May 28—PULLMAN — Even after securing a spot in the program’s NCAA Regional in more than a decade and a half, even after capturing the Mountain West Tournament crown, Washington State didn’t exactly arrive back in town to the red carpet.
On Sunday morning, the Cougars piled into a room at their hotel in Mesa, Arizona, where they had just topped San Diego State in the conference tournament title game the day before. Their names were announced on the NCAA Tournament selection show — WSU was headed to the Eugene regional to play Oregon State, met by applause from an armada of crimson polo-clad players on the screen — which represented the next step in head coach Nathan Choate’s resurrection of a once-great program.
But even after all that, WSU faced some travel issues. The team wasn’t able to fly back to Spokane until the next day, Monday, and at night. So they killed time in the hotel, in downtown Tempe, before heading to the Phoenix airport and boarding two flights: One at 9 p.m. and another at 10:30 p.m. That meant the Cougars didn’t arrive back in Pullman until 2 a.m. and 3:30 a.m., respectively.
And even on their way to Eugene, where WSU will square off with national powerhouse Oregon State at noon Friday on ESPN+, the Cougars faced some hurdles. Instead of flying, WSU took busses, which is about a 7-hour drive from Pullman.
“Definitely a long couple days,” Choate said in a phone interview, “but it’s a good exhaustion.”
If there’s good news folded in somewhere for WSU, it’s this: The Cougars were able to get some rest before Friday’s game. They will certainly need it against the Beavers, who join WSU, Yale and host school Oregon in the double-elimination regional bracket.
After WSU and OSU’s tilt, No. 11 seed Oregon and Yale will play the second game of the day. The winners of those games will play Saturday night, while the losers will play in an elimination game earlier Saturday.
“It’s definitely pretty hectic,” Choate said. “I think the guys are really proud, but at the same time, I feel like they feel like the job’s not done. The goal was not just to get to a regional, and so obviously, trying to stay focused, but it has been a pretty hectic week, for sure.”
WSU (30-26, 15-9 MWC) will try to avoid things getting hectic against Oregon State (43-12), which went 1-1 against the Cougars in the regular season. Back in April, the Beavers shellacked the Cougs to the tune of an 18-0 run-rule victory, only for WSU to respond the next day with an 8-7 victory — in Choate’s eyes, a key milestone in the Cougars’ turnaround season.
The Cougars expect to start their ace, lefty Nick Lewis, the Mountain West Pitcher of the Year. The Beavers will likely go with right hander Eric Segura, who has paired a 5-2 record with a 2.31 ERA, including 72 strikeouts against 26 walks in 66 1/3 innings pitched. But it’s also possible OSU gives the nod to lefty Ethan Kleinschmit, who leads the team with nine wins, plus a 3.91 ERA.
In fact, that will be one theme to watch in Friday’s game: Can WSU break through against OSU’s pitching staff? The Beavers are anchored by their pitching, even without star Dax Whitney, who went down with an injury earlier in the season. Their top bullpen arm, closer Albert Roblez, sports a 1.67 ERA with 14 saves. OSU finished the regular season ranked first in the country in ERA, WHIP, FIP, strikeout rate and K-BB%.
That much will be on the Cougars’ top bats: Max Hartman, Gavin Roy, Matt Priest and Ryan Skjonsby, the latter of whom leads the Cougs with eight home runs.
“Offensively for us, the key is to find ways to put pressure on them,” Choate said. “Working an at-bat, getting a walk, laying down a bunt, holding our ground where we get a hit-by-pitch, where we get pitchers out of the stretch. Just try to make them throw a lot of pitches and really try to work counts, and not necessarily just sit back for, like, a 3-run home run. Just trying to grind out and play the old-school game of baseball from an offensive standpoint.”
On the other end, WSU does have the benefit of squaring off with an OSU offense that doesn’t rank among the country’s best. Only one everyday player in the Beavers’ lineup finished the regular season hitting north of .300, indicating they lack the offensive firepower of other national contenders — heck, of previous great OSU teams. It’s especially noteworthy considering that because of their independent schedule, the Beavs have played only one high-major opponent in the last two months, which resulted in a 7-3 loss to Oregon in late April.
Can the Cougars take advantage? They certainly aren’t favored — those honors go to Oregon at -125, according to DraftKings, which has WSU at the worst odds in the regional at +1400 — but maybe that experience can play to the Cougs’ advantage. At least that’s the approach from Choate, the architect behind this memorable WSU season, no matter how the rest of the team’s season unfolds.
“I think perspective is probably the most powerful tool,” Choate said, “and by that I mean, they’re in a spot that nobody thought that they could get to. I think if you take all the people that maybe have doubted you in your career as a player, thought you weren’t good enough, maybe passed you over in recruiting. You have an opportunity to prove those people wrong on a stage like this.”