striking out seven against Utah Valley. He was even more impressive in his win at USC, striking out six and allowing just one earned run on five hits in eight innings, firing 16 straight strikes at one point. Last weekend at Arizona State, he struck out four and allowed just one earned run in seven innings, earning a no-decision. He owns a 3-2 record, the ninth-most strikeouts in the Pac-12 (42) and eighth in ERA (2.57).

NEWCOMERS IMPRESS
Washington State has seen 16 players make their Cougar debuts including 14 in a starting role. Sophomore Andres Alvarez has been a mainstay at shortstop with a number of webgems while producing at the plate. The junior college transfer owns 10 doubles, four stolen bases and 16 RBI including nine two-out RBI. JUCO catcher Cory Meyer is hitting at .297 clip and hit the go-ahead two-run homer in the win at Sacramento State. JUCO first baseman James Rudkin caught fire in the USC series and recently had his 19-game on-base streak snapped. He owns 10 doubles and is tied for the team lead with 24 RBI. In conference play, he is second on the team with a .348 batting average, three doubles and nine RBI.

COUGARS POST FIRST SERIES SWEEP SINCE 2015
Washington State's three-game series sweep of Stephen F. Austin was the first series sweep since 2015, taking all four games against Sacred Heart. In the series, WSU outscored SFA 21-10, hitting .301 and held Lumberjack hitters to a .169 batting average. It was also the first series sweep under head coach Marty Lees and is the first time the Cougars have swept a home-opening series since taking all four from Eastern Michigan in 2013.

RECRUITING CLASS RANKED AMONG NATION'S BEST
The 2016 WSU recruiting class was ranked No. 28 in the country according to D1Baseball.com, who began to release its Top-30 signing classes. It is the first Cougar recruiting class to be nationally ranked by D1Baseball.com and features eight junior college transfers and four freshmen. Two freshmen hail from the state of Washington and were selected in the Major League Baseball Draft but chose to play for WSU. According to D1baseball.com "…this is a high quality and high upside class that has head coach Marty Lees very excited and comparing his class to some of the powerhouse recruiting classes he had as an assistant at Oregon State and Oklahoma State…"

WHO'S NEW? NOTES ON KEY NEWCOMERS (Stats based on last season)
Andres Alvarez (So., SS, Trinidad JC)    All-Region 1st-Team, .395, 23 2B, 15 SB
Cody Anderson (Jr., LHP, Bellevue CC)    Northwest Athletic Conference-best 114 Ks in 85.2 IP
A.J. Block (Fr., LHP, Newport HS)    39th-RD draft pick (Cubs), All-State 1st Team
Blake Clanton (Jr., OF, Western Oklahoma State College)    NJCAA DII Region II MVP - .373, 19 HR
Cory Meyer (So., C, Spokane Falls CC)    JUCO All-America 3rd Team, .333 batting avg
Dillon Plew (Fr., INF, Kennewick HS)    League Player of the Year, .473, 7 2B, 23 RBI
Ryan Ramsower (Jr., INF, Pima CC)    All-Region 2nd-Team, .360, 15 2B, 39 RBI, 9 SB
Joe Rosenstein (Jr., RHP, Lamar CC)    All-Region 1st-Team, 7-1, 60 Ks in 59.2 IP
James Rudkin (Jr., 1B, McLennan JC)    2016 - .308, 10 2B, 7 HR, 41 RBI
Danny Sinatro (Fr., UTL, Skyline HS)    40th-RD draft pick (Indians), All-State 1st-Team
David Wallum (So., RHP, Linn-Benton CC)    7-3, 3.24 ERA, 60 Ks in 58.1 IP
Cal Waterman (Fr., C, Summit HS)    Oregon HS Player of the Year, .574, 17 2B, 8 HR, 43 RBI

WALKER NAMED TO STOPPER OF THE YEAR PRESEASON WATCH LIST
Junior Ryan Walker was named to the preseason watch list for the National Collegiate Baseball Associate Stopper of the Year. The award is given to the top relief pitcher in NCAA Division I Baseball. Walker earned All-Pac-12 HM last season after posting the sixth lowest ERA (2.66) and batting average against (.212) in the conference during Pac-12 play. Of WSU's 11 conference wins in 2016, Walker recorded four wins and four saves. Overall, Walker led the Cougars with a 6-3 record and five saves in 18 appearances along with a 2.40 ERA and 50 strikeouts in 63.2 innings, all in relief. Walker's six relief wins tied for the second-most relief wins in WSU single-season history.

