The WSU baseball team has helped to fight off the frigid winter weather and usher in spring with their blazing-hot start to the 2015 season.

At 11-5, the Cougars are off to a much better start than their 2014 campaign, where they stumbled into conference play with a 4-8 record. Although many of their games were cancelled or postponed during that early stretch, the team struggled to produce in each of their contests.

It has been a very different story so far this season. Although the team is made up of 16 true freshmen, more than half of the entire roster, the veteran players have done a solid job of stepping up and helping their young teammates.

Senior infielder Ian Sagdal has undeniably been the leader so far this year. He leads the team with a .373 batting average, is tied for first in OBP at .484, and is second on the team with 12 RBIs and 12 runs. Sagdal is doing a nice job of improving on his junior season and has almost matched his 18 runs and RBIs from last year.

Other players that have produced at the plate are freshman outfielder Wes Hatten and sophomore outfielder Cameron Frost. Hatten is second on the team with a .333 batting average through 33 at bats. Frost has been an RBI machine and leads the Cougars with 15 so far.

On the mound, WSU has relied on a strong rotation of player. Six players have gone more than 10 innings already in this young season, with freshman Ryan Walker leading the group with a 2.51 ERA. Senior Sean Hartnett has also played extremely well so far, posting a 3.47 ERA and 22 strikeouts, putting him in a tie for the team lead.

Coming off Freshman All-American honors in his first year, sophomore Ian Hamilton has continued to pitch well. After a school record 15 saves last season, Hamilton is on pace to top that number with six saves through 16 games. Through 9.1 innings he has seven strikeouts and a .96 ERA.

Reporting by Steffen Stroup