The head coach for the WSU Cougars is Don Marbut. The field at WSU College is named after Coach Bailey and Coach Brayton. The cougars have won 85 games and will attempt to post a third-straight winning season, which has not been done since 1994. The team in 2007 had a GPA of 2.91, which was a great season in school history. The WSU Cougars have three tournament titles, 649 hits and a low ERA of 4.87. They are currently ranked 25th in the nation.

On May 21, 1983 the cougars played against the OSU on the Coleman Field. It was televised; Ken Shafer and Mark Snider were the announcers. They capture its second consecutive division crown with this play. This game against the OSU at Coleman Frield broke the record of fans, 3,100 came to see Jeff Reece play.

The Cougar’s will be completing a fifth game series at the Pepperdine. On May 28, 1976 the WSU Cougars made four home runs and won 8-2 against the Pepperdine. On February 25th, they won 4-2 in seven innings and on March 15th, 2004 they scored six times and won 9-8 against the Pepperdine. The WSU Cougars will play against South Dakota for a 3 game series. Since 1994 the Cougars have had records of a 35-26 runs of 37 repeated campaigns with a score of over .500. The cougars are looking to have a fourth-straight winning season for this year.

The college baseball season has officially started. The Washington State Cougars are one of the many teams who are looking to have great seasons and maybe even reach the College World Series Tournament. The season is fresh, and the Cougars have played only eight games so far in the season. The Washington State Cougars have a long season of many games ahead of them. Their current record is 3-5. They are 0-3 when playing away games, and are 3-2 when playing at home. They have played all teams out of their conference so far.

Washington State is coming off a tough season last year, after posting a dismal 8-16 conference record, but finishing 30-26 overall. Washington State will have a tough schedule yet again this season by playing 29 out of their 55 games against teams who made the College World Series Tournament a season ago. They will have to rely on players from last year, as well as up and coming prospects to pick up the slack.

Jim Murphy will be relied on heavily to drive in some runs offensively as he posted team highs in both homeruns and RBIs last season, with 16 and 61 respectively. On the defensive end, Washington State will need Jayson Miller to step up as a dominant pitcher. He posted team highs in victories, with 8, and strikeouts, with 61. Washington State will also need some production from their leadoff man, Travis Coulter. He had 11 stolen bases last season and will need to do the same this year to provide some scoring opportunities for the Cougars.

So you want to be a pitcher. You've chosen one of the most demanding positions in the game, but it's important not to rush things. Most kids do not mature until the ages of 14 to 16. Before this period, the shoulder, elbow, wrist, and forearm areas are very vulnerable to injury. Coaches and parents should take every precaution in guarding the development of the young pitcher. Coaches should know the suggested pitch count for every age group. These pitch counts encompass pitches per game, pitches per week, and pitches per season. A good guideline to follow is the suggestion of the USA Baseball Medical and Safety Advisory Committee. A young pitcher under the age of 14 should never throw a curveball. A coach should know that the safest pitch to teach a young pitcher to throw other than a fastball is the change-up.

Every young pitcher should follow a set regiment of warm-up, running, and throwing exercises before pitching a game. The first thing is to get the blood flowing by either jogging or sprinting. Then stretch those three important areas: shoulder, elbow, and wrist/forearm. The pitcher and catcher should next start a session of long toss. The pitcher and catcher start close together and back up a step after every throw. This helps to stretch out the ligaments and muscles slowly. Once long toss is completed, pitching off the mound starts with a set combination of pitches at half speed. The final few pitches are thrown at 100% speed. The pitcher is then warmed up and ready for the game.

Washington State University is located in Pullman, Washington. It began in 1890. The baseball program started shortly thereafter in 1892. The Cougar was established as the mascot in the 1927 and the WSU team assumed Cougar as its name. It is rated by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching as one of the top ranked Universities with “very high research activity.” This relates well to WSUs high grade point average of many of its athletes.

There are some years when WSU did not have a strong pitching staff. Aaron MacKenzie, starting pitcher, went six innings and gave up six hits for three runs. He was replaced in the seventh inning. Many other years, however, it has had some strong pitchers. Ross Humes was the first pitcher to save two games in a day since Reed Rainey did so in 1985 against Central Washington. Conner Lambert was the pitcher who silenced the Air Force with eight innings of shutout baseball, allowing two hits to earn his first collegiate win. He struck out ten batters. He is unique, in part, for his signature leg kick. Adam Conley is an Olympia, Washington native, and was a strong pitcher.

During the past year, the following Washington State University baseball pitchers were placed into the WSU Hall of Fame. These are Russell Goodwind, Charles “Ace” Herberling, John Luckhardt, Dan Primrose, Michelle Stano and John Unice.

For a school that is labeled a strong research university, it is
heartwarming to see that it has a balanced program also in athletics.

The Washington State Cougars have a storied baseball team with many players moving on to the major leagues. Over 100 players have played in the minors since the inception of the team.

The current WSU team has a few players of note. Their senior captains are Jared Prince and Travis Coulter. Two of their better players are Shea Vucinich currently with a .295 batting average and Matt Way with a 2.00 earned run average. They have had some outstanding players go on to storied MLB careers. The most well known would be Ron Cey who played for a total of sixteen years, compiled 316 home runs, 1139 runs batted in and a .261 batting average. John Olerud is another very well know alumnus with a fourteen year MLB career. Aaron Sele played in the pro's from 1993-2007, and Tom Niendenfuer played from 1981 to 1990. Other major leaguers of note who had their start at WSU are Cliff Chambers (1940's), Gene Conley and Ed Bouchee (1950's), Danny Frisella and Nick Austin (1960-1970's), Doug Sick (1980's), Chris Hanson (1995-2008)and currently Scott Hattebery and Eddie Bonine. Not included on this list is another dozen players who played in the pros for less than four years. At least thirty WSU players also played significant time at the triple A level of the minors with another fifty playing for single or double A clubs.

Although this year’s team is struggling, the WSU baseball history is strong and sure to produce more stars in the future.