Dawgs Bringing Hot Streak to Desert For Weekend Series At Arizona State
SEATTLE – Washington brings its three-game winning streak to the desert for the weekend, opening up a road trip to Phoenix with three games at Arizona State.
All three games of the series will be available on Pac-12 Arizona, while Saturday's tilt will also be featured on Pac-12 Washington. Links to live coverage are available at GoHuskies.com.
DAWG BITES
• The Dawgs and Sun Devils split a pair of games at Husky Ballpark in 2023.
• The Huskies are seeking their first four-game winning streak of the season.
• UW is coming off of a series win over No. 16 Arizona followed by an in-state midweek victory over Gonzaga Tuesday.
• Tuesday's win over the Bulldogs improved UW's record to 5-2 against in-state opposition in 2024.
• All three games of the Arizona series were decided by a single run
• Saturday's victory over Arizona snapped an 11-game Pac-12 winning streak for the Wildcats.
• Washington's Sunday win in 13 innings was its first extra innings win of the season.
• The Huskies have posted double digit hits in nine of the last 13 games.
• Aiva Arquette is riding a 17-game hitting streak, while Cam Clayton has hit safely in 13-straight games.
• The Huskies rank 19th nationally with a .979 team fielding percentage.
SERIES HISTORY VS. ARIZONA STATE
Arizona State owns a 44-30 advantage in the all-time series with Washington, including 21-12 on their home field. The two sides split last season's series in Seattle, with Sunday's finale being cancelled. The Huskies will be seeking their first series victory in Phoenix since 2018, when UW won the final two games of the series at Phoenix Municipal Stadium.
DOWN GO THE CATS
Completing a dramatic Sunday comeback, Washington earned a series victory over No. 16 Arizona, which previously was leading the Pac-12 and had won four-consecutive conference series. The Wildcats had won the last four series between the two sides, and 12 of the previous 13 matchups overall. The Huskies had not claimed a series over Arizona since sweeping U of A in Seattle in 2018. All three games of the series were one-run affairs.
SUNDAY SLUGGER
Sophomore Cooper Whitton has slugged three home runs in his Washington career, one in each of the last three Sunday series finales for the Huskies.
G-MONEY
For much of the season, sophomore reliever Grant Cunningham has been nearly untouchable. The Seattle native has surrendered just one earned run over his last 11 appearances, totaling 28.2 innings. The right hander ranks third in nation with a 1.36 ERA, sitting 15th nationally with a 0.93 WHIP.
YEAH, I'M THINKING I'M BACK
Riding a 13-game hitting streak, Cam Clayton has posted multiple hits in seven of his last 101games, raising his batting average for the season by a full 85 points during his hitting streak. Clayton has racked up 22 knocks over the last 11 games after registering just five base hits over the previous 10 games.
MILESTONE APPROACHING
Tied for the team lead with nine home runs in 2024, junior AJ Guerrero is on the verge of history. The Fife, Washington native is one home run shy of entering UW's top-10 all-time for career bombs, hitting 27 big flies in his three seasons. Guerrero's 28th homer will tie him with Joe Wainhouse (2017-19) and Ryan Lentz (1996-1998).
WEB WORK
Washington owns the Pac-12's top defense, rankings 19th in the nation with a .979 fielding percentage. The solid play defensively has paid dividends, with 13 of Washington's 17 wins this season coming in games without an error committed.
GOING STREAKING
Aiva Arquette is in the midst of a 17-game hitting streak, the longest by a Husky since Will Simpson's 18-game streak in 2023.
EXTRA! EXTRA!
Of the 48 base knocks Jeter Ybarra has recorded in 2024, 14 of them have gone for extra bases. The redshirt-junior has racked up 11 doubles and three home runs this season, six extra-base hits more than he produced over the entirety of 2023.
Following UW's series win at No. 14 Texas, Ybarra became the first Husky to be named the Pac-12 Player of the Week since 2019, when Braiden Ward received the honor. Ybarra batted .636 during the series with five RBIs and three runs scored. In game one in Austin, Ybarra was a perfect 5-for-5 at the plate with three doubles, becoming the first UW player with a five-hit game since 2019.
WORKING OVERTIME
Playing into the 17th inning at Long Beach State and completing 15 frames versus Santa Clara, Washington has played in the two longest games in college baseball this season. Rice has also played in two 15-inning games.
SOPHOMORE YEAR
Washington is in its second season under head coach Jason Kelly after an impressive rookie campaign on Montlake. Not only was Kelly's 35 wins the second-most in program-history by a first year head coach, but the skipper became the first coach at Washington to lead the Huskies to the NCAA Tournament in his first season.
PRE-APPROVED
One year after Johnny Tincher was the lone UW representative on the Preseason All-Pac-12 Team, three Huskies were named to the list ahead of the 2024 season. Turning down a potential MLB Draft selection to return to Montlake, shortstop Cam Clayton earned a spot after batting .325 with 32 extra base hits a season ago. Leading the team with a .345 average in 2023, AJ Guerrero joined Clayton, adding a steady outfield glove to his accomplished bat. Reliever Josh Emanuels rounded out the Dawgs honored, collecting six saves and a 3-2 record on the hill a year ago.
