Los Angeles - Thursday morning was Pac-10 men's basketball media day in Southern California. All ten head coaches were on hand to give an overview of their team, the conference and the year ahead.

Had a chance to sit down with the new men's basketball coach at Washington State, Ken Bone. From a personality standpoint, there are some striking similarities to the man he replaced, Tony Bennett. Bennett left WSU to take over the basketball program at Virginia.

Coach Bone, his wife and three daughters are settling in comfortably in Pullman and adjusting to life in a small town. Previous coaching positions at Portland State, University of Washington and Seattle Pacific located the Bone family in metropolitan areas. You can call Pullman a lot of things, but metropolitan isn't one of them.

"...Pullman is just an extremely intimate town. There’s not quite as many distractions for the kids, or concerts going on or different things they might have done in Portland so I find them at home more often which is great. We hang out as a family. We have dinner together more often. We just have been doing more as a family together. They still have their friends. They still have a life. They just don’t have as much of a life. They have more of a life with my wife and I now... It’s worked out well. The biggest transition is the fact that there’s no Nordstom’s (in Pullman). That’s a big deal to those girls." - WSU Coach Ken Bone

Coach Bone has hit the recruiting trails looking for players for a small school (Seattle Pacific), a large school (UW) and one that falls somewhere in between (Portland State). Now that he's head coach for a Pac-10 school, things are different for him in terms of the recruiting process.

"It is (different). We have a Pac-10 label now instead of a Big Sky label. You’re able to communicate with kids and coaches maybe didn’t give you the time of day. So you can get in some other doors now. That doesn’t mean we can land those kids. We get a chance to talk with them. But to able to get those kids to sign on the dotted line, it’s pretty competitive." - Coach Bone

Changing the subject to the coaching staff was like asking a proud father to talk about his family. Coach Bone clearly is enthusiastic about his assistants as men of character and their knowledge of coaching.

"I love our staff. I was able to bring Curtis Allen with me who played at the University of Washington when I was coaching there as an assistant. Curt was with me all four years at Portland State. Then there’s Jeff Hironaka who was with me at Seattle Pacific for 11 years, from 1991 to 2002. Then he took over as the head coach for the last seven years and did a great job. We were able to retain Ben Johnson. Ben is just extremely valuable. He was on staff with the Bennetts. Played with Tony (Bennett) in high school and college. He played for Dick (Bennett). He has a feel for the culture at Washington State. Not just the players, but how everything works. He’s been so valuable to our staff." - Coach Bone

One of the biggest surprises for Coach Bone about his team is the attitude and aptitude of the players.

"I find them extremely coachable. Not that I haven’t coached guys in the past that were coachable. Every time I look at these guys, their eyes are right on me. They’re like sponges. They want to learn. They’re young and eager to see if we can’t put this together and be a solid ball club. I’m excited about that. (The Bennetts) did a good job of recruiting high caliber kids. Good character kids. I’m very pleased with the kids in the program and can’t wait until they get older." - Coach Bone

Washington State is going to have a new look team this coming season with the graduation of some very familiar players in Taylor Rochestie, Aron Baynes, Caleb Forrest and Daven Harmeling. They leave some big shoes, basketball-size shoes, to fill having left their mark on Cougar basketball over the past four years.

There will still be some faces who are familiar. Klay Thompson started every game last season, while both DeAngelo Casto and Marcus Capers saw significant playing time. One of the new members of the team might just remind Cougar fans of a player from just a few years back.

"The other guy I’d mention would be Reggie Moore. I think Reggie’s pretty good. A guard that’s a freshman. He’s a prep school freshman. Moore might remind Cougar fans of Marcus Moore. He’s not as tall but he’s got a scoring mentality. He can really shoot it. But he’s not just a shooter, he’s a scorer. He can score in a variety of ways." - Coach Bone

Not only will there be new faces playing for WSU this year, there might be a new look to the Cougar offense as well. Coach Bone tends to run an offense that is up tempo when compared to the deliberate style favored by his predecessors Dick Bennett and Tony Bennett. But when I asked him what the reaction was to his preference to run more on offense, my expectation was hearing just how much the players like his philosophy of playing up tempo ball.

