BASEBALL
Cougars Fall to California
From
WSU Sports Info
BERKELEY, Calif. (April 6, 2019) – Washington State dropped
a 6-1 decision to California Saturday night.
Tyson Guerrero recorded a pair of hits and Dillon Plew
homered for the Cougars. Cal used four home runs to claim the second straight
game.
In the first inning, Plew gave the Cougars a 1-0 lead after
hammering a 3-1 pitch over the right field fence to lead off the game, WSU’s
first leadoff homer since Brett Jacobs did so against Dallas Baptist in 2011.
In the third, Cal pushed two runs on the board with a solo
homer to left and followed a double with a two-out single for a 2-1 advantage.
In the fifth, Guerrero led off the inning with a double to
leftcenterfield but was stranded at third after a couple groundouts. In the
bottom of the inning, Cal took advantage of a Cougar error and hit a pair of
homers to take a 5-1 lead and added another solo homer in the sixth for a 6-1
advantage.
In the eighth, the Cougars put runners on the corners after
a Tyson Guerrero and a couple fielder’s choice ground balls but both runners
were stranded after Rob Teel flew out to the warning track in right field.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
Tyson Guerrero recorded his 1st career 2-hit game
NEXT UP
The series wraps up Sunday at 1:05 p.m. on the Pac-12
Networks.
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TRACK & FIELD COUGS: Pace, Jacobson, Eager and Brown
lead the way for WSU
From WSU Sports Info
SEATTLE – The Washington State University Track and Field
program picked up a total of 10 victories at the WSU vs. UW Dual, anchored by
Brock Eager, Chrisshnay Brown, and Suzy Pace.
The WSU women picked up a number of wins at he dual,
anchored by thrower Chrisshnay Brown in the shot put event with a mark of
47-feet 6 1/2 inches (14.49m). Suzy Pace turned in an impressive performance in
the high jump with a mark of 5-feet 3 3/4 inches (1.62m). Regyn Gaffney ran
away in the 100-meter dash with a time of 11.88 seconds, and Charisma Taylor
took home first place overall in the triple jump at 39-feet 4 1/2 inches. Anna
Rodgers rounded out the wins for the WSU women in the long jump with a mark of
19-feet 6-inches (5.94m).
Brock Eager led the way for the Washington State men, with a
victory in the hammer throw at 223-feet 1-inch (68.01m). Mitch Jacobson took
first overall in the high jump with a mark of 6-feet 11-inches (2.11m), and
Paul Ryan won the 1500m event with a time of 3:50.37 overall. WSU showed off
some speed as Emmanuel Wells Jr. won the 100-meter dash with a time of 10.41,
and Sam Brixey won the 110-meter hurdles event with a time of 14.14.
Final team results from the dual saw the Huskies of
Washington women score 108 total points to defeat the Cougars, who totaled 55
overall on the day. The UW men posted 103 points during the meet, while the
Cougar men totaled 60 points overall.
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FORMERLY IN FINAL FOUR CHAMPIONSHIP
Tony Bennett, formerly WSU head men’s basketball coach (who
succeeded his father, Dick Bennett, in the same WSU job) has his U of Virginia
team in the NCAA men’s basketball big school national championship game Monday 4/8/2019
in Minneapolis. Virginia, which beat Auburn here on Saturday, will play Texas
Tech, which beat Michigan State on Saturday. So, it’ll be Tony coaching
Virginia. If UVa wins it’ll be national champs. Among those in the stands at
the same with be Tony’s father, Dick, and mother, Anne. Also there will be
Laurel, Tony’s wife, and Anna and Eli,
Tony and Laurels kids. All those Bennetts, Dick and Anne, Tony, Laurel, Eli and
Anna are former Pullman residents.
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KLAY THOMPSON #1 FOR WSU COUGARS
KXLY-TV/Radio Spokane
PULLMAN, Wash. - Washington State athletic director Pat Chun
announced on Twitter late Friday night that the Cougars will be retiring Klay
Thompson’s number.
Thompson, who has been credited as one of the greatest
shooters in NBA history, currently plays for the Golden State Warriors.
