Just as fall signals a change in color for the leaves in Pullman, the WSU baseball team is using the fall season to institute program-wide changes under new head coach Brian Green.

"We want to attack the fiber of the foundation." Green said. "We want to change the culture here in Pullman. The biggest thing we wanted to accomplish this fall is instilling a great work ethic in the team."

Two new players that are looking to play a big role in the revitalization of the WSU baseball program are freshman left-handed pitcher Micky Thompson and freshman outfielder Nathan Swarts.
Thompson admits that it took a little while for the team to get used to Green's coaching style.

"At first all of us were kind of skeptical and we didn't know what he was going to bring to the table." Thompson said. "It's been super clear though that the whole coaching staff is here to help, but we are going to make a change here, and it's going to be awesome."

Coach Green comes to WSU after spending the previous five seasons at his alma mater, New Mexico State University. In his time there, he led the Aggies to at least 34 victories in each of the past four seasons.

A signature of Coach Green's teams the past few seasons is a high-powered offense. He is coming off a season in which his team led the nation in runs, batting average, on-base percentage, and slugging percentage.

Swarts thinks that things will not be any different for Green's offense in Pullman.

"Oh we are definitely going to surprise a lot of people this year, especially offensively with the work we have been doing this fall." Swarts said.

 Swarts, a native of New Mexico, was originally committed to play for Green this year as an Aggie. However, once Green was hired by WSU, Swarts decided to follow him to Pullman.

"The culture and how Coach Green runs a baseball program is very appealing and makes it a really easy decision to follow him." Swarts said.

With only a few weeks left in the fall program, Coach Green has seen a lot of growth not only from the new players, but the returning Cougs as well.

"It has been great so far. The freshmen and other newcomers have done a really good job, we have a ton of talent." Green said. "I think the older guys have done a really good job of understanding that we want to take this program to a bigger and higher level. The work of the freshmen and the new players, coupled with the older guys giving them a little bit of experience of what this league is about has been really positive."

The baseball program has a month left in their fall season as they continue to prepare for a big season in the Pac-12.