Washington State Hosts Gardner-Webb For Nonconference Series

Thursday, April 9

Bailey-Brayton Field

4:05 p.m.

Washington State University

Gardner-Webb

Tickets From $6 - $15

Washington State Hosts Gardner-Webb For Nonconference Series

April 08, 2026 | Baseball

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By: Washington State Athletic Communications

WASHINGTON STATE HOSTS GARDNER-WEBB FOR NONCONFERENCE SERIES
Washington State continues its six-game homestand with a three-game nonconference series against Gardner-Webb. The series, presented by CougsFirst, will start Thursday at 4:05 p.m., continue Friday at 4:05 p.m. and conclude Saturday at 12:05 p.m.

FOLLOW ALONG
All three games will have livestats and webstreamed on the Mountain West Network. This weekend's game will not be on the radio.

ON DECK
WSU will host Portland Monday afternoon at 12:05 p.m. to close out the homestand.

THIS WEEK IN COUGAR BASEBALL PODCAST
Every week a new episode of This Week in Cougar Baseball Podcast presented by Coors Light will be released with head coach Nathan Choate, a member of the program, and host Trevor Williams.

ABOUT WASHINGTON STATE
Washington State has won two of its last three weekend series (Grand Canyon, at San Jose State) and split a two-game set with seventh-ranked Oregon State in Pullman earlier this week. WSU lost Monday's matchup before beating OSU 7-6 Tuesday. The Cougars enter the weekend with a 15-17 overall record including a 7-5 mark in Mountain West Conference play, tied for the most conference wins through the first four conference weekends. The Cougars went 3-1 on the road last week after beating Seattle U Tuesday before posting wins Friday and Saturday to clinch the series at San Jose State. WSU returned 19 letterwinners from last year's club including all three weekend rotation starters and six to a lineup that improved its batting average by 20 points from the previous season. Infielder Gavin Roy enters the weekend fifth in the MWC with a .374 batting average while outfielder Max Hartman is tied for the national lead with six triples. Head coach Nathan Choate is in his third season at WSU.

COUGARS KNOCK OFF NO. 7 OREGON STATE
Washington State collected 12 hits and knocked off seventh-ranked Oregon State 7-6 in front of 1,125 fans at Bailey-Brayton Field Tuesday afternoon. Ryan Skjonsby had three hits and three RBI, Dustin Robinson had two hits and scored two runs while six Cougar pitchers combined to hold the Beavers to just six hits including three through the first eight innings. WSU freshman righthander Ryan Falke was impressive in his first career start, striking out five in three scoreless frames. WSU used a three-run first and a run in the third to build a 4-0 lead in support of Falke. OSU scored three times in the sixth but the Cougars answered with a pair of runs in their half of the sixth and another in the eighth. OSU used three hits to score three times in the ninth but Scott Rienguette ended the win with a strikeout. Reliever Rylan Haider earned the win.

COUGARS STEPPING UP ON THE ROAD
Washington State went 3-1 on last week's road trip, beating Seattle U last Tuesday before taking the final two games at San Jose State to clinch their second series win in the last three weekends. The three wins last week also pushed WSU's season road win total to 10, more than triple last season's road win total of three.

HARTMAN, COUGARS REACH TRIPLES MARK
Senior Max Hartman's team-leading sixth triple in the ninth inning of last Saturday's win at San Jose State not only helped clinch the series, it put his among a couple Cougar legends. Hartman enters the week tied for national lead in triples but his six triples are also tied for fifth-most in WSU single-season history and are the most since the WSU two-sport legend Steve Gleason had six in 1998. The school record is seven set by Dave Jones in 1959 and matched by Andy Alvis (1980), Greg Monda (1983) and Greg Barton (1984). WSU's 14 triples are tied with UNLV for the Mountain West lead and third-most nationally behind New Mexico State (17) and Bryant (15).

