The longest home stand of the season will come to an end this weekend as the Cougar baseball team takes on San Jose State for the final four games of this nine-game stretch.

Washington State (18-17, 5-10 Pac-12) will get back to the plate at 6 p.m. on after beating New Mexico State 11-1 on Monday. The Cougars have been on a hot streak lately, winning six of their last eight games and recording double digit hits in four of those games.

San Jose State, on the other hand, has been ice cold recently, and is 9-27 (3-5 MW) on the year. The Spartans lost eight straight before picking up an 11-1 victory over San Diego State on April 12. But they’ll come arrive at Bailey-Brayton field off the heels of another loss against Saint Mary’s by a score of 7-3.

WSU should have opportunities to pick up hits against SJSU’s pitchers. Their team ERA is a hefty 6.20, while the Cougars opponents up to this point have an average ERA of 3.56. The Spartans’ most effective pitcher is senior right-hander Kalei Contrades, who has a 4.23 ERA in his 10 starts, and leads the team with 30 strikeouts.

The Cougar pitchers have performed much better in recent weeks, with senior Joe Pistorese leading the way. The left hander threw his fourth complete game of the year last weekend against UW, which tied him for the national lead. That was the second straight week where Pistorese threw a complete game, earning him his second straight Pac-12 Pitcher of the Week honor.

One of the most consistent batters for the Spartans this season is sophomore outfielder Brett Bautista. He leads all Spartans with more than 100 at bats in average at .314, is second in RBIs with 13, and is first in runs with 18.

Freshman catcher/outfielder Shane Timmons is coming to Pullman after picking up three hits in each of his last two games. He went 3-5 with a double and an RBI Tuesday against Saint Mary’s, and was an impressive 3-3 with a double, two runs, and four RBIs in SJSU’s win on April 12. Timmons hasn’t made many trips to the plate this season, with only 54 at bats, but he has done well with his limited opportunities, posting a .296 batting average and nine RBIs.

After some defensive lapses in their last two games, the Cougars will have a chance to tighten things up at home against the Spartans this weekend. They are currently sitting at eighth in the conference with fewer than six weeks left in the season. And with this being the last multiple-game series against a non-conference opponent, the Cougars are running out of time to fix some of their issues on the field.

First pitch against the Spartans is scheduled for 6 p.m. today at Bailey-Brayton Field.

Reporting by Steffen Stroup