PROJECTED STARTERS
COUGARS OPEN PAC-12 PLAY AT NO. 14 UCLA

Washington State (4-9) opens Pac-12 Conference play with a weekend series at No. 14 UCLA (10-4). Friday's opener is set for 3 p.m with Saturday slated for 2 p.m. and Sunday's finale at 1 p.m.
 

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 wsucougars.com. 
 

ON DECK

WSU will hit the road for the second straight weekend, heading to Tucson for a series at Arizona.
 

LAST TIME OUT

Washington State dropped a nonconference game 5-1 to Long Beach State at Blair Field Wednesday evening. Senior first baseman James Rudkin had a two-out RBI-single.
 

ABOUT WASHINGTON STATE

Washington State enters Pac-12 Conference play with a 4-9 mark after splitting a four-game series with Saint Mary's in Pullman last weekend and dropping a 5-1 nonconference game at Long Beach State Wednesday. Offensively the Cougars are led by shortstop Andres Alvarez who owns 14 hits and four doubles while outfielder Blake Clanton and first baseman James Rudkin share the team lead with two home runs a piece. Senior reliever Ryan Walker has been impressive out of the bullpen, posting a 1-0 record with one save in four appearances and a 0.82 ERA. Head coach Marty Lees is in his third season at Washington State.

COUGAR QUICK GAME

ABOUT NO. 14 UCLA

UCLA enters Pac-12 Conference play with a 10-4 overall record and ranked as high as No. 14 in this week's Collegiate Baseball Top-25. The Bruins dropped a 3-2 decision to USC at Dodger Stadium Sunday and had a their Wednesday night contest at Cal State Northridge suspended due to rain with UCLA leading 3-2 in the eighth inning. Head coach John Savage is in his 14th season at UCLA. 
 

WSU-UCLA SERIES HISTORY

UCLA leads the all-time series 53-24 after Washington State claimed the series in Pullman last season, snapping a seven-series winning streak by the Bruins. UCLA has claimed the last seven series in Los Angeles with WSU last winning a road series against the Bruins in 2002. The Cougars are looking to post back-to-back series wins over UCLA for the first time in program history.
 

RECORD BOOK WATCH (PAGE 6)

Senior lefthander Scotty Sunitsch put his name in a couple WSU career Top-10 lists last season while senior righty Ryan Walker also worked his way on to the record book. Sunitsch enters the weekend with 74 career appearances, tied for fifth-most in WSU history and his nine career saves are tied for ninth in WSU history. Ryan Walker, who recorded three wins in relief last season to push his career relief wins total to nine, added another relief win against UC Riverside, No. 10 of his career, tied for fourth in WSU history. Walker also made two appearances last weekend and enters the series at UCLA with 68 career appearances, needing two appearances to move into the WSU career Top-10. His seven career saves sit two away from the WSU Top-10.
 

COUGS TURN FIRST TRIPLE PLAY SINCE 1999

In last Saturday's 2-1 win over Saint Mary's, the Cougars turned their first triple play since 1999. Saint Mary's had runners on first and second with nobody out. SMC popped up a bunt attempt that catcher Cal Waterman dove for and caught. He jumped to his feet and fired to James Rudkin at first base to double-off the runner for the second out and Rudkin then fired to Andres Alvarez at second base to get the runner at second base for the final out. It was WSU's first triple play since doing to so at Arizona State (4/11/99).
 

COUGARS SPLIT SERIES WITH SAINT MARY'S

Washington State's initial home-opening series set for the first weekend of March against Sacramento State was cancelled due to weather. The Cougars instead waited a week to play in Bailey-Brayton Field, splitting a four-game series with Saint Mary's. WSU came back to win Thursday's opener 7-6 in 11 innings, scoring the winning run on a SMC throwing error. Friday, Saint Mary's benefitted from a ninth-inning baserunner interference call against WSU, taking the Cougars game-tying run off the board an instead giving the Gaels a game-ending 6-4-3 double play. Saturday, WSU received seven solid innings from Scotty Sunitsch and a pair of solo home runs from James Rudkin and Blake Clanton for a 2-1 win. In Sunday's finale, SMC used their own strong starting pitching performance to hold WSU to one run and three hits for a 3-1 win. 
 

