COUGARS HEAD TO ARIZONA TO OPEN 2023
Washington State opens the 2023 season heading to Peoria, Ariz. for four games against Villanova and UC Riverside at the Peoria Sports Complex, the spring training home of the Seattle Mariners and San Diego Padres.

PEORIA SPORTS COMPLEX
Tickets are general admission at $5. Seniors 55+ and Teens 13-18 are $3. Children 2 and under are free. Tickets are available for purchase day of game at the box office. Gates open at 11 a.m. Fri-Sun.

FOLLOW ALONG
Every game in Peoria will have live stats and will be webstreamed on wsucougars.com.

ON DECK
WSU will head to San Diego for the Tony Gwynn Classic, hosted by San Diego State. The Cougars will face UC Irvine Friday, San Diego State Saturday night, play at UC San Diego Sunday afternoon and close out play against UNLV Monday.

ABOUT WASHINGTON STATE
Washington State returns a pair of All-Pac-12 Conference selections in 2023 after posting a 27-26 mark last season. The Cougars recorded their third-straight winning season in 2022 after claiming four of their final five series, posted a pair of road series wins over No. 9 Arizona and No. 10 Oregon and wrapped up the season with the program's first sweep over Arizona State. 2022 ABCA All-West Region selection Jacob McKeon returns after hitting .348 with 15 doubles, seven homers and 32 RBI while All-Pac-12 reliever Caden Kaelber also returns after recording seven saves and a 3.64 ERA in 28 appearances last season. Brian Green heads into his fourth season at WSU with 62-56 record with the Cougars along with a 220-178-1 career mark in his ninth season as a head coach. 

COUGAR QUICK HITS
TEAM
•  WSU posted a program-best 3.21 team GPA in the 2022 fall semester, WSU has set records last 5 semesters
•  WSU will play on the Pac-12 Networks 12 times in 2023, all at home (UCLA, Arizona, Washington, Stanford)
•  WSU closed last season sweeping Arizona State for the 1st time in program history
•  WSU pitching set a program record with 473 strikeouts last season, breaking the 2009 record of 453
•  WSU produced 2 CoSIDA Academic All-Americans for the 1st time since 1973 (Jack Smith, Jacob McKeon)
•  WSU recorded its 3rd-straight winning season (2020-22) for the 1st time since 2008-10
•  WSU won 2 road series over Top-10 teams (No. 9 Arizona, No. 10 Oregon) for the 1st time in program history
•  WSU's walkoff 9-8 win over No. 4 Oregon State last year was WSU's 1st win over a Top-5 team since 2014
•  WSU set a program record for home-opening series attendance March 11-13 against No. 4 Oregon State (3,609)
•  WSU's 11-6 win over Texas A&M at the Frisco Classic March 4 was its 1st win over an SEC team since 2012

INDIVIDUAL
•  Jacob McKeon was named a 2022 CoSIDA Academic All-American (McKeon, 3.98 GPA, Kinesiolgy)
•  McKeon was named to the 2023 Preseason All-Pac-12 Team, rated No. 27 1B in country (D1Baseball)
•  Relievers Chase Grillo and Cam Liss made 30 appearances, tied for 4th-most in WSU single-season history
•  2021 WSU All-American 1B Kyle Manzardo was named the 2022 Tampa Bay Rays Minor League Player of the Year

ABOUT VILLANOVA
Villanova posted a 19-29 overall record last season including an 8-12 mark in Big East Conference play. Head Coach Kevin Mulvey enters his seventh season leading the Villanova. Washington State will be facing the Wildcats for the first time in program history.

ABOUT UC RIVERSIDE
UC Riverside posted an 8-45 overall record in 2022 including a 4-26 mark in Big West Conference play. Head coach Justin Johnson begins his third season leading Highlanders. WSU beat UCR 10-3 in a midweek matchup in Riverside last season and leads the all-time series 9-7.

MCKEON PICKS UP 2022 ABCA ALL-WEST REGION ACCOLADES
Jacob McKeon was named to the ABCA All-West Region Second Team by the American Baseball Coaches Association in 2022. McKeon gave the Cougars an All-West Region selection for the second straight season after All-American Kyle Manzardo earned first-team honors in 2021. McKeon was named to the All-Pac-12 Conference team after finishing the regular season tenth in the conference in hitting (.348), seventh in on-base percentage (.446) and ninth in slugging percentage (.584). The Phoenix, Ariz. native recorded team-highs in extra base-hits (23), home runs (7), slugging percentage, on-base percentage and walks (28), and was second on the team in hits (56), doubles (15) and RBI (32). In conference play, McKeon led WSU in hitting (.351), doubles (7), home runs (4) and slugging (.574), and earned Pac-12 Player of the Week after hitting home runs in all three games in the series win at No. 10 Oregon. McKeon put up impressive numbers in the classroom as well, earning CoSIDA Academic All-America second-team honors and CoSIDA All-District Team accolades with a 3.98 GPA while majoring in kinesiology.

MCKEON, KAELBER AND SMITH RECEIVED 2022 ALL-PAC-12 ACCOLADES
Washington State designated hitter Jacob McKeon was named to the All-Pac-12 Conference Team while reliever Caden Kaelber and Jack Smith each earned All-Pac-12 Honorable Mention. McKeon was the third Cougar in the last two seasons to earn All-Pac-12 honors after Kyle Manzardo (1B) and Tristan Peterson (DH) both received the honor last season. Kaelber and Smith honorable mention recognition gives WSU six all-conference selections in the last two seasons.

