COUGARS OPEN TEXAS ROAD TRIP AT TARLETON STATE WEDNESDAY
Washington State opens a four-game road trip to the state of Texas with a Wednesday night matchup at Tarleton State set for 4:30 p.m. (PT).

ON DECK
The Cougars will head north of Dallas for the Frisco College Baseball Classic in Frisco, Texas to face Texas A&M, Wichita State and Iowa.

FOLLOW ALONG
Cougar baseball fans can follow all the season's action on the Washington State baseball official twitter page @wsucougarbsb, instagram page @wsucougarbsb and wsucougars.com. Links to live stats, webstreams and radio streams will be available at the baseball schedule page on wsucougars.com.

ABOUT WASHINGTON STATE
Washington State enters week three of the season with a 5-3 record after splitting a four-game series at Hawaii opening weekend and taking three of four from LIU (Long Island) in Peoria, Ariz last weekend. Kyle Russell leads the team with a .379 batting average while Bryce Matthews (2 2B, 2 HR) and Justin Van De Brake (2 2B, 2 3B) share the team-lead in extra base-hits with four. The Cougars returned seven starters from a lineup that finished the 2021 season second in the league in hitting (.302), third in scoring (7.2 r/g) and led the Pac-12 with 74 doubles during conference play. Third-year head coach Brian Green guided the Cougars to a 26-23 overall record last season, their first winning season since 2015, after recording conference series wins at Utah, at California, No. 8 Oregon and Washington to post a 13-17 mark in Pac-12 play, the most conference wins since 2014. Washington State signed its second-straight nationally-ranked recruiting class including the top-ranked junior college class in the country according to JBB. Green owns a 198-155-1 career mark in seven-plus seasons including a 40-33 record in his third season at WSU.

ABOUT TARLETON STATE
Tarleton State, out of the WAC and Stephenville, Texas, enters the matchup with a 3-4 record after dropping two of three with Eastern Illinois over the weekend. TSU went 20-35 last season including a 13-23 mark in WAC play This will be the first meeting between the two programs.

2021 RECRUITING CLASS RANKED AMONG NATION'S BEST
For the second straight year, WSU Baseball saw its incoming signing class ranked among the nation's best recruiting classes after Collegiate Baseball rated WSU's incoming 2021 class No. 40 in the country. The class, which begins his first season on the field, was the seventh-best class in the Pac-12 Conference ahead of Arizona State (42), Washington (43), California and Utah and also ahead of notable schools Michigan (41), UC Santa Barbara (48), Nebraska, Cal State Fullerton, UC Irvine and Gonzaga. The 2021 Cougar class also features the top-rated junior college class according to JBB Baseball. 

WSU, BRIAN GREEN AGREE TO CONTRACT EXTENSION THROUGH 2026
WSU Director of Athletics Pat Chun announced in September that Brian Green has signed a contract extension through the 2026 season. Green's initial contract was a five-year contract signed in 2019. In just his second year leading the Cougars, 2021 saw Green guide WSU to its first winning season (26-23) since 2015, tie for the most road wins (16) by any Power-5 Conference team and record the most Pac-12 Conference wins (13) since 2014. In the classroom, Green saw his team post a program-record 3.09 GPA in the 2020 fall semester as 30 players recorded a GPA of 3.0 or higher and 17 players earned Pac-12 Spring Academic Honor Roll honors. Green also signed his second-straight nationally ranked recruiting class for the 2022 season, including the best junior college class in the country according to JBB baseball. Also in 2021, Green served as the West Region representative on the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) All-American Committee. "We respect the history and tradition of our Cougar Baseball program and the responsibility we have to uphold it," said Chun. "Over the past two years, Coach Brian Green has rekindled the passion and pride Cougs have for our baseball program. We are fortunate to have Coach Green and look forward to having him lead our program for many years to come."

IN THE CLASSROOM, IN THE COMMUNITY
Head coach Brian Green emphasized winning in the classroom and the community in his introductory press conference and the Cougs backed him up in his first two years at WSU. 
- This past fall, WSU posted its highest semester team GPA (3.14) in program history after 31 players posted a 3.0 GPA or better in the semester. WSU has set program records for team GPA in three straight fall semesters. The 3.14 mark broke the 3.09 record set in the 2020 fall semester with broke the record of 3.05 set in the fall of 2019.
- WSU does a viral campaign under Green named Meet The Professor where each baseball student-athlete introduces themselves and takes a selfie with their professor in the first class of each semester. 
- In January of 2020, WSU gathered at a local elementary school and helped the Whitman County Special Olympics with basketball practice.
- This past summer, WSU partnered with WSU ROAR to host a Lentil Cookoff. WSU ROAR is a two-year postsecondary education program for students with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS - 2021
10,000,000 - A $10 million baseball clubhouse facility is complete, Project: BTO (Back To Omaha)
437 - WSU's pitching staff tallied 437 strikeouts in 2021, the second-most in program history (2009 - 453)
101 - WSU was 3rd in the Pac-12 with 101 extra bases hits in conference play (22 HR, 74 2B, 5 3B)
115 - WSU was 3rd in the Pac-12 with 115 doubles, No. 21 in the country and most by a WSU club since 2010
74 - WSU led the Pac-12 with 74 doubles in conference play
43 - WSU's 43 home runs in 49 games were the most since 2010
17 - WSU had 17 selections to the 2021 Pac-12 Spring Academic Honor Roll (3.3 GPA or higher)
14 - WSU's 14 games scoring 10+ runs is the most by a Cougar team since 2010 (14)
7.2 - WSU averaged 7.2 runs-per-game, 3rd in the Pac-12 and No. 29 in the country
.454 - WSU's .454 slugging pct. was the ninth-best in program history, best since 1999
.386 - WSU's .386 on-base pct. was the best team on-base pct. since 2006
.302 - WSU's team batting average (.302) was 2nd in the Pac-12, No. 19 in the country and best since 2008