He has a special bond with Washington State, however, having
scored a total of 1,756 points during his WSU career.
Thompson wore No. 1 throughout his time at WSU. Now his
legacy will continue to live on with his jersey in the Beasley rafters.
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WSU MEN BASKETBALL
Klay Thompson will join Steve Puidokas as only other
basketball player to have number retired at Washington State
UPDATED: Sat., April 6, 2019, 6:29 p.m.
By Theo Lawson of Spokane’s S-R
PULLMAN – Eight years later, it’s still the most popular
jersey at Washington State home basketball games and before long, Klay
Thompson’s No. 1 will be hanging in the rafters at Beasley Coliseum.
A banner week for the Cougars’ basketball program started
with the formal announcement of Kyle Smith as the school’s 19th head coach.
Late Friday night, athletic director Pat Chun announced on Twitter WSU will be
retiring Thompson’s number, hinting the school would bring the Golden State
Warriors’ All-Star shooting guard back to Pullman for a game next basketball
season.
Great evening with @KlayThompson and @WSUMensHoops HC Kyle
Smith. Officially told Klay #WSU will retire his jersey #1. We can’t wait to
get him back home to @WSUPullman. Good luck to @warriors with the playoffs.
#GoCougs #NerdBall
Thompson will join former WSU center Steve Puidokas, who
played in Pullman from 1973-77, as the only other Cougar basketball player to
have his number retired. The school retired Puidokas’ No. 55 near the end of
his senior season in Pullman, which means it’s been 42 years since WSU last
feted a basketball player.
In a letter drafted to Thompson, Chun wrote: “This is in
recognition of the extraordinary basketball career you’ve had both during your
time in Pullman and during your professional career. The charitable work you
and your family have done impacting youth in our country and the Bahamas
through education and fitness is admirable. We appreciate all you’ve done for
WSU and how you continue to represent us globally.”
Despite playing only three seasons in Pullman, Thompson is
still third on the school’s career scoring list (1,756 points), in career
scoring average (17.9 points per game) and in career field-goal attempts
(1,414). He’s second in career 3-point field goals (242) and 3-point attempts
(620), and ranks fifth all time in free-throw percentage (.827).
Thompson, who twice earned All-Pac-10 first-team honors at
WSU, still follows the Cougars’ basketball program closely and told The
Spokesman-Review last April, “I see potential in Washington State basketball.
They’ve had great success before, it’s just going to take obviously a lot of
patience. They’ve just got to get the right guys.”
On Monday, Chun said he kept an open line of communication
with Thompson during the search process to bring in the school’s next
basketball coach. In an interview Chun said was unrelated to Smith’s eventual
hire, the Warriors’ sharpshooter gave the new coach a ringing endorsement.
“Kyle at USF is doing a great job, I recommend him for an
interview,” Thompson said, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. “Every
program he’s been at, he’s turned around, and USF was really good this year.
They’ve beat some Pac-10 schools, so he’s be a great candidate.”
“(Klay) has a lot of pride in this program,” Chun said.
A first-round pick of the Warriors in 2011, Thompson has
been selected to five NBA All-Star Games and has won three championships in
seven seasons. He’s also an NBA record-holder for points scored in a single
quarter (37) and 3-pointers made in a single game (14).
Thompson brought the Larry O’Brien Trophy back to Pullman
during a home football game in 2015. He has regularly attended Cougar football
and basketball games against Cal and Stanford in the Bay Area.
In 2017, Thompson admitted he left a Golden State preseason
game early to catch the end of WSU’s road football game against Cal in
Berkeley.
“Yeah, I left a little early to go check out the game,” he
told The S-R.
Asked if Warriors coach Steve Kerr knew, Thompson said, “He
was OK with it. It’s preseason. Like I said, anytime Washington State’s in
town, I try to go watch them play.”
In the same interview, held at the Warriors’ practice
facility in Oakland, California, Thompson reaffirmed his appreciation for WSU
and the time he spent there.
“I’m just very grateful I was a Coug,” he said. “If I was to
do it all over again, I’d still go to Washington State.”