"(The players) like it a little too much. They don’t realize that there was great success there playing very conservative, slow style of game. We do want to speed it up, but not to the point where we’re just running and gunning. That’s not the point. It’s to try and advance the ball and see if there’s an opportunity in transition. If not, we want to run a half court game just like the Bennetts did." - Coach Bone

Coach Bone had an early flight back north to continue leading valuable practice time for his very young squad of student/athletes. Though it's early and this Cougar team is just beginning to take form, I wondered about the coach's impression of team chemistry.

"I think the team chemistry is good. The guys seem to get along really well. But it will be different when games start, when there’s even more adversity. I’m anxious to see if we can keep that team chemistry of what we’ve been able to create so far come game time." -Coach Bone

Fortunately, Washington State doesn't have to dive right into Pac-10 competition. Their non-conference schedule is certainly easier going than when conference play begins. Will it be easier for the Cougs to get some wins under their belt over the first month of their schedule?

"It should be. But if you have some hiccups in there, then you have a monster. We need to be able to take care of business." - Coach Bone

No question Coach Bone is intent on preparing his team to be ready for another great season of Cougar basketball. As he said, "We need to be able to take care of business." 

Originally published in Lew Wright's column on Examiner.com

Read more College Baseball news on BleacherReport.com

Sunday afternoon, WSU faced Oklahoma for the right to play Arkansas that evening.

Win and you get to play a double-header trying to advance toward the College World Series in Omaha.

Lose and your college baseball season is over.

Coach Donnie Marbut confidently went with his third starter, redshirt freshman David Stilley.

Aside from one pitch Stilley would like to have back, Coach Marbut placed confidence with the right Coug.

Stilley pitched a terrific ballgame after getting off to a rocky start.

He walked the lead off hitter to begin the game. After a ground ball force play, one of the best hitters on the Sooner ball club stepped into the batter's box.

Bryant Hernandez of Oxnard, CA turned on a Stilley fastball and sent it over the left field fence for a two-run shot.

The Sooners roughed up Stilley for two more singles in the inning before the young man settled into a groove.

WSU returned the favor in the top of the second.

Garrett Richards was a little shaky in the first inning for Oklahoma. The big junior right hander benefited from some anxious Cougar batters. 

Greg Lagreid wasn't going to make that mistake and drew a walk to begin the second.

With Lagreid on first, Michael Weber stepped into the batter's box and showed some patience as well. On a 2-2 count, Weber was sitting on a fast ball.

Richards left one out over the plate and Weber launched it deep over the right field wall.

It looked as though this game might be a high scoring affair...Anyone with those thoughts early on would have been thinking wrong.

Richards was spectacular on the mound.

He went the distance, pitching the first complete game of his career for the win. Along the way, Richards had the Cougs completely off balance with a dandy curve complimented by a good fastball.

The young man has had control issues much of the season, but not today when the stakes were high.

In a loser-goes-home game, Richards struck out 10 WSU hitters while giving up just one walk. The temperature in Norman, Okla. might have been in the 90's, but the junior from Edmond, Okla., was cool and calm on the pitching mound.

Stilley gave his WSU teammates six strong innings of pitching. It appeared that he tired in the bottom of the seventh after giving up a solid lead off single and hitting the next batter.

Coach Marbut went with the same setup combination out of the bullpen he used yesterday.

The first man on in relief was Connor Lambert. 

Lambert wasn't able to shut down the Oklahoma rally, yielding a pair of singles sandwiched around a strikeout. The second single drove in the go ahead run and brought the Sooner fans to life.

