Cougar baseball opened their 2026 season down south last weekend against Alabama for a three-game series. After surfing the Crimson Tide, the Cougs came home with a 1-2 series loss and 23 runs given up.
While on paper that looks disheartening, the Cougs did manage to sneak out a win in game one of the series. The 8-4 win, coupled with a pair of blowout losses paint a vivid picture of this team early on in the year.
So, let’s take a look at the top three takeaways from opening weekend…
Max Hartman is playing angry… and that is good
After a phenomenal season with the Cougs in 2025, Max Hartman was not drafted to a big league roster in the summer. Despite having one year of eligibility left, the now senior could have been a decent outfield fit for any MLB team looking to add young quality talent.
However, the Alberta native finds himself back on the Palouse for 2026, and he has brought a vengeance with him.
In game one of the Bama series, Hartman absolutely raked. Going 3-for-3 with a solo home run and two RBI’s definitely helped muscle the Cougs to the 8-4 win.
He did cool off the next two days, but still managed to go 1-for-4 and 1-for-3 in his next outings. This brings his batting average to an eye-popping 0.400 and his OPS to an absurd 1.300.
Are those figures inflated by the sample size? Absolutely. But, they reveal an unavoidable truth to Coug fans about this coming year: Hartman wants a big league spot.
In his last year of eligibility and his fourth year as a Coug, fans can expect Hartman to be at his best in 2026. If he catches fire at the right time, and the team rallies behind him, then it may propel them to a successful year in the Mountain West Conference.
Someone needs to fill Cresswell’s shoes
After graduating last season and getting drafted to the Toronto Blue Jays, catcher Will Cresswell has left big shoes to fill behind the dish. So far, no one has been able to lace them up.
Junior Cam Macleod got the opening day start and safe to say… people’s socks remained on. 0-for-4 in game one and 0-for-2 in game two has given him a 0.000 batting average.
Freshman Alexandre Giguère came in to relieve Macleod late in game two and whiffed on his one at-bat, giving him an identical 0.000 batting average.
For game three senior Noah Thein got the start and copied his two predecessors, going 0-for-2 in the 11-1 blowout loss. In total, all three catching options recorded no hits, no RBI’s and no runs scored.
While catchers are not meant to be the most productive at the plate, the complete absence of production leaves a heavy hole in the lineup that can sink it in the long run. If the Cougs want to find success in 2026, they need one of their six catching options to step up early on and win themselves a starting spot with their bat.
Pitching is a problem… again
Even though their numbers are inflated due to the limited sample sizes, the Cougar pitching staff is definitely looking rough out of the gate. A team 7.04 ERA, 18 earned runs and 21 walks helped Alabama walk all over the Cougs in games two and three of the series.
Bullpen woes are a familiar ailment to the Cougs who struggled last season out of the pen. Starting pitchers Griffin Smith, Nick Lewis and Luke Meyers would often spin five to seven innings of lockdown baseball, just for the relief men to implode late in games.
A similar picture was painted in Alabama, where relief pitching accounted for 10 of the Tide’s 18 earned runs. However, what may be worrisome to Coug fans is the eight runs given up by Smith, Lewis and Meyers combined.
Starting pitching has been the Cougs anchor in recent years, but it came up short in Tuscaloosa. If both the starting and relief arms for WSU cannot heat up by conference play, then this team will be up creek without a paddle.
They have 12 games before they take on San Diego State for their first conference series. In that time, the Cougar staff needs to cut down on the walks, limit quality contact and be able to finish games.
As the Cougs get ready to take on Cal-Poly for their second series of the season, they should have these three takeaways on their minds.