ABOUT GARDNER-WEBB
Gardner-Webb enters their first meeting against Washington State with a 16-17 overall record including a 5-7 mark in Big South Conference play.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
1976 - WSU's 1976 College World Series team will be inducted into the WSU Athletics Hall of Fame this fall, WSU will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the 1976 CWS team all season
81% - WSU returned 81% of its innings from last season, the 10th-most nationally (D1Baseball)
19 - WSU played its first 19 games of the season on the road (7-12)
13 - 13 Cougar Pitchers return with Division I innings, WSU entered last year with just 2
10 - WSU's 10 road wins in 2026 have already surpassed the 2025 road win total of 3
8 - Ryan Skjonsby has 8 RBI in the 7th inning or later in 2026, tied for team lead with 21 total RBI
7 - Gavin Roy has 7 RBI in the 7th inning or later in 2026, 3rd on team with 19 total RBI
5 - WSU's roster features 5 Canadians; C Alexandre Giguère, OF Max Hartman, C Cam Macleod,
RHP Scott Rienguette, SS Gavin Roy
4 - WSU has 4 team captains, LHP Nick Lewis, RHP Luke Meyers, SS Gavin Roy, 1B Ryan Skjonsby
3 - WSU owns 3 QUAD 1 wins in 2026 (at Alabama, at Texas State, Oregon State)
2 - 2 former Cougs are in the big leagues; Kyle Manzardo (1B, CLE), Ryan Walker (RHP, SFG)
2 - WSU has won 2 of 3 season openers under Nathan Choate
(12-6 at Utah Tech, 2024; 8-4 at Alabama, 2026)
2 - Alexandre Giguère's 2-HR game at Texas State (3/6) was 1st 2-HR game by a Cougar freshman since Derek Jones against Gonzaga (3/3/09), Jones (2009-12) is WSU's all-time home run leader (41)

IN THE CLASSROOM, IN THE COMMUNITY
- WSU set a program record with a 3.45 team GPA in the 2025 fall semester
- 21 Cougs were named to the Academic All-Mountain West Team (3.0 cume GPA)
- WSU earned ABCA Team Academic Excellence Award the last two seasons (3.29, 3.35)
- WSU partners with WSU ROAR to host a Lentil Cookoff each fall. WSU ROAR is a two-year postsecondary education program for students with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

CRESSWELL NAMED TO GREAT BRITAIN WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC ROSTER
Former Washington State catcher Will Cresswell was named to Great Britain's 2026 World Baseball Classic roster. Cresswell was drafted in the 18th round by the Toronto Blue Jays last summer, the first Cougar catcher drafted since P.J. Jones in 2015. Cresswell appeared late on defense in Great Britain's loss to USA in Houston March 7.

HARTMAN, SKJONSBY, LEAD COUGARS PAST ALABAMA ON OPENING DAY
Washington State opened the 2026 season with an impressive 8-4 victory over Alabama. Max Hartman had three hits, homered, scored three times and stole base and Ryan Skjonsby homered as the Cougars collected 10 hits while five pitchers combined to strike out 11 Crimson Tide hitters. Freshman leadoff hitter Trevor Smith had a pair of hits, scored twice and stole a base, Dustin Robinson had two hits including a two-run single in the first inning and Matt Priest had a pair of RBI including an RBI-double. Cougar starting pitcher Luke Meyers struck out three and allowed one earned run while working into the fourth inning. Reliever Rylan Haider came up big with four strikeouts over his two innings of work. Scott Rienguette closed out the final two innings.

PAC-12 CONFERENCE BASEBALL SET FOR NEW LOOK IN 2027
The Pac-12 Conference and Dallas Baptist University (DBU) jointly announced that the Patriots will join as an affiliate member in the sport of baseball beginning with the 2026-27 season, coinciding with the new Pac-12's launch year. DBU will join Fresno State, Gonzaga, Oregon State, San Diego State, Texas State and Washington State as the seven members of Pac-12 Baseball.

FAN EXPERIENCE AT BAILEY-BRAYTON FIELD
WSU Athletics and Aramark Sports announced additions to the Bailey-Brayton Field fan experience in 2025.

- Enhanced views of the ballpark with the new backstop netting
- RV Weekends (May 9-11 vs. UNLV)
- Fans 21 and over will have the opportunity to take all food and beverage menu items, including beer and wine, to their seats for the 2025 baseball season
- Upgraded concession items including a walking taco cart (open weather dependent), footlong hotdogs, and a specialty brunch burger during Sunday games which includes bacon, egg, and cheese.
- Section 11 remains an alcohol-free section
- No re-entry to the ballpark

Fans can buy Beer and wine at the concession stand all season and will also be sold in front of the Miller Indoor Training Facility on select weekends (Beverages must be taken back to their seats).

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.