Washington State Baseball (11-5) begins Pac-12 Conference play when it travels to Los Angeles to face No. 6 USC (Mar. 13-15), in the conference-series-opener for both teams. Game times are set for 6 p.m., Friday, and Saturday, and 3 p.m., Sunday…Washington State is 296-282 under Donnie Marbut, who is in his 11th season as head coach of the Cougar program and has the third most wins behind Buck Bailey and Bobo Brayton…Marbut is assisted by Gregg Swenson, Joe Ross and Michael Naughton.
MEDIA COVERAGE OF THE COUGARS
The three-game series with USC will have live radio on KQQQ NewsTalk 1150 AM in Pullman and 104.7 FM in Moscow, Idaho.. veteran announcer Steve Grubbs will call the action...Saturday and Sunday’s games will be televised by the Pac-12 Networks, with Jim Watson and Scott Erickson in the booth...live stats live stats will be available at www.wsucougars.com…Cougar Baseball provides updates on Twitter on @Cougbaseball.
ABOUT THE TROJANS
The USC Trojans enter the weekend with a 15-2 record following three victories at the Dodger Stadium College Baseball Classic last weekend...the Trojans are ranked by Collegiate Baseball (No. 6), Baseball America (9), D1Baseball.com (13) and the National Collegiate Baseball Writers of America (14)...last week USC posted wins over No. 6 TCU (7-6), No. 1 Vanderbilt (6-5) and No. 6 UCLA (8-4)...the Trojans opened the season by winning its first 12 games, including series sweeps of Towson, Oakland and Fordham...lone losses have been in midweek games at UC Santa Barbara and at UC Irvine...catcher Garrett Stubbs is leading the charge early, hitting a team-best .446 while also leading the Pac-12 in stolen bases with 13...on the mound the Trojans boast a team ERA of 2.49.
ALL-TIME AGAINST USC
The Trojans lead 64-29...USC has won 36 of 47 meetings in Los Angeles...first meetings took
place in 1949 in the Pacific Coast Conference Playoffs...WSU won the first game 15-2, before USC won the next two, 2-1 (10) and 9-2...the Cougars won two of three games in Pullman last season while the Trojans won the series in L.A. in 2013 after WSU won the opener, 7-6...WSU captured series victories in 2009 and 2011 in Los Angeles...USC won 19 straight in the series, 1971-99...Washington State won five consecutive meetings, 2009-10.
PITCHING PROBABLES
Friday
USC – RHP Brent Wheatley (1-0, 1.54 ERA)
WSU – RHP Sean Hartnett (3-1, 3.47 ERA)
Saturday
USC – LHP Kyle Twomey (3-0, 2.49 ERA)
WSU – LHP Joe Pistorese (2-1, 3.63 ERA)
Sunday
USC – RHP Mitch Hart (3-0, 3.32 ERA)
WSU – RHP Nick Leonard (1-2, 3.72 ERA)
IN THE SPOT LIGHT
The Washington State University baseball team is scheduled to play 17 games on the Pac-12 Networks during the 2015 season. Four of the Cougars’ 10 Pac-12 series will be carried in their entirety. They include home matchups against Washington (April 9-11), Oregon (May 8-10) and Stanford (May 22-24) as well as a road meeting with Arizona State (May 14-16).
SACRED HEART AT WSU RECAP
Washington State completed its first four-game series sweep since the 2013 season (Brown) when it defeated Sacred Heart by scores of 5-1, 14-2, 5-2 and 8-4...offensively, the Cougars pounded out 37 hits over the weekend and drew 24 walks...Ian Sagdal led the way as he hit .625 (5-for-8) with three RBI, three runs scored and six walks...P.J. Jones added six hits while Wes Hatten scored six times and Cameron Frost drove in six...on the mound, WSU had a 2.25 team ERA, allowing 25 hits and fanning 37 over 36 innings...Thursday’s starter Sean Hartnett won his third consecutive game, allowing one run over seven innings while striking out eight.
ATTENDANCE RECORD
WSU recorded a total attendance of 3,427 during the four-game home opening series against UCR, breaking the previous home opening series attendance record of 3,403 set against Utah, Mar. 5-7, 2010...1,321 fans set a month of February attendance record at Bailey-Brayton Field, Feb. 27, breaking the previous 1,136 record achieved on Feb. 20, 2010 against Seattle...last week against Sacred Heart, the fans were out again as the four-game series drew 3,297 fans.
ROSTER FULL OF YOUTH
The WSU roster has 24 members in their freshmen or sophomore year of eligibility…11 of those players have seen starts this season…In 16 games, the 11 have combined for 91 position starts and make up 59 percent (48-of-82) of WSU’s runs, 63 percent (47-of-75) of RBI, 62 percent (70-of-113) of the hits, and 58 percent (14-of-24) of the doubles.
HAMILTON DOESN’T MISS A BEAT
Last season closer Ian Hamilton set a WSU single-season record with 15 saves en route to Freshman All-American honors...this season has been no different for the sophomore as he is 0-0 with a 0.96 ERA and six saves in eight outings...he is three saves away from Reed Rainey’s (1983-85) career record of 24.
DONNIE MARBUT COACH’S SHOW
Donnie Marbut’s Coach’s show will air live from South Fork Public House in Pullman on selected Mondays from 6 to 7 p.m., throughout the season to talk everything Cougar baseball. The show can be heard on Pullman’s KQQQ 1150 AM with Steve Grubbs hosting.
QUICK HITS
• WSU has won five-straight games for the first time since Mar. 15-21, 2014 (2 at Arizona, 2 at San Diego and first game at UCLA.
• The Cougars are off to their best start since going 13-6 to begin the 2010 season.
• WSU is opening Pac-12 Conference play on the road for the seventh-straight season.
• Reliever Matt Bower has at least one strikeout in all eight of his appearances this season.
• Senior infielder Ian Sagdal is currently riding a 10-game hitting streak and has hit safely in 15 of 16 games this season.
• Sophomore reliever Ian Hamilton leads the Pac-12, and fourth nationally, with 6 saves.
