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Any hope for the WSU baseball team making it to the Pac-12 Tournament was dimmed dramatically Friday night at Jackie Robinson Field as the Bruins (31-18, 15-10 Pac-12) took the first game of a three-game series from the Cougs (23-24, 9-16 Pac-12) by a final of 4-0. Wazzu bats were completely silenced by UCLA starter Max Rajcic who gave up just one hit in eight innings of work, striking out 14 WSU batters along the way. Rajcic was the very definition of a Friday Night Guy. He counterpart, Cole McMillan wasn't too shabby either. McMillan got off to a shaky start in the first inning by surrendering the only four runs the Bruins would post on the scoreboard. But without some offensive support, McMillan was tagged for the loss.
For WSU to make the conference tournament, they now have to win just about every game left on the schedule to move up in the ranking enough to qualify. Only the top eight teams are invited. They are two games behind Cal, who is playing a series with New Mexico and won their opener last night. Wazzu would have to win the next two games with No. 15 UCLA to catch the Bears in conference wins. Anything is possible, but it doesn't look good for the crimson and gray.
WSU and UCLA will match up for game two Saturday night with the first pitch scheduled to be thrown at 2pm. The game will be televised on the Pac-12 Los Angeles channel.
https://wsucougars.com/news/2022/5/13/baseball-cougars-drop-pitchers-duel-to-no-15-ucla.aspx -
Wazzu football has been busy this past week by adding two transfers to the roster. Cornerback Cam Lampkin played his first two years of collegiate ball for Utah State. He started 19 games for the Aggies, including 13 last season finishing with 43 tackles and a team-high tying six pass breakups. Some Cougar fans might remember him being a part of the Utah State defensive that traveled to Pullman last season and upset Washington State. The other transfer will be lining up on the offensive side of the ball at inside receiver. Rob Ferrel is a well-traveled college player. WSU will be his fifth school in six seasons of play. Last year Ferrel played for Incarnate Word. Yes, that Incarnate Word. The school Eric Morris was the head coach for and Cam Ward played quarterback. If you go to the trouble to find highlight video of Ward from last season, most of the passes he completes are to Rob Ferrel. Last season, he caught 74 passes for 815 yards and nine touchdowns. He had a pair of games with 10-plus receptions.
Go Cougs!!!
- It seems fitting to put together a list of coaches who branch off of the Mike Leach coaching tree. Perspective on his football genius can easily be determined by a cursory glance:
Dave Aranda/Baylor head coach – Graduate assistant coach under Leach from 2000-02 at Texas Tech
Neal Brown/West Virginia head coach – Played under Leach in 1998 when Leach was offensive coordinator at Kentucky
Sonny Cumbie/Louisiana Tech head coach – Played under Leach at Texas Tech from 2000-03 and later served as a graduate assistant coach under Leach
Sonny Dykes/TCU head coach – Coached wide receivers and later was the co-offensive coordinator at Texas Tech under Leach from 2000-06
Josh Heupel/Tennessee head coach – Played under Leach at Oklahoma in 1999 when Leach was the offensive coordinator for the Sooners
Dana Holgorsen/Houston head coach – Coached alongside Leach as assistants at Valdosta State from 1993-95, then served as a wide receivers coach and offensive coordinator under Leach from ...
- The news of former WSU Coach Mike Leach passing at the young age of 61 is very, very sad. I had the pleasure of writing about the Cougs when Leach was at the helm. To say that he was a unique person doesn't begin to describe the multi-faceted dimension of the man.
In terms of coaching football, Leach led his teams in a way that had most other coaches scratching their heads. His offensive creativity gave a multitude of defensive coordinators ulcers. To say that his techniques for molding student-athletes into football players were unusual would be accurate. Making guys run sprints in a sand pit named "Leach Beach" is a prime example. Crazy as that sounds, his players had fewer ankle injuries over the course of the season than any team in football. Only Mike Leach could get players to hit the beach. And if you look at the coaching tree that branches out from Leach, you'd find a myriad of men who owe him for their start in the profession.
When you examine the way Leach represented the schools ...
- Close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades, so Wazzu's loss yesterday to UNLV by a score of 74-70 was just that, a loss. However, there were plenty of reasons to applaud both the performance and the progress the Cougs are making over the past few games. Let's get the bad observation out of the way. WSU turned the ball over a ridiculous 22 times. No one is going to beat many teams with such wreckless play, especially against a team that posted a 9-0 record going into the contest. Some of those errors might be attributed to Coach Kyle Smith going with a different lineup almost every game because of player injuries. Facts are facts and when there isn't a steady lineup, players struggle to play team ball. On the bright side, Wazzu shot a respectable 54.2% from the field, coupled with a very nice 56.5% from behind the arc. On defense, WSU held UNLV to just 30.4% from behind the arc and 50.9% overall. The Cougs outrebounded the Rebels by a margin of 33-20. Despite being down by ...
