Washington State enters Pac-10 play after encouraging preseason
So far, the Washington State University baseball team has enjoyed its season
The Cougars are 15-10.
They have raised their team batting average to .315.
They discovered a senior starter who has already pitched twice as many innings this year than he threw in his entire career combined.
But now the real baseball starts.
The Cougars open Pacific-10 Conference play Thursday with a three-game set in Berkeley against the University of California. The games are a day earlier this week because of Easter.
How strong is the Pac-10? Only UCLA, under first-year coach John Savage, has a sub-.500 non-conference record. Six of the nine schools are receiving votes in the USA Today/ESPN coaches’ poll.
Besides UCLA, the two unranked schools are WSU and Cal (16-9). Does that mean the Cougs have the perfect foe with which to get their feet wet in conference play?
Well, the Bears’ offense is keyed by sophomore center fielder Brennan Boesch. The cleanup hitter is second in the Pac-10 in batting average (.426) and has six home runs and 20 RBIs.
Cal’s pitching hasn’t been shabby either, with the conference’s third-best team earned run average (3.91). Senior right-hander Eric Dworkis, a Gonzaga University transfer, is one of the Bears’ three starters and though his record is 2-3, he did post a complete-game, 10-strikeout win at Saint Mary’s.
The Cougars will counter with James Freeman, the aforementioned senior who has blossomed during Donnie Marbut’s first year as the Cougars’ head coach.
Freeman is 6-0 with a 2.05 ERA, allowing 48 baserunners in his 44 innings. He has struck out 42 and limited opponents to a .192 batting average.
But the left-hander doesn’t have the best ERA of the Cougars’ starters. That goes to sophomore Wayne Daman, Jr., whose 2.04 has led to a 4-0 record.
On offense, outfielder Jay Miller had a week to remember as the Cougars took three of four from Utah Valley State. Miller was 11 for 16 (.688), including a 4-for-5 game. In raising his average to .376, the junior earned Pac-10 Player of the Week honors, the first Cougars player to win the honor this year.
Around the area
Gonzaga’s first West Coast Conference series was disappointing as the Bulldogs dropped two of three to Saint Mary’s, a team that came in five games less than .500. The biggest bright spot for GU (13-9, 1-2) was the combined seven innings of relief turned in by junior left-hander Jay Bryner and redshirt freshman right-hander Brandon Harmon in Sunday’s 9-3 win at Avista Stadium. Bryner, a transfer from Bellevue CC, allowed one run and six hits over five innings. Harmon, who played at Shadle Park High, struck out three in two perfect innings to close it. The Zags host Loyola Marymount at Avista on Thursday through Saturday in WCC action this week. … Whitworth College also won one of three at home last weekend, with Linfield College pounding out wins on Saturday and Sunday. But it was the game that started Saturday and ended Sunday which supplied the most excitement. The Pirates (5-8, 3-6 Northwest Conference) trailed Linfield 3-2 when the game was called because of darkness in the fourth inning Saturday. The Wildcats built that lead to 7-2 Sunday before Whitworth rallied for six eighth-inning runs – capped by Danny Pecka’s two-run single – to take an 8-7 lead. Nick Newberry pitched a perfect ninth to earn the save, but it was left fielder Dustin Frank who made the biggest play of the inning. The sophomore made an all-out dive to snare a liner in the gap with two outs, sealing the win. The Pirates will take time off from NWC play this weekend to travel to California for four games. They’ll play a Thursday doubleheader at Vanguard University in Costa Mesa, and face Cal State Hayward and Eastern Connecticut State on Friday at the University of La Verne. … Community Colleges of Spokane raised its record to 7-2 last weekend by winning three of four from visiting Centralia CC. The Sasquatch scored at least 10 runs in each of their wins. They travel to Gresham, Ore., for a weekend tournament featuring Edmonds CC and Lane CC from Eugene. … Oregon State has risen to 18th in the latest Baseball America magazine poll. The main reason for the Beavers’ 16-3 record is a pitching staff with an ERA of 2.26. Kevin Joslyn, a Mt. Spokane product, is a part of that, sporting a 1.80 ERA and a 1-0 record in five appearances.