This game was on the brink of being broken open by the Sooners standing on all three bases in their home ball park. Coach Marbut opted to bring in the lanky freshman Adam Conley to secure the final two outs to keep it a one-run game.

Power hitting Aaron Baker stepped up and crushed Conley's first pitch for a monster grand slam home run to expand the Oklahoma lead to 7-2.

Seth Harvey was summoned to the mound to extinguish the Sooner rally. He did just that, but not before plunking the first batter he faced. Emotions were running high for both teams and things were testy for a couple of minutes. Harvey went back to work and restored order for WSU recording the final two outs of the inning rather quickly.

He went on to completely overpower Oklahoma batters in the eighth, striking out the side.

The Cougs have come back from large deficits over the past month leaving room for belief that they would do just that.

Even though the bottom of the seventh took over about a half hour to play, Richards didn't lose any of his stuff waiting on the bench while his team scored five runs. Richards would work the eighth and ninth innings looking fresh and in complete command.

Close game, but one that Oklahoma earned a victory in with a late inning rally.

This has been such a great year for Cougar baseball it's hard to believe it's over. 

The season is over, but Washington State baseball isn't done yet.

"Oklahoma is the best offensive team one-through-nine in the country," Coach Donnie Marbut said after the Cougs were eliminated from the NCAA tournament.

"I am proud of the way our guys battled, not only today, but all season long. I promise you this (the postseason) will not be a one-time thing for us."

The pride expressed by Coach Marbut is shared by all of Cougar Nation.

Originally published on Examiner.com

The Shockers were shocked.

It wasn't that No. 3 seed Washington State downed the No. 4 seed, Wichita State, it was the way they went about putting runs on the scoreboard.

With one out in the bottom of the sixth, Jay Ponciano drew a walk—hardly electrifying stuff.

Wichita State starter Jordan Cooper was on his game and had Cougar batters on their heels all game. Cooper might have been a little too careful with Ponciano, but didn't appear worried.

The next batter for the Cougs was freshman Derek Jones, who had been hitless in the NCAA regional (0-for-6) and had struck out swinging in his first at-bats against Cooper.

The Wichita State dugout calmly watched Cooper get set to mow down another Cougar batter.

But what happened next was electrifying.

Cooper left a fastball out over the plate and Jones hit it nearly all the way to Kansas to give the Cougars a 2-1 lead. The question wasn't whether his blast would leave the ballpark, but how far did it go?

Then came the real shocker.

On Cooper's very next pitch, Jared Prince jolted another fastball that was left over the plate. There was no doubt that the ball launched by Prince was out from the very instant it left his bat.

Prince proudly circled the bases to record his seventh homer of the season and plate the Cougs third run to put them up by two.

A fair description of the Cougars offense would be "punch and Judy." In other words, they win games with timely hits.

Usually those knocks stay inside the ballpark. You just don't expect to see back-to-back home runs by Washington State—not this season anyway.

While Cooper had been shutting down the Cougs up to that point, Chad Arnold was pitching a gem of his own. Arnold had given up one unearned run while keeping the Shockers off balance with his curve ball.

How did Arnold react to seeing his team take the lead in the bottom of the sixth?

All he did was strike out the side in the top of the 7th for a career best 9 strikeouts in the game. Arnold would fan one more Wichita State batter before leaving the game in the top of the 8th.

Coach Donnie Marbut went to his bullpen counting on finding order restored following the fiasco of the eighth inning in Friday's game.

That was history to be forgotten.

It was just yesterday that the Cougs couldn't hold on to a 3-1 lead in the NCAA opener.

"Baseball is a funny game," Coach Marbut said. "Yesterday, we had nine hits, struck out once, and lost. Today, we got three hits, punched out 10 times, and won. Our strength has been our pitching all year and today Chad Arnold pitched his best game as a Cougar."

Saturday Coach Marbut expected his relief pitchers to preserve a 3-2 lead.

Would the Cougs closer Jeremy Johnson shake off the disaster that was the eighth inning of Friday's game?

