Cougars Head to Seattle for Boeing Apple Cup Series
WASHINGTON STATE (15-9, 5-4 Pac-12) at WASHINGTON (6-11-1, 1-5 Pac-12)
Husky Ballpark | Seattle, Wash. | March 28-30, 2024
Thursday, 7:05 p.m. | Friday, 7:05 p.m. | Saturday, 1:05 p.m.
WATCH | Pac-12 Networks
COUGARS HEAD TO SEATTLE FOR BOEING APPLE CUP SERIES
Washington State heads to Seattle to face Washington in The Boeing Apple Cup Series beginning Thursday at 7:05 p.m., continuing Friday at 7:05 p.m. and wraps up Saturday at 1:05 p.m.
FOLLOW ALONG
Thursday's game will be televised on the Pac-12 Networks while Friday and Saturday will be televised on Pac-12 Washington. All three games will have live stats and be on the radio through the WSU GameDay App, Varsity Network App, 104.7 FM and 1150 AM in Pullman and 920 AM in Spokane.
ON DECK
WSU continues its eight-game road stretch with a three-game series at Stanford next weekend.
THIS WEEK IN COUGAR BASEBALL PODCAST
Every Wednesday a new episode of This Week in Cougar Baseball Podcast presented by Coors Light will be released featuring head coach Nathan Choate, a member of the Cougar Baseball program and the host, Matt Chazanow.
ABOUT WASHINGTON STATE
Washington State enters the series with a 15-9 overall record and a 5-4 mark in Pac-12 play after going 5-0 last week at home, sweeping the two-game set with Seattle U and the weekend series against Arizona State before dropping a 3-2 contest at Portland Tuesday. WSU, who had their five-game winning streak snapped Tuesday, enter the week second in the Pac-12 in hitting (.305), on-base percentage (.392) and third in doubles (46), and first in double plays turned (25), ninth-most in the country. Third baseman Cole Cramer is third in the league in hitting (.389) and second in hits (35) while shortstop Kyle Russell is tied for fourth with nine doubles. Head coach Nathan Choate is in his first season at WSU after five seasons at Loyola Marymount.
ABOUT WASHINGTON
Washington enters the series with a 6-11-1 overall mark including a 1-5 record in Pac-12 play after dropping all three games at Oregon State last weekend.
SERIES HISTORY
Washington State leads the all-time series with UW 247-203 but Washington has won the last two series after taking two of three in Pullman last season and sweeping the 2022 series in Seattle. The Cougars are looking for their first series win over UW since 2021 in Pullman and first in Seattle since 2016.
JOEY KRAMER HOMERS AGAIN, COUGARS SWEEP ARIZONA STATE
Washington State closed out a series sweep of Arizona State with an 8-6 victory at Bailey-Brayton Field Sunday afternoon. The Cougars swept the Sun Devils in Pullman last weekend for the second straight meeting in Pullman after taking all three contests in 2022 for the first time in program history. WSU won Friday's game 8-7 and 3-2 Saturday before closing out the sweep Sunday. Kyle Russell collected three hits, Joey Kramer homered for the second straight game, starting pitcher Spencer Jones earned the win after working five innings, allowed two earned runs on five hits and matched a season-high with five strikeouts. Chase Grillo struck out the only batter he faced to finish off the sweep with his third save of the series.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
2801 - WSU entered the season with 2,801 all-time wins, 13th in NCAA history, 5th in the Pac-12
2014 - WSU won 12-5 at UCLA March 16, the Cougars first win in Westwood since 2014
29 - WSU's 29 wins last season were the most in 2015, notched fourth straight winning season
13 - Chase Grillo's 13 career saves are tied for 4th-most in WSU history
9 - WSU hit 9 home runs on opening weekend at Utah Tech
5 - WSU's season-best five-game winning streak was snapped Tuesday at Portland
2 - WSU swept Arizona State for the 2nd time in program history, each of last 2 series in Pullman
2 - 2 Cougars finished last season in the Major Leagues;
RHP Ian Hamilton (Yankees), RHP Ryan Walker (Giants)
IN THE CLASSROOM, IN THE COMMUNITY
- Last fall, WSU posted a semester team GPA (3.32) the highest team GPA in program history and has set a program record with a 3.23 cumulative team GPA
- This past fall, WSU partnered with WSU ROAR to host a Lentil Cookoff for third straight year. WSU ROAR is a two-year postsecondary education program for students with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
COUGARS RALLY IN NINTH, DROP TOUGH CONTEST AT NO. 3 TCU IN 12 INNINGS
The Cougars rallied with four runs in the ninth inning to send the game to extra innings at third-ranked TCU but dropped an 8-7 decision in 12 innings Feb. 27. WSU recorded 16 hits and hit two home runs as Kyle Russell led the way with a career-high four hits including a leadoff home run, Casen Taggart had two hits and three RBI, Joey Kramer had a two-run double and Nate Swarts had two hits including a long home run. On the mound, relievers Kevin Haynes and Chase Grillo each fired three scoreless innings as Grillo struck out seven during the ninth, tenth and eleventh innings.
