Before Washington State baseball opened its season last Friday against Stephen F. Austin in the SFA Tipton Ford Classic, there were more questions than answers. After four games, Head Coach Donnie Marbut has a firmer grasp on his team that consists of sixteen true freshmen, and a 2-2 record.

The Cougars started the tournament trailing in their opener against SFA, but managed to keep the game within reach. While they never caught up to the Lumberjacks, losing the game 4-1, it showed a strength of the team: the bullpen. After senior right-handed starting pitcher Sean Hartnett allowed three runs on five hits in the first three innings, the bullpen held SFA to one run on five hits over the remaining five innings.

Two of the three relievers in the series opener were freshmen – left hander Scotty Sunitsch and right hander Sam Boone. Sunitsch threw 2 and 1/3 of his 3 and 2/3 innings from the weekend on Friday while Boone managed just the one inning Friday with his second appearance a very teachable moment.

Boone allowed three runs on two hits and threw two wild pitches in the bottom of the sixth inning, one that totaled five runs and four hits for Missouri State. The Bears, with a 12-0 lead heading into the seventh inning, shut down the Cougars offense while providing WSU Pitching Coach Gregg Swenson a fair amount of notes for his younger pitchers moving forward.

Along with Boone and Sunitsch, several other freshmen made their pitching debuts this weekend. Ryan Walker, a righty, made two appearances totaling 4 and 1/3 innings; Tyler McDowell, a left hander who also plays first base, made one appearance lasting 1 and 2/3 innings; Drew Lunde, a lefty, made only one outing and didn’t fare well over 1 and 2/3 innings allowing two runs on two hits while walking five; and Colby Nealy, a right hander, allowed one hit over 1 and 1/3 innings in his lone appearance against Missouri State.

The Cougar freshmen hitters also got a chance to get a high amount of at bats this weekend with short stop Jack Strunc and third baseman Shane Matheny playing in all four games. Strunc started three of his four games at short while making one pitch-hitting appearance Monday night against SFA. Marbut also got a fair amount of his freshmen role players time as well.

Haakaon Lande appeared twice this weekend against Texas-Arlington and Missouri State. Both backup catchers, J.J. Hancock and Brennon Kaleiwahea got playing time as well this weekend, with Hancock making back to back appearances in the final two games of the tournament.

In total, 15 of the 16 Cougar freshmen saw playing time this weekend while a slew of other underclassmen got more experience to add onto last season. One of the goals coming into the tournament was to find out what WSU had in their freshman class.

After a roller-coaster weekend, which saw the Cougars end on a high note with a 4-3 win over Stephen F. Austin Monday night, Marbut and the players both have more knowledge and understanding of each other moving forward into their next series of games, all against Big-12 opponents.

Reporting by Lars Hanson