Johnson took the ball in the top of the ninth and did his job.

The Cougars overcame an outstanding pitching performance by Cooper to extend their season, and although Washington State needs three more wins to advance out of the Norman, Oklahoma regional, they will continue to do what they do best.

Play Cougar baseball.

Playing one game at a time, this team has now discovered what it takes to win in the post-season against excellent competition.

WSU looked as though they would win their opening game over No. 2 seed Arkansas Friday afternoon in College World Series action.

Then Arkansas scored nine runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to send the Cougs to defeat 10-3.

Early on it appeared that senior Matt Way pitched WSU into complete control of the game.

Arkansas scratched out a run in the bottom of the first after Way plunked leadoff hitter Chase Leavitt on a 2-2 pitch. Leavitt came around to score on the only hard hit ball off Way, a drive to deep left-center by Andy Wilkins that brought across the first run of the game.

Matt Way settled into a groove that was impressive. He gave up just three hits in six innings while striking out 10 Razorback hitters.

In the top of the third, WSU scored two runs on four consecutive hits to take a 2-1 lead. 

Cougar pitching has been outstanding this season and with their ace Matt Way mowing down Hog hitters, the insurance run they scored in the top of the seventh looked good enough for a victory.

Coach Donnie Marbut lifted Way after throwing 100+ pitches in six complete innings on a very hot and humid late afternoon in Norman, Okla.

Adam Conley came out of the bullpen to pitch a flawless seventh inning.

As good as Matt Way pitched, Arkansas ace Dallas Keuchel was almost as good. By holding WSU to just three runs over seven innings, Keuchel did his job by keeping the Hogs close. Usually holding an opponent to three runs translates into an Arkansas win.

The Cougs had their chances to expand their lead time and again, but crisp fielding by Arkansas snuffed out several WSU scoring opportunities. Without some great defensive play, the Hogs would have been knocked out by the pesky contact hitters of Washington State.

When Coach Marbut brought in his closer Jeremy Johnson after Conley gave up a lead off double to Ben Tschepikow, it was the team wearing jerseys with "Cougars" across the chest who looked confident.

This game was destined to be out of the ordinary. The momentum WSU worked so hard to establish and maintain throughout this game appeared firmly with them.

Then it was gone.

This game turned on one throw and it wasn't by a Cougar pitcher.

Johnson came into the game throwing breaking balls over the plate. Unfortunately Razorback hitters feast on fastballs and drilled those BB's for a couple of hits.

With two out and a runner on second, Zack Cox drilled a hot shot ground ball toward the hole on the left side of the infield. Shea Vucinich raced to his right, snagged the ball and promptly threw it away. Not only did the error extend the inning, the Hogs took a 4-3 lead on the misplay.

Just like that, the Cougs were the team looking shaken and it was the Razorback players filled with confidence.

Before the Arkansas fans would settle down, nine runs crossed the plate. The only thing missing between innings was Dandy Don Meredith singing his famous rendition of "Turn out the lights".

"We played great baseball for all put one inning," Coach Marbut said. "Matt Way gave us every chance to win and we did not cash in on some of our opportunities." 

Washington State got its first taste of postseason play in two decades. The taste was bittersweet.

Nothing will wash away the bad taste in the Cougars mouths better than a win tomorrow.

Coach Marbut and his staff will help players move on to the game tomorrow and prepare them to go out and do what they do best.

Cougar baseball will be back in action tomorrow banging out hits, stealing bases, squeezing in runs and pitching strong baseball.

One game won't reverse the course Washington State has charted.

Chad Arnold will take the mound for the Cougs tomorrow in Norman at 11 AM PT. That we know. Who Arnold will face won't be known until after the game between Oklahoma and Wichita State is completed later tonight.

We also know... Cougar baseball is back.

Originally published on Examiner.com

The time for celebration has passed.

