Despite recent struggles, Cougar baseball will recover against UCLA
WSU sophomore pitcher Layne Bruner pitches against Sacred Heart at Bailey-Brayton Field, March 8, 2015.
March 25, 2015
It’s no secret that the WSU Men’s Baseball team has fallen on hard times in the last couple weeks. Despite this, WSU has the ability to put together a solid series against UCLA at home this weekend.
The team is just 1-6 in its last seven games, six of which were against Pac-12 opponents, causing WSU to fall significantly in the standings. A perfect game by OSU freshman pitcher Drew Rasmussen was the cherry on top of the Cougars’ struggles.
The Cougars shouldn’t have to worry too much about their pitching this weekend. While they have a combined 4.70 ERA over the past seven games, the staff has performed much better after getting shelled by USC. In the four games since that series, the Cougars have posted a 3.15 ERA.
Despite the solid pitching in the last four games, the Cougars still went 0-4. The main cause for the Cougars’ freefall is their lack of offense. Over the last seven games, WSU is hitting a measly .184 and the Cougars’ best hitter, senior infielder Ian Sagdal, is just 5-28 (.178) with 10 strikeouts and has seen his average drop from the .370’s down to .304.
This all sounds bad for the Cougs moving forward. However, WSU managed to show some signs of life in its final game against OSU, in which the Cougars lost in eleven innings by a score of 2-1.
While the offense wasn’t able to put many runs on the board, the team still had 10 hits. The real problem was timely offense. The Cougars left nine men on base and were not able to get that big hit to put runs on the board.
Sagdal recorded two hits in the game and sophomore outfielder Wes Leow went 3-5. If these players continue to have success and others, like junior outfielder Ben Roberts and freshman infielder Jack Strunc, break out of their slumps, the Cougars will have much more success.
While the Cougars have fallen in the last week, the team has shown signs that its slump is almost over. If the pitching staff continues to have success and the offense can continue to climb its way out of the rut it was in, it could be a fun weekend at Bailey-Brayton Field.
