Cougar baseball clinches series against No. 8 Oregon

The Washington State baseball team is peaking at the right time. Fresh off a series win at California, the Cougars returned home this week and kept winning. WSU’s series against No. 8 Oregon didn’t get off to a great start, with a 13-0 loss on Friday, but the Cougars won the weekend against No. 8 Oregon with an 11-1 victory on Saturday followed by an 11-6 win on Sunday.

It is WSU’s first series win against Oregon since 2017, and its first series win against a top-10 opponent since 2016.

The Cougars have now won three of their last four series. That hot streak doesn’t have the Cougars in position for the College World Series just yet, but they appear to be creeping closer to being in the mix. In their most recent bracketology on April 28, DRatings.com had no mention of the Cougs, but did list Arizona State as one of the last four in.

As of Sunday, the Sun Devils sit at 25-14 overall and 10-8 in Pac-12 play. The Cougars are now 21-17 overall and 9-12 in conference play. That likely leaves WSU with plenty of work to do, but a series win against the No. 8 team in the country will surely help.

The Cougars have a prime opportunity to improve their resume this week. WSU will host Seattle University for a game on Wednesday, before the UCLA Bruins come to town this weekend. The Bruins are firmly in the tournament according to projections, earning a No. 3 seed in the latest Baseball America projection.

Another series win would keep the Cougs heading in the right direction. A series sweep would essentially bring WSU even with the Bruins. Under that scenario, the Cougs and Bruins would both be 12-12 in Pac-12 play while UCLA would be 25-17 overall and the Cougs would be 24-17.

With a handful of series left in the season, the Cougars still have time to improve their resume, but this weekend would be a very good time to keep adding to it.

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Baseball:

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