Coach Donnie Marbut and the Washington State Cougar baseball club know where they are going and what they plan to do when they get there.

From the very beginning of the recruiting process by Coach Marbut and his staff with high school prospects, it's clear what the Cougar baseball program targets.

The target?

Marching to a Division I baseball national championship is the journey present and future Cougs are focused on.

This season, the WSU baseball team (31-23)  is taking a significant step closer to their target.

There are no easy teams to play in the NCAA tournament. Not even close.

The NCAA selection committee invites 64 of the best baseball clubs in the nation.

Washington State is one of the 64 best teams in the nation this season. That's why they will travel to Norman, Okla. later this week to play Arkansas on Friday.

With the regular season behind them, there are three significant reasons the Cougs will prove to be a very dangerous opponent on the Road to Omaha and the 2009 College World Series.

First: WSU drew a regional pairing that has them facing teams they know about from game experience rather than scouting reports.

As invitations go, the one given to WSU presents a great opportunity.

The Cougs began this season with a three-game series against the Razorbacks in Fayetteville. Arkansas swept all three games.

The following week WSU hosted Oklahoma in Pullman for a four games series. They split the four games with the Sooners.

To complete the trifecta, the Cougs played Wichita State once last season on the road in Wichita. The Shockers won that game 6-4.

Coach Marbut points out facing Arkansas, Oklahoma or Wichita State again, the "...positive is that we are familiar with (those) club(s)." 

There's good reason for Coach Marbut to be optimistic about the opening round.

During the Tuesday morning press conference he said, "We're going somewhere we've been. It won't be unfamiliar to these guys." Coach Marbut was referring to the trip to Norman and the teams the Cougs will face.

No question that all the coaches will strive to have the team mentally prepared to enter the game Friday focused on doing what the Cougs do best. That is a unique challenge for WSU because they haven't been to an NCAA regional in a long, long time.

Second: WSU will be a tough for any opponent because of their pitching.

Matt Way is the ace of the Cougar staff. As Coach Marbut puts it, "He's got Friday night stuff." Translated, that means in a three-game series Way has a tremendous record of getting his team off to a great start. Winning the first game of a series sets up the next two.

"I can't say enough about him.  He's really grown up as a pitcher. Obviously his stuff has gotten better. He's developed more of a breaking ball, always had the great change up and he's got better fastball command. He's got great confidence. Then he's just unselfish and wants to do what he can for the team to win...at times this year he put them (the team) on his shoulders." - Coach Marbut talking about senior LHP Matt Way

Sophomore Chad Arnold has been a steady force on the mound as the second starter for the Cougs. Arnold was 6-2 in conference play with a 4.26 ERA and stuck out 45 batters in 50 1/3 innings pitched.

The other pitcher of note is closer Jeremy Johnson, a junior. Johnson has been outstanding all season for Washington State with a 2.83 ERA and 9 saves. He has notched 61 K's in 57 1/3 innings.

Third: The Cougs will do well this post-season because they have developed the knack for doing what it takes to win. 

Early this season, WSU was 5-11 and losing a lot of close games they could have won. That's what separates good teams from the rest.

You have to find a way to win close ball games. And WSU did just that, going 26-12 the rest of their regular season schedule.

"We started Pac-10 play and had a great start out of Matty on Friday night...scored a bunch of runs, then our pen kind of gave it up. We ended up winning... that tight game. We're never happy about giving up a big lead. But it was nice that we did and still won that tight game. So I think it gave our kids some confidence that they were going to win those tight games." - Coach Marbut on the turning point for his team this season

As with all of college sports, the reason the games are played is that you are never certain how things will turn out. 

With this Washington State baseball team, you'll have a tough time getting any of the players to hesitate about the outcome of a game they're playing in. Every time they take the field, it's to play winning baseball.

They believe in themselves. 

They have confidence.

They are the reason Cougar baseball is back.