SMITH, MCKEON NAMED 2022 COSIDA ACADEMIC ALL-AMERICANS
Infielders Jack Smith and Jacob McKeon were each named to CoSIDA Academic All-America Teams by the College Sports Information Directors of America. Smith was named to the first team, becoming the first Cougar to earn the honor since outfielder Collin Slaybaugh in 2013 while McKeon was named to the second team, the first to do so since Slaybaugh in 2014. Smith and McKeon are the first set of Cougar teammates to earn Academic All-America honors in the same season since Jim Chapados (OF) and Joe McIntosh (P) in 1973. Smith completed his fifth season at WSU and is a three-time Pac-12 Academic Honor Roll selection, earned his bachelor's degree in finance last spring and currently owns a 4.00 GPA while working on his master's in business administration. McKeon owns a 3.98 GPA while majoring in kinesiology and earned Pac-12 Conference Academic Honor Roll accolades last season. 

RV TAILGATE PROGRAM RETURNS TO BAILEY-BRAYTON FIELD FOR 2023
The Cougar Baseball RV Tailgate program returns for 2023. RV Parking and Tailgating will highlight the gameday experience at Bailey-Brayton Field and will be located behind the Indoor Practice Facility along the first base side. Washington State is accepting deposits for new season tickets for the 2023 baseball season. For the 2023 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.

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 three years at WSU. 
- Last fall, WSU posted a semester team GPA (3.21) the highest team GPA in program history. WSU has set program GPA records in the last five semesters.
- 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.

PROJECT: BTO (COUGAR BASEBALL COMPLEX 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. 

KYLE MANZARDO NAMED TAMPA BAY RAYS 2022 MINOR LEAGUE PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Former Washington State Baseball first baseman Kyle Manzardo was named the Tampa Bay Rays 2022 Minor League Player of the Year and was recently invited to the 2023 big league spring training. Manzardo opened the 2022 season at High-A Bowling Green where he collected 34 extra-base hits, 55 RBI, .329 batting average, 16 doubles and 17 home runs in 63 games before being promoted to Double-A Montgomery. In 30 games at Double-A, Manzardo hit .323 with 10 doubles, five home runs and 26 RBI. Manzardo finished the 2022 season with a combined .327 batting average, 26 doubles, 22 homers, 81 RBI and a 1.043 OPS, leading all Rays' minor-leaguers in average, on-base percentage and slugging. Manzardo, taken in the second round as the No. 63 overall pick in the 2021 Major League Baseball Draft, the highest draft pick for the Cougars since Scott Hatteberg was selected in the first round compensation round and No. 43 overall in 1991. Manzardo earned All-America first-team honors by Collegiate Baseball as a junior in 2021, WSU's first All-American first-team selection since pitcher Aaron Sele in 1990 and was the first position player to earn All-American first-team honors since John Olerud in 1988. In his three seasons in Pullman, Manzardo was a two-time All-American, hit .336 with 37 doubles, 16 home runs, 105 RBI, 149 hits, set the WSU record with a 43-game on-base streak and recorded a 27-game hitting streak, the second-longest hitting streak in program history. Manzardo also tallied 45 multiple-hit games including 11 3-hit games and four 4-hit games. Manzardo was just the second Cougar to be a two-time All-American, joining Phil Westerndorf (1975, 1977) after earning third-team honors in 2020.

JOHN OLERUD NAMED PAC-12 PLAYER OF THE CENTURY
The Pac-12 Conference inducted Coug legend John Olerud into the Pac-12 Hall of Honor in 2019. Olerud was named the Pac-12 Conference's Baseball Player of the Century in 2016. During his three seasons in a Cougar uniform, Olerud (1987-89) had one of the finest careers of any Cougar student-athlete, in any sport, in Washington State history, rewriting the WSU record books and becoming the only Cougar baseball athlete ever to be named College Athlete of the Year. In 1988, Olerud became the only player in NCAA history to win 15 games on the mound and hit 20 home runs in the same season, going 15-0 with 23 home runs that year. Olerud went 26-4 overall with a 3.17 ERA over 241.1 innings during his three seasons, hitting .434. He set two Pac-10 records and 10 Pac-10 North marks, highlighted by his sophomore season when he was named Athlete of the Year by Baseball America. In January prior to his junior year at WSU, Olerud suffered a subarachnoid hemorrhage, a type of brain seizure. He missed the first 28 games of the spring season, but returned to hit .359 for WSU over the final 27 games. Prior to his senior season, Olerud signed a contract with Toronto and went directly to the Major Leagues. In 1993, he became the first Blue Jay to win a batting title, hitting .363. Olerud played for Toronto, the New York Mets and Yankees, Seattle and Boston during his 17-year career, winning back-to-back World Series titles with Toronto in 1992 and 1993. In 2001 he joined his father, John Sr., in the WSU Athletics Hall of Fame, and is a member of the College Baseball, State of Washington and Inland Northwest Sports Halls of Fame. The John Olerud Two-Way Player of the Year Award, given annually by the College Baseball Hall of Fame, was named in his honor and in 2016, he was named the Pac-12 Conference Player of the Century.