Over the first eight games of the season, the Cougar baseball team has faced a different opponent every day. When they lose, it’s another teachable moment for several of the sixteen true freshmen on roster. When they win, the Cougars prove their potential.

As a result, Head Coach Donnie Marbut knows how to help his young team through the challenges of playing high-caliber baseball. This week, Washington State returns to Bailey-Brayton Field to host UC Riverside (5-4) for the Cougars’ (4-4) first home series in 2015, and their first chance to play a game and practice at home the following day.

“We’ve got to play better defense, we’ve got to throw strike one more, we’ve got to be aggressive earlier in the count offensively,” Marbut said Tuesday regarding what he would like to see improved against UC Riverside.

The last two aspects were on full display during the Big-12/Pac-12 Challenge this past weekend on both a positive and negative level. Senior right-handed starting pitcher Sean Hartnett (1-1), who will start Thursday for WSU, returned to his strong form against Oklahoma by throwing the first strike more often. That is something Marbut wants all of his pitchers, both starters and relievers, to start doing more.

“Sean had his best outing last week as a Coug last week,” said Marbut on Hartnett’s start against the Sooners. “It was all about throwing strike one. We’ll train today and we’ll scrimmage today and I will tell you this – every pitch the pitcher throws, the first pitch will count for two. So the pitcher’s going to think if I throw this strike I get strike two out of if.”

“So probably just the sense of urgency on the pitching staff to command the strike zone. When we did get ahead in the count we got a little bit loose. We need lengthier starts – our strength is our bullpen.”

The second key for WSU this weekend will be capitalizing when they get runners on base. Almost all of the Cougars four wins have come when they scored runs in bulk, sparked by timely hitting. When WSU hasn’t won, one the first noticeable reasons is a lack of a big inning.

“That’s why you lose a ballgame because you don’t get the big hit,” said Marbut on his teams timely hitting.

A lot of the Cougars’ timely hitting has come from freshmen outfielder Wes Hatten, senior infielder Ian Sagdal and senior catcher P.J. Jones. Hatten, who currently leads the team in hitting with a .333 average, has already stood out to Marbut.

“He really knows how to play,” Marbut said. “You can tell he’s played in some big games in his day. He thrives probably in a bigger environment. He hasn’t shown any fear. I think he’s going to have a really, really good career at Washington State.”

UC Riverside’s head coach is a former Major League Baseball closer. Troy Percival, an alumnus of the University, is coaching for the first time at any level which leaves questions as to the strategies that will be most effective against the Highlanders.

WSU fell by a score of 12-7 to UC Riverside last season and only a handful of players are still on the roster that played in the game last year. The Highlanders, on the other hand, have seven seniors returning with a handful of other players who were on the team last season.

Senior second baseman Adam Rubanowitz currently leads the Highlanders in batting average (.455), slugging percentage (.818) and on base percentage (.519). Having started seven of the nine games that UC Riverside has played this season, he’s definitely one player that WSU pitchers can’t fall behind.

UC Riverside will start junior right hander Keaton Leach (1-0) on Thursday, sophomore right hander Angel Landazuri (1-0) on Friday, and senior left-hander Kevin Sprague (1-2) on Sunday. Percival has not named his starting pitcher for Saturday yet.

Washington State will start Hartnett Thursday, senior left-hander Joe Pistorese (0-1) Friday, Nick Leondard (0-1) Saturday and sophomore southpaw Layne Bruner on Sunday.

The games on Thursday and Friday will both start at 6 p.m. First pitch is scheduled for 2 p.m. on Saturday and 11 a.m. on Sunday.

Reporting by Lars Hanson