Orignally published on Examiner.com

To see the complete 2009 NCAA College World Series brackets, click here

The Pac-10 officially announced WSU senior outfielder Jared Prince has been named Player of the Week for his outstanding performance last week. 

Prince led Washington State to a 4-2 record last week, including a 2-1 series victory on the road at Oregon State. By taking the series from the Beavers, WSU is a lock to make it into the NCAA regionals.

The Poulsbo, Wash., native hit .478 (11-for-23) with a home run, two doubles and 10 RBI for the Cougs over the span of the six games played.

He began the week 3-for-4 with three RBI in WSU’s 10-2 win to complete the series sweep in Pullman of Oregon on May 11.

Stepping out of conference against Portland on May 12, Prince ripped his fifth home run of the season and collected three RBI in the 10-5 Cougar win.

He ended the week going 6-for-10 with four RBI in the three-game series with the Beavers. The young man was a perfect 4-for-4 with two doubles and three, two-out RBI in a 7-6 win on May 15 and posted two hits and another RBI in a 7-6 WSU victory on May 17.

For the week, this student/athlete posted a .696 slugging percentage and a .556 on-base percentage.

Following the selection of freshman Derek Jones in the last week of March, Prince is the second Coug to be honored by the Pac-10 this season.

Prince has been a fixture in the WSU outfield since his freshman year when he started 58 games. Twelve of those games were as a flame-throwing right handed pitcher. On offense, he hit an astounding .407. Jared compiled a fine record pitching, going 6-2 with a 4.53 ERA. Naturally he was selected to the first team All Pac-10 as well as a third team All-American. Prince played for USA Baseball that summer.

Statistically, Prince suffered a sophomore slump finishing the season batting .277 and was only sent to the mound as a starter one time. However, he was honorable mention Pac-10 All-Academic as a social sciences major.

Last season Jared was more like himself batting a solid .306 and going 2-2 in his ten starts on the mound.

A key part of the first Cougar baseball team in two decades to be heading to the NCAA regionals, Prince is playing great baseball again this year. Jared is batting .400 in Pac-10 play. In the eight games he's been tapped as a starting pitcher, things haven't gone well. He's 1-4 with a 6.05 ERA which prompted Coach Donnie Marbut to recently announce that Prince won't be taking the mound again for the Cougs as they march into post-season play.

No doubt that's OK with Prince as he's all about doing his best to help Washington State continue winning baseball games.

And last week Jared Prince's best was impressive.

Cougar Football

As the month of May winds down, days spent on the recruiting trails for Washington State football assistant coaches near an end. They have been following a schedule that could only be met by a person who is passionate about what they do.

Traveling to visit an average of eight high school programs a day is one thing. But depending on fast food to fuel their fire is something else. Then there's the joy of sleeping in a motel along the way. And don't forget the nightly requirement of compiling useful notes on the activities of the day.

The life of a college football coach.

Work put in now will determine the level of success for WSU football in the future. From the sounds of reports coming in, the future is bright.

On the topic of the future, Cory Mackay continues his challenge to completely recover from a serious spinal injury. You are encouraged to take a moment to drop him a word of support. Just click on the link below to send Cory an email to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.

Email Cory Mackay

Continue to keep the entire Mackay family in your thoughts and prayers.

Originally published on Examiner.com

The Washington State Cougars (28-22, 16-8) mounted the type of comeback you'd expect from a good team.

Good teams always find a way to win, which is a fine way to describe the weekend series between the Cougs and Oregon State (31-16, 13-11).

After taking the opening game of the three-game series with OSU in Corvallis, WSU pitching had a let down on Saturday giving the Beavs an opportunity to square the series at one game a piece. Oregon State pounded out 10 hits which plated eight runs while Beaver pitching limited WSU to just two runs. That was the final late Saturday afternoon 8-2.

Coach Donnie Marbut would know just how far this team has come in terms of maturity in the rubber game of the series.

Oregon State has been in and out of the national rankings this season. They are loaded with a talented lineup that can pound out hits the way The Beatles used to.

