After a tough home series against No. 5 UCLA, the Washington State men’s baseball team will go on a quick road trip up to Spokane today to face Gonzaga.

The Cougars (12-14, 1-8 Pac-12) will try and stop the bleeding after losing their last eight games. Both the offense and defense had a tough time against a talented UCLA this weekend, and mental mistakes in each game were partly to blame for the Cougars’ losses.

Although Gonzaga (12-15, 3-6 WCC) is not a conference opponent, the Bulldogs are in-state rivals and will provide a nice chance for the Cougars to correct some mistakes moving forward in the Pac-12 schedule.

WSU will need to crank up its offensive output to get back to the Cougs’ winning ways. The Bulldogs have posted a batting average of .279 so far this year, but have 135 runs and nine homers. None of these stats really jump off the page, but they are slightly more than WSU’s 96 runs and four homers.

On the topic of pitchers, Gonzaga has a few players on the roster that can work the strikeout. Sophomore Brandon Bailey and junior Andrew Sopko have combined to throw 86 K’s in just fewer than 92 innings. Bailey in particular has been lights out on the mound, throwing a staggering 52 strikeouts in nine appearances. The only Cougar pitcher who has managed that kind of efficiency so far is junior Matt Bower who has 35 K’s in 23 innings.

In the final game of last weekend’s series against the Bruins, Head Coach Donnie Marbut said he felt his team did not put up as much of a fight as he would have like to have seen.

Marbut put part of the blame on himself, stating he may not have prepared the team as well as he needed to. But with the quick turnaround to Spokane, the coaches will not have much time to rejuvenate the team and restore their players’ confidence. This is all part of playing in a top conference like the Pac-12, Marbut explained, and that the season does not get any easier from here. He believes his team can still right the ship and regain the success it had earlier in the year.

First pitch for the today’s game will be is scheduled for 6 p.m. in Spokane. Live audio can be streamed on wsucougars.com.

Reporting by Steffen Stroup