WSU NOTCHES ROAD WIN AT GRAND CANYON

WSU scored the go-ahead run to break a 4-4 tie in the ninth inning and posted a 5-4 victory at Grand Canyon. The Cougars beat an Antelope team who took a game from No. 7 TCU and claimed the WAC regular season title in 2017. Dillon Plew recorded three hits and scored two runs including the go-ahead run in the ninth after starting the inning with a triple. Justin Harrer drove in Plew with two outs in the ninth with a single through the left side. Senior James Rudkin added two hits and an RBI and Nick Strange earned the win by getting the final five outs.
 

COMEBACK KIDS GIVE WSU FIRST WIN IN 2018

WSU used a comeback to notch its first win of 2018 after recording 12 comeback victories in 2017. The Cougars trailed UC Riverside 6-1 in the Husker Classic finale before tallying two runs in the seventh and four more in the eighth behind a pair of two-out two-run singles from JJ Hancock and Cal Waterman with Waterman's proving to be the game-winner. WSU added another win in its final at-bat at Grand Canyon, breaking a 4-4 tied with a run in the ninth inning for a 5-4 road win. The Cougars added another comeback win last weekend, erasing Saint Mary's 6-3 lead with Dillon Plew's three-run double in the seventh inning before WSU scored the winning run in the 11th inning after a Saint Mary's throwing error.
 

NOTES FROM OPENING WEEKEND

Washington State went 1-3 the opening weekend of 2018 and received a couple impressive performances along the way. Junior first basemen/designated hitter Wyatt Segle recorded a hit in all four games capped by a 5-for-5 performance in the comeback win over UC Riverside. Segle was the first Cougar to notch a five-hit game since Adam Nelubowich did so against UCLA in 2013. Segle finished the weekend 8-for-13 for a team-best .615 batting average. Junior shortstop Andres Alvarez recorded multiple-hits in each of the final three games including a three-hit game against Nebraska. Sophomore centerfielder Danny Sinatro recorded his first career three-hit game in the win over UC Riverside and stole three bases throughout the weekend. On the mound, redshirt-sophomore Isaac Mullins struck out a career-high seven in five innings against UC Riverside on opening day and senior Scotty Sunitsch had six strikeouts in six innings against Nebraska. Senior reliever Ryan Walker was dominant in his only appearance, striking out four in 2.2 scoreless innings of the win over UC Riverside.
 

ENTERING 2018

WSU returned eight starters from its 2017 lineup and two pitchers from its final weekend rotation. Last season, the Cougars upped their win total from a season ago and posted four straight Pac-12 Conference series wins in a 24-29 campaign including a 10-20 mark in league play. In year two under head coach Marty Lees, the Cougars recorded its highest batting average, scored the most runs and hit the most home runs since 2013 while posting the fourth-most doubles (105) in the Pac-12, the most since 2012. Washington State won four straight conference series for the first time since 1995, claiming series against No. 30 Washington, at Utah, Oregon and No. 28 UCLA. The Cougars played well at Bailey-Brayton Field in 2017, posting a 20-10 mark for the best home record since the 2010 team went 20-5.
 

COUGAR DEFENSE

Defensively, the Cougars return seven position starters but must replace the elite defender in Shane Matheny who was drafted by the San Francisco Giants. Last season, WSU tied for second in the Pac-12 with 51 double plays turned including a conference-best 33 during Pac-12 play. 
 

COUGAR PITCHING

On the mound last season, the Cougars combined to pick off 11 baserunners, the second-most in the Pac-12 senior lefthander Cody Anderson held opposing hitters to a .239 batting average, 10th-lowest in the Pac-12. Scotty Sunitsch finished the year with eight saves, third-most in the conference and also tied for sixth in the league with 28 appearances. 
 

COUGAR OFFENSE MADE BIG STRIDES IN 2017

The WSU offense made big strides in year two under head coach Marty Lees and hitting coach Jim Horner. WSU posted its highest batting average (.272) since 2013, averaged the most runs/g (4.9) and hits/g (9.1) per game since 2013, hit the most doubles (105) since 2012 and hit the most home runs (21) since 2013. Six Cougars recorded 10+ doubles for the first time since 2010 after just two players had double-digit doubles 2016.
 

COUGAR BASEBALL ON WASHINGTON STATE IMG RADIO

This season, 36 games will be broadcast on the Washington State IMG 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 select games broadcast on KXLY (920 AM) in Spokane and games will be available on KONA (610 AM) in Tri-Cities. Included in the 36 broadcasts are all 30 Pac-12 Conference contests and all three meetings against Gonzaga University. Matt Chazanow enters his third 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 select home games 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. He was inducted into the WSU Hall of Fame in 2017.