Head Coach Donnie Marbut- Washington State
FROM CBB NEWS SOURCE
The Washington State University baseball team will play 29 of its 55 games in 2009 against teams which made the 2008 NCAA Tournament, Cougar Head Coach Donnie Marbut announced Tuesday.
Of the 29 games, 13 will take place in Pullman. The Cougars will host regional participant Oklahoma in a four-game series (Feb. 27-March 1), regional runner-up UCLA in a three-game set (April 3-5) and super regional participant Arizona for a three-game series (April 17-19). In addition, College World Series participant Stanford visits Pullman for three games (May 1-3).
“Last year we had a strength of schedule that was seventh-toughest in the nation and this schedule by far is more difficult,” Marbut said. “We as a staff think it’s important to play one of the top schedules year in and year out. There is only one way to get ready for the Pac-10 and that is to play high-caliber teams in nonconference games. We have four series at home against teams that were in the 2008 NCAA Tournament, so our fans will have the opportunity to see some of the elite team in college baseball at Bailey-Brayton Field this season.”
Washington State will open its season with a three-game series at regional participant Arkansas (Feb. 20-22). The Cougars will play at College World Series qualifier Rice (March 6) in the opening game of the Academy Sports + Outdoor Rice Classic. That tournament also includes games against regional runner-up Oral Roberts (March 7) as well as Notre Dame (March 8).
The Cougars play three-game series against regional participants Long Beach State (March 13-15) and California (March 27-29), a two-game series at regional runner-up Pepperdine (March 17-18) and three-games at super regional qualifier Arizona State (April 10-12).
Washington State will play four games against regional rival Gonzaga. The Cougars host the Bulldogs, Feb. 24 and April 14 and travel to Spokane, March 3 and April 28.
The remainder of the home schedule consists of three-game series against South Dakota State (March 20-22), Oregon (May 9-11) and Washington (May 22-24) as well as two games against BYU (April 6-7) and Portland (May 12-13).
The Cougars’ other road games are a two-game series at Utah (April 21-22) and three-game sets at USC (April 24-26) and Oregon State (May 15-17).