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WSU FOOTBALL
Brandon Arconado puts on a show, but wide receivers
inconsistent in first Washington State scrimmage
UPDATED: Sat., April 6, 2019, 10:45 p.m.
By Theo Lawson Spokane
S-R
PULLMAN – The thud of the football coming off a receiver’s
hands. The crunch of a cornerback flying in to make a play. The collective
whoop of the defensive sideline echoing after every incompletion and pass
breakup.
If you weren’t one of the 10 or so people who braved brutal
rainstorms, 40-degree weather and scattered winds early Saturday afternoon,
those three audible sounds could have given you a pretty good idea of what
happened during Washington State’s first scrimmage of the spring football
season.
With a few exceptions on both sides, the wideouts were
inconsistent and the defensive backs were physical throughout a mock game at
Martin Stadium that lasted nearly two hours and 100 plays.
By most approximations, WSU’s pass-catchers should be among
the best in the Pac-12 this fall, with seven starters returning and more than
300 receptions and 30 touchdowns coming back in 2019. Should they choose to
flip through the various college football preview magazines that will come out
this summer, or put their names into search engines, the receivers will find
plenty of content beefing up their skill and ability.
For now, they still need to show Leach they’re worthy of the
publicity.
“I thought our
receivers were remarkably soft,” Leach said after the scrimmage.
The coach was critical of the group’s toughness, adding, “I
don’t know if some of them think they accomplished something or they achieved
something and think that we need to read their press clippings or something. I
haven’t read any of them, so clearly I’m not informed on how great they think
they are.”
Wet conditions made footballs harder to grip Saturday, but
that wasn’t a team-wide crutch, so Leach didn’t give his wideouts a mulligan.
“They’re going to go
out there and do a little skill-building after every practice,” he said. “You
catch the ball or we’re going to work on it.”
Brandon Arconado was drop-free, catching each of the seven
passes that were thrown to him by Trey Tinsley, John Bledsoe and Cammon Cooper.
The seven receptions for Arconado, a little-used slot receiver in 2018, were a
scrimmage high, as were the redshirt senior’s 121 yards and three touchdowns.
In past years, Arconado, a former walk-on who came to
Pullman by way of sunny Chino Hills, California, might have struggled with the
inclement conditions that Saturday’s scrimmage presented, but the Cougar
receivers go through wet ball drills every Tuesday during the regular season.
“Sometimes you’ve got
to use your body to catch the ball, but we’re in Washington. It rains a lot; we
practice a lot in the rain,” Arconado said.
On the day, the quarterbacks completed 59 percent of their
passes, and a handful of the ones that fell incomplete were DB-inflicted.
Nickel Patrick Nunn had the only interception – and only defensive takeaway –
but a number of his teammates batted down passes or flew in for big collisions
to knock balls loose.
“I did think we
played physical and I thought we played pretty fast,” defensive coordinator Tracy
Claeys said. “… We need to have a few more three-and-outs than what we did a
year ago and get the ball back for our offense a little bit more. So, I was
pleased with that and then I though the red zone, we did an awfully good job of
keeping them from scoring touchdowns.”
The pass rush was effective, producing five touch sacks on
the afternoon. Rush linebacker Dominick Silvels was the leader with two, while
Will Rodgers III, Derrick Langford and Ron Stone Jr. each had one.
“I thought just as a
unit (the defense) played pretty hard,” Leach said. “… They’d get push, not
always sacks, but they’d get push. And it seemed to me the secondary flew
around pretty good.”
Five quarterbacks got opportunities to run the offense.
Redshirt seniors Anthony Gordon (14 for 23, 138 yards, four touchdowns) and
Tinsley (11 for 19, 127 yards, one interception) were awarded the bulk of the
snaps, but Cooper (5 for 11, 85 yards, one TD), Bledsoe (6 for 6, 53 yards, two
TDs) and Gunner Cruz (5 for 10, 53 yards) all got one series apiece.
“Really, I thought
they all moved it to an extent,” Leach said. “It’s a little hard to gauge
because of dropped balls in key situations. You hit a guy in the chest, it’s
going to move the sticks, so I’ll have to look at the film to really gauge
that. I thought they all did a reasonable job behind center and moved the
ball.”
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