COUGS NOTCH NOTABLE WINS IN 2021
•  WSU took 2 of 3 from Washington in Pullman to close the season and notch 1st Apple Cup series win since 2017
•  WSU took 2 of 3 from No. 8 Oregon in Pullman to post 1st series win over Top-10 team since 2016 (No. 10 OSU)
•  WSU took 2 of 3 at Cal in late April to post its 1st series win against the Golden Bears since 2015
•  WSU took 2 of 3 at Utah to post its 1st Pac-12 road series win since 2017
•  WSU beat No. 24 Stanford with 10-9 walkoff HBP in 10 innings (4/2), WSU's 1st win in the series since 2016
•  WSU recorded its 1st win against Oregon State (3/19) since 2016 and 1st win in Corvallis since 2013
•  WSU's 5-2 win at No. 18 Oregon State (3/19) gave WSU an 11-2 record for the 1st time since 2006
•  WSU won its conference opener (5-2 at Oregon State) for 1st time since 2013
•  WSU took 2 of 3 from Seattle U week 3 to open the season with 3 straight series wins for 1st time since 2008 
•  WSU swept a 4-game series at Dixie State week 2, its 1st 4-game road series sweep since 1993 (Hawaii-Hilo)
•  WSU opened 2021 by taking 3 of 4 at UC Davis, the Cougars 1st series win on opening weekend since 2011

WSU COMPLETES PROJECT: BTO (Photos on Back Page)
Washington State broke ground on the Cougar Baseball Facility Project: BTO (Back to Omaha) in October of 2019 and officially moved into its new home this past January. The state-of-the-art facility features a $10 million clubhouse facility, a new entrance to Bailey-Brayton Field, a 1,300 square-foot locker room, a 1,500 square-foot weight room, academic area, team meeting room, areas for Cougar equipment, nutrition and athletic medicine, coaches offices as well as recognition of WSU's storied history. In addition, the facility will enhance the game day experience for players, coaches and fans, and provide improved ingress and egress along with new public restrooms and concessions. All costs were all covered through donor support. 

BRIAN GREEN BY THE NUMBERS
6,000 - Green's NMSU program volunteered over 6,000 hours of community service in his 5 years
2019 - Led New Mexico State to a Western Athletic Conference Regular-Season Championship in 2019
2018 - Led New Mexico State to an NCAA Regional appearance in 2018
2014 - Green recruited and coached 2014 Golden Spikes Award Winner AJ Reed at Kentucky, John Olerud Award
40 - Green's 2018 club won 40 games and earned a trip to the NCAA Regional
34 - Green won 34 or more games in each of the last 4 seasons at NMSU
17 - Named the 17th baseball coach in Washington State history June 3, 2019
11 - Has coached 11 All-Americans including two-time selection Kyle Manzardo the last two seasons
4 - Coached 4 seasons at UCLA (2005-08), coached San Francisco Giant SS Brandon Crawford at UCLA
1st - WSU beat CSU Bakersfield 5-2 in the 2020 season-opener for Brian Green's 1st career win as a Coug
.356 - In 2019, NMSU led the country in batting avg, runs, runs/g, hits, triples, on-base pct and slugging

RV TAILGATE PROGRAM ADDED TO BAILEY-BRAYTON FIELD FOR 2022
Cougar Baseball announced the addition of a Cougar Baseball RV Tailgate program for 2022. RV Parking and Tailgating will highlight the gameday experience at Bailey-Brayton Field and will be located behind the right field fence next to the Outdoor Tennis Center. Washington State is now accepting deposits for new season tickets for the 2022 baseball season. For the 2022 season, we will be offering general admission down the 1st and 3rd baseline as well as reserved seating behind home plate. Current season ticket holders do not need to place a deposit and will have first right to the reserved seating locations. Please contact the WSU Athletic Ticket Office at 1-800-GO-COUGS for season ticket information and/or to secure an RV pass for the season, or select series.