BSB: Cougs host Oregon for weekend P12 series

Washington State (19-16, 7-11 Pac-12) welcomes No. 8 Oregon (26-9, 10-5 Pac-12) to Bailey-Brayton Field for a three-game weekend Pac-12 series beginning Friday.

However, in accordance with Whitman County's change to Phase 2 of the State of Washington guidelines, Washington State home events will be without fans until further notice. A limited number of player/coach guests will be permitted in certain venues.

Washington State enters the weekend with a 19-16 overall record after dropping a 7-5 contest at No. 21 Gonzaga Tuesday and a 7-11 mark in Pac-12 Conference play after taking two of three at California last weekend.

The Cougars have won their last two conference road series, at Utah and Cal, for the first time since 2015. WSU enters the weekend second in the league in hitting (.296) and doubles (82), and are led by preseason All-American junior first baseman Kyle Manzardo who owns a .355 batting average, is tied for third with 14 doubles and third with 39 RBI.

Two-time Pac-12 Pitcher of the Week Zane Mills leads the league with 59.0 innings and is third with 65 strikeouts.

Head coach Brian Green owns a 28-23 record in his second season at WSU and owns a 186-145 career record (7 years).

Green told reporters Wednesday that he now has a group of five pitchers he has enough confidence in to pitch against Pac-12 competition on the weekend. His goal is to eventually increase that number to eight, which isn't as easy as it sounds considering the severe scholarship restrictions in college baseball (11.7 per year).

"We have five or six guys we can count on right now to pound the zone, not be scared and can dump a breaking ball in and locate a change," Green said. "Eight is the minimum we need. That's the sweet spot if you look at conference baseball. We need three legitimate starters. Right now we have two."

Oregon enters the weekend ranked as high as No. 8 in the USA Today Coaches Top-25 Poll with a 26-9 overall record after sweeping a two-game set at home against San Jose State Tuesday and Wednesday.

The Ducks own a 10-5 Pac-12 Conference mark after taking two of three from UCLA in Eugene last weekend, and are currently tied for second place in the Pac-12 with rival Oregon State behind front-runner Arizona.

Oregon has yet to lose a Pac-12 series this season.

"Oregon's deal is pitching and defense," Green said. "They're older and experienced. They are playing with a lot of confidence. They are pitching very well on the weekends and playing very good defense and scoring enough. We have to match their pitching. If you look at their numbers, their guys clearly have good stuff."

WSU leads the all-time series with Oregon 154-131-1 but have dropped the last two series with the Ducks. Washington State is looking for its first series win against Oregon since 2017 in Pullman. The Cougars own an 86-59 mark against Oregon in Pullman with the Ducks taking two of three in the 2019 series played in Pullman.

Even though WSU lost Tuesday's non-conference tilt at Gonzaga, the Cougars have won two of their last three Pac-12 series, and are striving to finish .500 or better in the league, which Green noted would be a major step forward for the program.

"We're getting better, and that's exciting for the program," Green said. "We're coming into this series with some confidence. We've had legitimate four game weeks with Gonzaga.