WSU WINS ROUND ROCK CLASSIC, KRAMER NAMED TOURNAMENT MVP
Washington State won the 2024 Karbach Round Rock Classic Feb. 23-25 in Texas. The Cougars went 2-1 during the tournament, defeating No. 24 Kentucky, 6-4 Friday and Kansas, 5-4 Saturday before dropping the tournament finale to Texas State Sunday evening. Kentucky also went 2-1 on the weekend but WSU won the head-to-head matchup while Kansas and Texas State each went 1-2. It was Washington State's first tournament title since sweeping all four games to win the 2010 Brooks Wallace Memorial Classic hosted by Texas Tech. Four Cougars earned Round Rock Classic All-Tournament Team honors led by first baseman Joey Kramer who was named the Tournament MVP. Outfielder Alan Shibley, starting pitcher Grant Taylor and reliever Kaden Wickersham were also named to the All-Tournament Team. Kramer collected three hits, scored three times and drove in three runs as his biggest hit of the weekend was the go-ahead three-run home run in the eighth inning of Saturday's 5-4 comeback win over Kansas.
COUGARS TO PLAY 15 GAMES ON PAC-12 NETWORKS
WSU will play 15 games on the Pac-12 Networks in 2024. The five Pac-12 Conference series televised will be the Cougars most televised games since 2017.
NATHAN CHOATE NAMED COUGAR BASEBALL HEAD COACH
Nathan Choate was named the 18th head baseball coach in program history this past June. Choate arrived at WSU after leading Loyola Marymount to a 2023 West Coast Conference title while guiding the Lions to new heights in his four seasons leading the program. Choate was named the 2023 WCC Coach of the Year after leading LMU to their first outright regular season title in 25 years. He coached a pair of Lions to All-America honors while five players earned All-WCC honors in addition to the WCC Pitcher of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year and Freshman of the Year. Choate's 2023 LMU club tallied road wins at Vanderbilt and Oklahoma State while in the classroom, the Lions posted a 3.18 team GPA including 24 players with a 3.0 or higher. Throughout his coaching career, Choate has accumulated 28 players selected in the MLB Draft, seven of which went in the top-10 rounds, 10 All-Americans, two Col[1]lege World Series appearances, three Team USA pitchers, four Fresh[1]man All-Americans, two Big West Freshman Pitchers of the Year, two WCC Pitchers of the Year and nine All-Conference Pitchers. "My family and I couldn't be more excited to join the Washington State University family. Thank you to President Schulz, Pat Chun and Mitch Straub for the opportunity to lead the baseball program," Choate said. We look forward to earning the respect of past, current, and future Cougs, as well as the Pullman Community. Go Cougs!"
LAST SEASON
Washington State finished the season with a 29-23 overall record including a 10-19 mark in Pac-12 Conference play. The 29 wins were the most since 2015 and marked the fourth-straight winning season after posting series wins at No. 15 Oregon State, No. 12 UCLA, Arizona, Santa Clara, at California and season series win over Gonzaga.
COUGAR COACHING STAFF
Joe Perez begins his first season as the Cougars Assistant Coach/Recruiting Coordinator and will serve as the infield coach and assist with the hitters after working the previous eight seasons as the Associated Head Coach and Recruiting Coordinator at Central Arizona College, one of the premier junior college programs in the country, where worked with the infielders and hitters. Perez, the 2021 ABCA National Assistant Coach of the Year, helped the Vaqueros to a pair of Junior College National Championships, three Western District titles, two Region I Championships and three ACCAC Conference Championships. Prior to his time at Central Arizona, Perez spent four seasons at Grand Canyon University where he worked with Choate for Head Coach Andy Stankiewicz assisting with Infielders.
