Washington State baseball, fresh off series win at No. 9 Arizona, returns home to face Cal with new life

PULLMAN – After a reinvigorating weekend in the desert, Washington State’s baseball team returns home with new life.

Fresh off a series win over then-No. 10 Arizona, the Cougars’ outlook has taken a turn for the better ahead of a three-game Pac-12 set against California.

Momentum has been hard to come by this year for WSU (12-19, 4-11), which sits last in the conference standings, but the Cougars have finally captured a boost in confidence after toiling through the first half of this campaign.

They’ll hope to build upon their best effort of the season when they host the Golden Bears (16-16, 7-8) at Bailey-Brayton Field. First pitch of the series opener is slated for 3:05 p.m. Thursday.

WSU’s sluggish bats came alive in back-to-back wins over the Wildcats on Friday and Saturday. The Cougars, who had lost 11 of their past 12 before visiting Arizona, had been pressing throughout the year and came to Tucson hitting about .230 as a team.

They went a combined 24 for 74 (.324) – and totaled 11 walks – in an 11-5 victory and a 6-5 comeback win over Arizona, securing WSU’s first series win over a top-10 opponent in 10 years.

“Our guys are competing at the plate,” coach Brian Green said Saturday. “Right now, there’s a looseness they have. Hopefully, we can keep that feeling. I feel like our rhythm is improving at the plate right now.”

Four batters registered multiple RBIs Friday and WSU recorded 14 hits – the team’s third-best hitting output in a game this year – and erased an early deficit with steady scoring. The Wildcats went up 4-0 in the first with a grand slam.

The Cougars tallied 10 hits a day later, none more crucial than sophomore infielder Kyle Russell’s pair of late-game singles. The Western Washington native sent a two-strike, two-out pitch to left-center in the eighth to plate a run and tie the score. He drove another two-strike, two-out pitch to center field in the ninth to push WSU in front to stay.

“That’s pretty clutch,” Green said. “I mean, really tough.”

The Cougars received quality starts from Cole McMillan, who worked into the sixth inning after surrendering the grand slam, and ace Grant Taylor.

Their bullpen was brilliant last weekend, allowing just one run on seven hits and one walk while striking out 14 across 10 innings in three games. Arizona entered the series boasting the No. 3 offense in the Pac-12.

The Wildcats had scored more than five runs in 21 of their 29 games but were limited to five in all three contests versus WSU.

Ten Cougars batters reached safely in Sunday’s finale, but eight were stranded in a 5-2 loss.

WSU’s starter in that game, junior southpaw McKabe Cottrell (1-6, 7.18 ERA), gave up four runs on five hits and four walks across 3⅓ innings. The Community Colleges of Spokane transfer is scheduled to start Thursday against a productive Cal offense. McMillan will pitch Friday and Taylor on Saturday.

Cal, sixth in the conference standings, is hitting .286 and ranks second in the Pac-12 in home runs (39) and extra-base hits.

The Bears have put together a solid start to their season with seven wins over ranked teams, including top-10 foes Florida State and Oregon State.

But suspect pitching has forced their lineup to carry the weight on multiple occasions and outslug opponents. Cal ranks 10th in the 11-team conference in ERA (5.64) and its staff is permitting more than nine hits per game on average – ninth in the Pac-12.

WSU ranks fifth in that category and ninth in ERA (5.57). The Cougars’ veteran-laden lineup has been underwhelming this year after a strong 2021 season.

Although its production saw an uptick last weekend, WSU’s offense is last in the Pac-12 in batting average (.243), runs per game (five), home runs (18) and triples (three).