The WSU baseball team is in search of its first Pac-12 series win as it travels to Tempe on Thursday for a showdown series against Arizona State.

The Cougars (15-14, 2-7) enter the three-game set having dropped two-of-three to No. 8 Arizona last weekend. Despite the overall loss, Head Coach Marty Lees said he thought WSU played a great series with only one bad inning.

The Sun Devils (13-18, 2-10) defeated UNLV on Tuesday to snap a five-game losing streak. ASU has struggled as of late, having not won consecutive games since sweeping Long Beach State University on March 12.

Currently last place in the Pac-12 standings, ASU may be the break in the schedule that WSU needs. The Sun Devils rank last in the conference in ERA (5.77) and on-base percentage (.321) and have committed the second most errors on defense (41).

The Cougars have lost five of their last six games, but faced a Cal team that has won six of its last eight games and a Wildcats squad boasting the nation’s highest-scoring offense during the slump.

Freshman left-hander A.J. Block (0-0, 2.65 ERA) will make his fourth start of the season and frontline the Cougars’ pitching staff in the series opener on Thursday night. Lees decided to shake up the rotation after the team’s usual series-opening starter, redshirt junior left-hander Damon Jones (2-3, 7.85 ERA), struggled in his last four outings.

Block, a 39th-round MLB draft pick of the Chicago Cubs in 2016, has struck out 15 batters against five walks in his 17 innings of work this year. The Bellevue native most recently pitched a scoreless ninth inning in Sunday’s game against Arizona to keep WSU within one run of the Wildcats.

Junior right-hander Ryan Walker will take the mound for WSU on Friday night. Since allowing 10 runs in his second start of the season at Loyola Marymount on Feb. 25, Walker has been the Cougars’ most consistent pitcher.

Over his last 31 and two thirds innings, Walker has posted a 2.84 ERA and struck out 25 batters while limiting his walks to eight.

Lees said Walker has done a great job locating all three of his pitches and keeping his team in games.

Junior left-hander Cody Anderson will start the final game of the series on Saturday afternoon, looking to bounce back after shaky starts his last two times on the mound. Anderson failed to make it into the fifth inning in his past two starts against Cal and Arizona, but owns a team-best 2.79 ERA, the 11th-lowest in the Pac-12.

Lees said freshmen Dillon Plew, Danny Sinatro and Cal Waterman will see extended playing time against ASU.

“They’re helping us right now,” Lees said. “Their time is now. They’re not freshmen anymore.”

Plew, who has been the team’s primary second baseman, has been a staple at the top of the Cougars’ batting order all season. His .461 on-base percentage is second in the Pac-12 and puts him in the top 100 nationwide.

Lees said players like sophomore shortstop Andres Alvarez and junior first baseman James Rudkin stepped up and mentored Plew, a key factor in his development.

“Plew has come along very well,” Lees said, “and it’s because of the people that are on both sides of him [Alvarez and Rudkin] that allow him to have success.”

Sinatro, a utility man, did not receive the same amount of playing time as Plew to begin the season, but started all three games against Arizona, recorded four hits and a walk, and scored four times.

Sinatro started the year as an infielder but has since primarily played centerfield to see more time in the starting lineup. Lees said the freshman’s flexibility and willingness to play anywhere on the field are traits he admires in a young player.

“We’ve got one of the [best] in the league and going into the future,” Lees said of Sinatro’s versatility.

Lees said he still believes in his team and thinks they can put together a complete series despite WSU’s recent string of losses.

“Once we get everybody clicking at the same time,” he said, “we’re going to be a very, very tough team to beat.”