Quinn Hawksworth begins his first season as a assistant coach and will work with the Cougar hitters and assist with recruiting, after working the past three seasons at CSU Bakersfield competing in the Big West Conference. Hawksworth joined CSU Bakersfield Baseball prior to the 2021 season where he worked with hitters, infielders and recruiting before being promoted to recruiting coordinator following the 2022 season. Hawksworth went to Bakersfield after spending the 2020 season in a volunteer position at Big West Conference power, UC Santa Barbara where he coached hitters and infielders for the Gauchos, helping UCSB to a 13-2 mark during the shortened 15-game season on the strength of 37 extra-base hits and ten home runs.
Eric Hutting begins his first season as the Cougars Assistant Coach and will work with the catchers while assisting with the pitchers and hitters after working the past two seasons with Choate at Loyola Marymount as an assistant coach, working with the catchers and assisting with the LMU hitters. Hutting helped Loyola Marymount to a 2023 West Coast Conference title last season while the Lions captured the West Coast Conference Pitcher of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year, Freshman of the Year and Choate was named WCC Coach of the Year. LMU claimed its first outright regular season title in 25 years with a 29-24 mark including an impressive 21-6 record in conference play while a pair of Lions earned All-America honors with five players receiving All-WCC honors.
Brandon Vial begins his first season as the Cougars Director of Player Development after working the past two seasons as an assistant coach at Lewis-Clark State College, helping coach the pitchers and catchers as the Warriors reached the NAIA National Championship game in 2022 and 2023. The 2022 LC pitching staff finished the season second in the NAIA with a 3.21 ERA. In the summer of 2022, Vial was the head coach of the Walla Walla Sweets in the West Coast Summer League while in the 2021 summer, Vial was named the Northwoods League Coach of the Year after leading the St. Cloud Rox pitching staff to a record-setting summer.
Austin Ames begins his first season as the Director of Baseball Operations after working the 2023 summer as an operations intern at Team USA in North Carolina and as an operations intern for Major League Baseball at the Jackie Robinson Training Complex in Vero Beach, Florida. Prior to working with MLB, Ames was a ticket sales associate for the St. Louis Cardinals during the 2022 season and worked in a number of roles for the Southeast Missouri State Athletic Department (2020-22).
JOHN OLERUD NAMED PAC-12 PLAYER OF THE CENTURY
The Pac-12 Conference inducted Coug legend John Olerud into the Pac-12 Hall of Honor in 2019. Olerud was named the Pac-12 Conference's Baseball Player of the Century in 2016. During his three seasons in a Cougar uniform, Olerud (1987-89) had one of the finest careers of any Cougar student-athlete, in any sport, in Washington State history, rewriting the WSU record books and becoming the only Cougar baseball athlete ever to be named College Athlete of the Year. In 1988, Olerud became the only player in NCAA history to win 15 games on the mound and hit 20 home runs in the same season, going 15-0 with 23 home runs that year. Olerud went 26-4 overall with a 3.17 ERA over 241.1 innings during his three seasons, hitting .434. He set two Pac-10 records and 10 Pac-10 North marks, highlighted by his sophomore season when he was named Athlete of the Year by Baseball America. In January prior to his junior year at WSU, Olerud suffered a subarachnoid hemorrhage, a type of brain seizure. He missed the first 28 games of the spring season, but returned to hit .359 for WSU over the final 27 games. Prior to his senior season, Olerud signed a contract with Toronto and went directly to the Major Leagues. In 1993, he became the first Blue Jay to win a batting title, hitting .363. Olerud played for Toronto, the New York Mets and Yankees, Seattle and Boston during his 17-year career, winning back-to-back World Series titles with Toronto in 1992 and 1993. In 2001 he joined his father, John Sr., in the WSU Athletics Hall of Fame, and is a member of the College Baseball, State of Washington and Inland Northwest Sports Halls of Fame. The John Olerud Two-Way Player of the Year Award, given annually by the College Baseball Hall of Fame, was named in his honor and in 2016, he was named the Pac-12 Conference Player of the Century.