After splitting a four-game series against Cal Poly, the Washington State University Baseball team makes its way back down to California to take on BYU and Long Beach State.
WSU is currently 3-4 on the young season after facing a tough Alabama team and an aggressive Cal Poly offense.
After starting 0-2 in the series against the Mustangs, WSU saw some serious improvements in quality of pitching and overall performance by their offense. If the Cougars can carry this momentum into their next series, they will be a tough team to beat.
One starting pitcher that had an outstanding performance was Nick Lewis who threw five scoreless innings against the Mustangs in game two. The solo lefty starter for WSU dominated the Mustang lineup and put his team in a position to get the game two win. But once again, the bullpen could not close out the game, leading to another WSU loss.
One other player to highlight for the pitching is righty Griffin Smith. Going into the season, Smith looked to be one of the anchors for the starting rotation. His season started a bit shaky against Alabama, allowing six total runs, four hits, and two walks. Smith followed his first performance with a phenomenal outing against Cal Poly, racking up two strikeouts, six innings pitched and only allowing two runs in the third game of the series.
“It’s awesome. It’s awesome to know they [Gavin Roy, Ryan Skjonsby, Max Hartman] have my back in the field, but also on offense just supplying the run support that I need and helping me kind of just relax and do what I do,” Griffin said in a postgame interview about his senior offensive starters.
The way the Cougars can capitalize on these performances is by having more consistent performance by their offense. WSU’s offense has had a mixed bag of outcomes so far in their first seven games. On one hand, the Cougar offense has scored over five runs three times. On the other hand, they’ve scored no more than one run three times. As we get further along in the season, hopefully more consistently solid performances will be shown by WSU.
One player that is starting to heat up is first baseman Ryan Skjonsby. In the Cal Poly series, Skjonsby recorded a .385 average with five hits, five RBIs, and two walks. If Skjonsby can continue this hot-streak, the better the middle of the Cougar lineup can be.
Trevor Smith is a fun player to highlight for the Cougars. The 5-foot-10 freshman centerfielder has played lights-out defense in the outfield recording multiple highlight catches. On the season, Smith has a fielding percentage of .947, only committing one error. Offensively, Smith has been a solid batter, with six hits and four walks on the season. As a true freshman, these are good signs for things to come.
BYU
BYU enters this series against WSU with a similar record of 4-3. Overall, BYU is a very well rounded team with a solid offense and good pitchers.
Offensively they are led by Ezra McNaughton who leads the Cougars in hits with 11 and RBIs with 9. McNaughton also has an impressive OPS of 1.025 as well. McNaughton isn’t the only one producing on this offense, with seven other batters hitting above a .250 average. Ryder Robinson, Crew McChesney and Luke Anderson have all racked up eight hits in seven games respectively. Overall this is a tough BYU offense that can and will put the ball in play.
Pitching has been decent for the Cougars this season, totalling a 4.20 team ERA and racking up 57 strikeouts on the season. One pitcher specifically to highlight is lefty Ashton Johnson. The 5-foot-11 senior from Holladay, Utah has had a spectacular season, recording a 0.87 ERA in three appearances this season. Even though Johnson isn’t a starter, he still has the second most strikeouts recorded this season for the Cougars with eight out of the bullpen.
The two main starters for BYU this season have been a little shaky. Starters Wayland Crane and Garrison Sumner both have not been able to go deep into games and have high ERAs. This is one area of the BYU team the WSU offense could attack early to cash in runs.
Long Beach
The Long Beach Dirtbags have had an up and down season so far in 2026. The Dirtbags currently have a record of 2-5 and are coming off a 2-15 loss against Cal State Bakersfield on Feb. 22.
Offensively, the Dirtbags have been pretty strong with three everyday hitters batting over .340. Those three batters in Matt Toomey, Trotter Enright and Trevor Goldenetz all have nine hits which is a tied team high. Long Beach has been an incredibly inconsistent team, scoring double-digit runs in a game twice and two-runs and under in a game four times.
As for pitching, the two starters have been really solid on the season so far. Right handed pitchers Jake Fields and Luke Howe both have an ERA at around 3 and have a 1-0 record. Fields has excelled in racking up strikeouts and limiting hits with 13 SO and allowing a batter average of .111. The bullpen is an area where WSU can attack. So far through seven games, the Dirtbag bullpen has allowed 25 runs. If WSU cannot get after Fields and Howe, they will have to be patient offensively to wait for the bullpen.
Next Games
WSU’s first game is in Long Beach, California at 1:05 on Feb. 26 against BYU. WSU then has a 1:05 game against BYU and a 6:05 matchup against Long Beach State on Feb. 27. The trip finally wraps up with a 1:05 matchup against Long Beach State on March 1.
