You might call it a late bloomer, but the Washington State baseball team has recently proven it can compete.
The Cougars (13-26, 4-8 Pac-10) come to Tempe this weekend in search of their first three-game winning streak of the season. Their task at hand will come with a large tag though, the No. 5 Sun Devils.
Washington State struggled to open its season, losing nine of its first 10 and 18 of its first 23. However, since a loss to California on March 22 dropped them to 5-23, the Cougars are 8-8 in their last 16 games.
One of the key ingredients to their recipe has been junior right-hander Aaron MacKenzie. Switching between the starting role and relief pitching, MacKenzie solidified his position as the No. 3 starter on March 23 when he threw near perfect relief, allowing the Cougars to come from behind and beat the Golden Bears.
In his 4.1 innings out of the pen, MacKenzie allowed just one hit while striking out five in a 5-4 victory. The win was MacKenzie's first of the year.
Since then, MacKenzie has started every Sunday game for the Cougars, picking up his second victory against UC Irvine in an eight-inning performance, and grabbing his third win vs. UA last Sunday with six solid innings of work. MacKenzie also hurled 10 innings an 8-5, 11-inning loss to Stanford, but received a no decision despite allowing just four earned runs.
MacKenzie (3-3) is scheduled to start on Friday against ASU. He will bring his 5.34 ERA and team-leading 48 strikeouts to the pitching slab against the Sun Devils, who lead the Pac-10 in batting average at a .347 clip.
"We have to do the same things we do against any pitcher: see the baseball, hit the baseball," ASU head coach Pat Murphy said of MacKenzie. "He's a good pitcher, but we're not going to do nothing out of the norm; we're not going to change what we've done all year long."
Offensively the Cougars are led by junior left fielder Justin Hart. On the season Hart is batting a robust .370 with two home runs and nine RBI while batting in the leadoff spot. He leads the team with five stolen bases.
Four times this season Washington State has won back-to-back games. In the previous three they failed to pick up their third victory in a row. Friday, they will look to make it a winning streak while ASU attempts to block their path.
"Everybody in the Pac-10 can win; anybody can beat anybody, so we're taking it like it's the biggest game of the year," ASU sophomore shortstop Dustin Pedroia said. "We're going to just try and come out on top each game in the series."
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Reach the reporter at casey.pritchard@asu.edu.
