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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

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WSU baseball season ends


COUGARS

Well, that's that. The most successful baseball season in recent memory is over, with Washington State falling 7-2 to Arkansas last night in Fayetteville. We have some thoughts, some links and some notes on the link, so read on.
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• As coach Donnie Marbut said last weekend, he's looking forward to the day he's sitting there on selection Monday wondering what three teams will be coming to Pullman to play. If you watched the weekend on your computer as I did, you know home field played a large part in this series, especially on Saturday. That seems to be the next step for Marbut's team. Put together a team that is successful enough in the regular season to host a regional. When that happens, moving on in the playoffs becomes that much easier (of the 15 regionals decided by this morning, only five have been won by visitors, and one of those was by Florida State, the top seeded team in that region). There were three West Coast regionals and the host team won all of them. The road to Omaha is that much easier when it starts at your front door. ... We had our story this morning in the S-R, courtesy of freelancer Rich Polkoff. Freelancer Howie Stalwick had this piece on Cougfan and this article in the News Tribune and other papers. ... As we told you yesterday, basketball forward James Watson has left WSU and enrolled at Cowley County CC in Kansas. The Kitsap Sun reported today Metro League MVP Will DiIorio from Bainbridge High will walk on at WSU. The 6-foot-5 guard/forward averaged 20 points and 10 rebounds last season. ... Speaking of Watson, exchanged notes with him late last night and he reiterated what his mom Annette had said earlier in the day. He really liked WSU, would have liked to have played more, but was undone by his academic failures. His mom is glad James is closer to home where she can keep a closer eye on his academic progress. Having talked with her often over the past couple years, I'm sure she will. ... Finally, a good read from Jon Wilner at the San Jose Mercury News on Pac-10 expansion plans. It's not about where the conference is going, but how Larry Scott might have been planning this for a long time.

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• That's it for this morning. We'll be back as events warrant. Until then ...



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