SAFE HANDS
A year after leading the Huskies with six saves, redshirt-junior relief arm Josh Emanuels was named to the 2024 NCBWA Stopper of the Year Watch List. Emanuels was one of five Pac-12 relievers to be named to the watch list.
DRAFT DEPARTURES
Washington had a number of key pieces to replace after six Huskies were drafted in the 2023 MLB Draft, the most in a single class for UW since the Dawgs saw six players drafted in 2019. Kiefer Lord was the first Husky selected, picked in the third round by the Baltimore Orioles. At 86th overall, Lord was UW's highest draftee since Austin Rei was drafted 81st overall in 2015. Case Matter was also drafted on Day 2, going to the Texas Rangers in the 10th round. Stu Flesland III was next off the board to the Colorado Rockies in the 11th round. Johnny Tincher joined Flesland in the 11th round, selected by the Cleveland Guardians, while Will Simpson was picked by the Oakland Athletics in the 15th round. Finishing things off was Coby Morales, who had his rights selected by the New York Yankees in the 18th round.
D3 DIAMONDS
For the second straight year, Washington has hit the NCAA Division III ranks to add to its pitching staff through the transfer portal. The Huskies added right-hander Spencer Dessart out of Middlebury College in Vermont, who posted a 4.32 ERA with 63 strikeouts over 50 innings. Last off season, UW brought in D3 transfer Kiefer Lord out of Minnesota's Carleton College, with Lord going on to be a third round draft choice in the 2023 MLB Draft.
DRAFT KINGS
Washington had seven players featured this offseason when D1Baseball released their Pac-12 MLB Prospect Rankings for the 2024 and 2025 draft classes.
D1Baseball Pac-12 MLB Draft Prospect Rankings
Cam Clayton - 2024 - No. 8 (No. 68 nationally)
AJ Guerrero - 2024 - No. 16
Josh Emanuels - 2024 - No. 45
Jeter Ybarra - 2024 - No. 48
Aiva Arquette - 2025 - No. 6 (No. 51 nationally)
Sam Boyle - 2025 - No. 21
Grant Cunningham - 2025 - No. 25
YOUNG BUCKS
The Huskies landed three rookie players on D1Baseball's Pac-12 Impact Freshman Rankings, announced during the preseason.
D1Baseball Pac-12 Impact Freshman Rankings
Blake Wilson - No. 14
Carson Ohland - No. 22
Carston Pearson - No. 23
TOP DAWGS
Washington had two players recognized in D1Baseball's national position rankings. Cam Clayton checked in as the No. 8 shortstop in the country, while AJ Guerrero was tabbed at No. 29 among outfielders.
IT CAN WAIT
For the second year in a row, a Washington commit turned down the opportunity to sign with an MLB team to join the Husky roster after Blake Wilson was drafted in the 20th round of the 2023 MLB Draft by the Kansas City Royals but still made his way to Montlake. Husky sophomore Aiva Arquette was a 18th round draft choice by the Arizona Diamondbacks before coming to campus.
A DECADE ON THE DIAMOND
Opened on March 21, 2014, Washington will be celebrating the 10th anniversary of the inaugural game played at Husky Ballpark. The Huskies are 161-105 all-time at the stadium.
FAMILIAR FACES
The UW roster features two newcomers with previous Pac-12 ties. Tommy Brandenburg, a junior college graduate of Central Arizona College, spent his true freshman season at Oregon, making eight pitching appearances and four starts. Meanwhile, catcher Colton Bower redshirted the 2023 season at Washington State.
PRO PEDIGREE
Jason Ellison, a six-year Major League Baseball player with the San Francisco Giants, Seattle Mariners, Cincinnati Reds and Texas Rangers, was added to Jason Kelly's staff as UW's hitting and outfield coordinator during the offseason following the departure of Billy Boyer. Ellison, a native of Port Orchard, Washington, had worked as an MLB scout since 2011 with the Los Angeles Angels and Pittsburgh Pirates organizations.
Kelly also promoted Jake Silverman and Mike Gange to associate head coach and recruiting coordinator, respectively.
WELCOME BACK, JOE
One of the all-time great Huskies, Joe DeMers has returned to Montlake as an undergraduate assistant. An All-Pac-12 standout, DeMers led the Dawgs to their first-ever College World Series in 2018, delivering a 1.80 ERA over four postseason starts. In addition to all-conference laurels, DeMers was awarded the ABCA/Rawlings Gold Glove. He was selected by the Oakland Athletics in the 11th round of the 2018 MLB Draft.
GROWING 'EM LOCAL
Well over half of the Husky roster, 24 of 41 players overall, are homegrown talents from the state of Washington. Of those 24 local products, 16 hail from the greater Seattle Metropolitan area. Below is a breakdown of the counties UW's Washington natives call home.
UW Washington Natives by County
King County - 15
Clark County - 4
Cowlitz County - 1
Kitsap County - 2
Pierce County - 1
Snohomish County - 1
Spokane County - 1
PAC-12 SWAN SONG
Washington is competing in its final Pac-12 season before joining the Big Ten Conference in 2025. UW was one of the four founding members of what started in December of 1915 as the Pacific Coast Conference, which eventually grew to become the Pac-12.
For more information on the UW baseball team, follow @UW_Baseball on Twitter and Instagram.