This season the WSU baseball team is looking to improve its performance in their last season as an affiliate member of the Mountain West Conference.
Last season the Cougars went 11-19 in conference play and finished last in the conference. Overall they finished 18-36, a stark difference from the Pac-12 days when the Cougars were more competitive. This season the Cougars lost star outfielder Logan Johnstone to the transfer portal after he committed to Vanderbilt. The program has been looking to get back to Omaha for the first time since 1976 and the NCAA tournament since 2010.
Mar 13-16 @ San Diego State
Starting off conference play the Cougars have a three game series at San Diego State. The Cougars split the season series 3-3 last year. They won the first three in blowouts and lost the last three. On top of that, the Cougars are 5-5 all time against the Aztecs. Recently, former world series winner Stephen Strasburg joined the coaching staff for this season. He comes with great experience and was once the first overall pick in the MLB draft out of San Diego State. Additionally, the Aztecs will be with first year head coach Kevin Vance, former Arizona assistant. It will be important for the Cougars to get out of the gates strong against the Aztecs, who finished last season in fifth with a record of 20-39(14-16).
Mar 20-22 vs. Grand Canyon
This is the first year for Grand Canyon as a member of the Mountain West Conference. Previously, the Lopes were a part of the WAC, which included schools like Sacramento State and Seattle U. The Cougars are 2-0 all time against the Lopes with wins coming on the road in 2018 and 2024. Both wins were one-run games respectively. This series should be tough for the Cougars with the Lopes making the NCAA tournament four times in the last eight years. Despite being in a smaller conference prior to this season, the Lopes have had players drafted for 12 consecutive years headlined by Athletics all-star shortstop Jacob Wilson.
Mar 27-29 vs. Nevada
Last season the Cougars lost the season series against the Wolfpack 5-1 with a run-differential of -35. All time the Cougars are 4-8 against Nevada. They are looking to improve against the Wolfpack this season who are looking to repeat as Mountain West regular season champions. They finished last season with a record of 34-23 (19-11).The Wolfpack have a new manager this season after their former head coach Jake Mckinley was named Major League field coordinator for the Seattle Mariners. They named Jordan Getzelman head coach on Dec. 1.
“Our mission remains the same: develop great men, compete with pride, and bring championships to Northern Nevada” Getzelmen said.
The Wolfpack have the reigning Mountain West freshman player of the year in Sean Yamaguchi, who tied the conference freshman record for home runs in a conference season with 10 and tied the team lead with 13. Yamaguchi was doing it all by hitting for power and average, batting .324. He was named conference freshman of the week four times last season with one of them coming after his performance against the Cougars last season.
This series should be one of the toughest on the conference schedule for the Cougars this season.
April 2-4 @ San Jose State
Last season the Cougars won their only series against the Spartans 2-1 with a run differential of +3. All time the Cougars are 13-7 against the Spartans, who finished sixth in the conference last season with a record of 29-30 (11-19). The Spartans have their star outfielder Alex Fernandes returning for his senior season after batting .361 last season and stealing 15 bases on 16 attempts. Fernandes led the team in OPS with .956, 61 points higher than Zachary Chamizo in second. The weak part of the Spartans team is their pitching. They had one pitcher that threw more than 27 innings with a sub-three ERA. The Cougars need to jump on the lack of good pitching if they want to win the season series again.
April 17-19 @ UNLV
The UNLV Rebels won the season series against the Cougars last year 2-1 and outscored them 13-10 in three games. The Rebels were 31-23 (16-14) last season, finishing fourth in the Mountain West. The Rebels lost their star outfielder Dean Toigo to Arizona State in the transfer portal after being named to the American Baseball Coaches Association/Rawlings All-Region West First Team. Togio led the Rebels in almost all offensive categories last season including home runs, OPS, hits and batting average. The Rebels are looking to make up for the lost production this year to keep a decent place in the conference. One of their better gets in the transfer portal is redshirt senior shortstop Drew Barragan who hit .321 in 30 games for Western Kentucky. The Cougars are looking to improve against the Rebels this season and end on a better note.
April 24-26 vs. New Mexico
Last season New Mexico went 30-23(17-13) to finish third in the Mountain West. The Cougars lost the series 2-1 last season in their first ever matchups with the Lobos in program history. The Lobos crushed the ball last season as a team. That was their strong point with four players hitting at least 10 home runs and a team batting average of .337. On the mound the Lobos were quite the opposite. They had a team ERA of 8.08 and a WHIP of 1.87. Even in college those numbers are not good enough. If the Cougars take advantage of the bad pitching they have a chance this year.
May 1-3 vs. Fresno State
Last year Fresno State went 31-29(18-12) to finish second in the Mountain West. The Cougars were swept 3-0 last year against the Bulldogs and have historically been dominated by them with a losing record of 1-9 all time. This season the Bulldogs are looking to replace four players that were drafted. They have graduate shortstop Lee Treviño returning who was named to the 2025 Mountain West Championship All-Tournament Team. In the regular season he hit a team leading .364 as well as recording three triples. The Bulldogs were a good hitting team, but like many college teams their pitching was weaker. They had a team ERA of 5.45 and WHIP of 1.50. This will be a tough series for the Cougars but if they can get ahead of the pitching and keep the bats quiet they can beat them.
May 8-10 @ Air Force
Last season the Falcons went 20-34(12-18), finishing seventh in the Mountain West. The Cougars split the season series with the Falcons 3-3 and out scored them 53-50 in total. The Falcons have starting catcher Walker Zapp returning for his senior season. Last year he started all games he played and had a team second best .330 batting average including a team leading five triples, very rare for a catcher. The Falcons were not the most powerful hitting team but had a .821 OPS. On the mound the Falcons were even worse with a team ERA of 7.36 and a WHIP of 1.88. This will probably be the Cougars easiest conference matchup in 2026. They need to attack the pitching and get ahead early, keep the pressure on and let the pitching keep them ahead.