2017 SIGNING CLASS
Brody Barnum (OF/RHP, R/R, 6-3, 215)    Vancouver, Wash. (Skyview HS)
Mason De La Cruz (INF, R/R, 6-0, 170)    Auburn, Wash. (Thomas Jefferson HS)
Anthony Felix (INF, R/R, 5-10, 185)    Tucson, Ariz. (Canyon del Oro HS/Pima CC)
Avery Jones (RHP, R/R, 6-6, 205)    Gig Harbor, Wash. (Gig Harbor HS)
Collin Montez (OF, L/L, 6-2, 200)    Marysville, Wash. (Marysville Getchell HS)
Conner Nantkes (LHP, L/L, 6-2, 180)    Aurora, Colo. (Cherokee Trail HS)
Michael Newstrom (LHP, R/L, 5-9, 205)    Puyallup, Wash. (Puyallup HS)
Dylan Orlando (LHP, L/L, 6-1, 185)    Las Vegas, Nev. (Palo Verde HS)
Hayden Rosenkrantz (RHP, R/R, 6-3, 175)    Salt Lake City, Utah (Cottonwood HS)
Isaiah Smith (OF, R/R, 6-2, 200)    Battle Ground, Wash. (Battle Ground HS)
Jack Smith (INF, R/R, 6-3, 180)    Mercer Island, Wash. (Mercer Island HS)

COUGARS NOTCH BIG SERIES WINS UNDER MARTY LEES in FIRST SEASON
Washington State went 19-35 overall including an 11-19 Pac-12 Conference mark under the direction of first-year head coach Marty Lees in 2016. The Cougars picked up series wins over No. 10 Oregon State and at No. 14 Washington and finished the year second in the league in stolen bases.

ABOUT ASSOCIATE HEAD COACH / PITCHING COACH DAN SPENCER
In his first official move as head baseball coach, Marty Lees named Dan Spencer as the Cougars' associate head coach. Spencer oversees WSU's pitching staff and reunited with Lees as the two spent four seasons together at Oregon State, winning back-to-back College World Series titles in 2006 and 2007. Spencer coached three seasons with the New Mexico Lobos after serving the previous four years as the head coach of Texas Tech, compiling a 115-112 record. Before joining Texas Tech for the 2008 season, Spencer spent 11 seasons at Oregon State as the Beavers hitting coach (1997-2003) and pitching coach (2004-2007). He began his head coaching career at Green River Community College (1992-96) in Auburn, Wash. In 1992 and 1994 he was named the Northwest Athletic Association of Community Colleges Coach of the Year. A native of Vancouver, Wash., Spencer received his bachelor's degree in history from Portland State University in 1990. He and his wife, Susie, have three children: Wade, Logan, and Elizabeth.

ABOUT ASSISTANT COACH JIM HORNER
Jim Horner, a first-team All-Pacific-10 player for the Cougars in 1996, jumped at the opportunity to return to the Palouse last season after managing the Seattle Mariners Double-A affiliate Jackson Generals (Tenn.) for the 2014 season and the first half of the 2015 campaign. Horner owns seven-plus years of managerial experience, serving as the skipper of the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers (Seattle – Low-A) from 2006-07 and the High Desert Mavericks (Seattle - High-A) from 2008-10 and 2013. In 2009, he was named California League Manager of the Year and Seattle Mariners Staff Member of the Year after guiding the Mavericks to South Division first and second half titles. From 2011-12, Horner coached two seasons at Texas Tech as the hitting coach under then head coach Dan Spencer. Horner joined the coaching ranks immediately after completing a nine-year professional playing career, all with the Mariners' organization. He was a catcher in the Seattle farm system from 1996-2004. In 2000, Horner reached the Triple-A level with the Tacoma Rainiers. Horner played at Washington State for coaches Bobo Brayton (1993-94) and Steve Farrington (1995-96). The Twin Falls, Idaho native earned first-team All-Pac-10 Conference honors as a senior after leading the Cougars with a .332 batting average. Horner was also named the Pacific-10 Conference Medal Winner for Washington State as WSU's top male student-athlete and received all-academic honors while earning a bachelor's degree in criminal justice. Jim and his wife, Katie, have four children: daughters, Madison and Reagan, and sons, Jackson and Tyler.

COUGAR BASEBALL ON WASHINGTON STATE IMG RADIO
This season, 38 games will be broadcast on the Washington State IMG College Network and every radio broadcast will be available through the WSU Gameday App via TuneIn and on KQQQ (1150 AM) in Pullman. There will also be 10 select games broadcast on KXLY (920 AM) in Spokane and 18 games will be available on KONA (610 AM) in Tri-Cities. Included in the 38 broadcasts are all 30 Pac-12 Conference contests and all three meetings against Gonzaga University. Matt Chazanow enters his second season calling Cougar Baseball and will be joined in the booth by former Cougar All-American and Major Leaguer Mike Kinkade who will serve as an analyst for all home games and select road contests in 2017. Kinkade played at Washington State from 1992-95, earned All-America honors as a junior and finished his WSU career the all-time leader in hits, runs scored and doubles and went on to play six seasons in the big leagues with the Mets, Orioles and Dodgers.