WSU baseball heads to the desert hoping for an offensive warm up against Arizona. The series will begin Friday at 6 p.m.

The Cougars (9-17, 2-7) have averaged just over three runs per game in their last nine Pac-12 games and currently lead the conference in strikeouts at 207. Their weekend opponents have averaged 5.5 runs per game over the same stretch, totaling 50 runs.

Junior right-hander Ian Hamilton (1-6) will take the mound for the Cougars on Friday against Arizona (18-11, 3-6), in search of his second consecutive win as a starter. Hamilton allowed two earned runs – three total – over five innings in his last start against Arizona State, the Cougars’ last conference win.

Head Coach Marty Lees only has two of his three starters penciled in this weekend, with freshman right-hander Ryan Ward (1-1) starting Saturday. After the Cougars’ loss to the Sun Devils on April 2, Lees said Hamilton is the only guaranteed starter the team has.

Ward began his season coming out of the bullpen and has since made the transition to starter over the past three weeks. His last outing, a 10-1 loss to ASU, the freshman lasted only three innings and allowed two runs and three hits, while walking three.

The Wildcats will start senior right-hander Nathan Bannister (3-1) on Friday and junior left-hander JC Cloney (3-1) on Saturday. Arizona Head Coach Jay Johnson left his Sunday starter slot open.

Bannister has held opponents to a .225 average while Cloney is slightly higher at .251. Neither pitcher has allowed more than 10 walks while combining to strike out 65.

The first two games on Friday and Saturday start at 6 p.m. with the series finale slated for first pitch at 1 p.m. Live stats will be provided at WSUCougars.com and Twitter @Cougbaseball.

Reporting by Lars Hanson