Winning on the road in the Pac-10 is no easy task. A look at the Cougs record at Bailey-Brayton Field verifies that assertion. Washington State is just flat out tough to beat in Pullman.

When Washington State fell behind to OSU Sunday afternoon, Coach Marbut had to be concerned about how his players would react. It wasn't that they were behind 4-0 at the end of three innings, the Cougs offense seemed to be completely dominated for the second consecutive day. This time around strong pitching by Beaver starter Jorge Reyes was getting the job done.

Nine up and nine down. That's a concise summary of the WSU batters. Reyes was in total command of his pitches, striking out three of those first nine WSU players who were supposed to be armed with bats.

Before Marbut could reach for a bottle of Maalox, the Cougs figured out Reyes and touched him up for three runs in the top of the fourth. The key to the rally was a steal of second by Jay Ponciano. Garry Kuykendall led off the inning with a solid single up to center, the Cougs first batter to reach base safely. Kuykendall later scored on a sacrifice fly by Derek Jones, Ponciano holding at first base.  No question that when Ponciano stole second, Reyes was rattled enough to leave a 1-2 pitch over the plate for Greg Lagreid to drive the ball to deep left for a double.

It's one thing to be confident. Quite another to back up swagger.

The Cougs had their swagger on display and Oregon State was knocked off balance.

Jared Prince came through with another clutch two-out hit, smacking the first pitch offered up by Reyes to drive in Lagreid, closing the score to 4-3.

Oregon State came back with what they may have thought was an insurance run in the bottom of the fourth. If that thought crossed the minds of the Beavs, their policy would soon lapse.

Reyes managed to regain his composure in the fifth before coming apart in the sixth. He was lifted after WSU loaded the bases with the help of a Beaver error and a base-on-balls by Reyes.

The Oregon State bullpen intimidated Cougar hitters the way a school of mackerel might strike fear in the heart of a school of barracuda. Let's put it another way. The Beaver bullpen effectiveness can be summed up in one word. Not.

Washington State would go on the plate three more runs to take the lead 6-5, a lead they would not surrender.

Jeremy Johnson was the fourth reliever out of the bullpen for Coach Marbut. He made one bad pitch that was sent out of the park to tie the game. That was the only flaw in his solid performance. Johnson simply squared up his cap and settled down to business.

Johnson's business?

Closer.

The Cougs supported Johnson's efforts by scratching out the go ahead run in the top of the ninth. Oregon State was set down in order one-two-three to lock down the series and second place in the Pac-10.

Coach Marbut had praise for his team after the win:

"Our guys earned this victory and they deserved it," Coach Marbut said. "This was as a good of win as I have been a part of in Pullman. Our guys refused to lose from 1-to-25 (on the active roster)."

Both first and second place in the Pac-10 looks to be a done deal. The juggernaut known as Arizona State (41-11, 19-5) holds a three game advantage over WSU with four conference games left. They travel to Tucson for a mid-week game with rival Arizona (26-24, 9-14) before hosting the UCLA Bruins (26-26, 14-10) for their final three games of the regular season.

Washington State has a two game margin over third place UCLA.

For folks in the Spokane area, you can head over to Gonzaga Tuesday evening to take in Cougar baseball playing the Bulldogs.

The fourth place Huskies (25-26, 13-10) will travel to Pullman this weekend. Washington has been playing excellent ball of late and hold out hope for an invitation to the NCAA regional. Sweeping the Cougs might just be what it takes. 

When the Huskies and Cougars meet on the field of play, the last thing either team is thinking about is what a victory would mean for the other team's season.

Whatever the sport, these two schools fight each other like, well, cats and dogs.

This Washington State baseball team has come into their own at just the right time. They know how to win and how to find ways to earn victory.

Coach Marbut has his players focused on playing their best baseball.

Cougar baseball.

It's back.

Originally published on Examiner.com