Washington State releases 2010 Schedule

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FROM CBB NEWS SOURCE

PULLMAN, Wash. – The Washington State University baseball team is scheduled to play 22 games in 2010 against teams that participated in the NCAA Division I Baseball Championship last season, Cougar Head Coach Donnie Marbut announced, Thursday.

Of the 22 games, 16 will take place in nonconference and a dozen will be played at Bailey-Brayton Field. The Cougars will play Bethune-Cookman in Lubbock, Texas (Feb. 26-27), host Utah for four games (March 5-7), play three games at Texas A&M (March 12-14), travel to Wichita State for three games (March 19-21), host Gonzaga (March 23 and April 14), play at the Bulldogs (March 30 and May 18) and host three-game Pac-10 series against Arizona State (April 9-11) and Oregon State (April 23-25).

"It should be another difficult and challenging schedule for the Cougs," Marbut said. "Our first road trip to a hostile environment like Lubbock, Texas should test us and coming home to face a quality regional opponent in Utah will further strengthen us early in the season."

WSU opens the season at home with a two-game series against Seattle (Feb. 20-21). In addition to Bethune-Cookman, the Cougars will play two games at Texas Tech (Feb. 27-28) before returning home for the series against Utah. An eight-game road trip is up next with two games at Dallas Baptist (March 16-17) sandwiched between the meetings with Texas A&M and Wichita State.

"I think our spring break trip will be as tough of an eight-game stretch you can possibly play on the road," Marbut said. "We play two of the top programs in the country with great fans and facilities and one of the better mid-major programs in Dallas Baptist."

After their first meeting with Gonzaga, the Cougars host Cal State Bakersfield for four games (March 26-28). WSU plays its next six on the road starting with the first bus trip to Gonzaga, three at Washington (April 1-3) to open Pac-10 play and two at BYU (April 5-6). After the series against Arizona State, WSU plays Seattle in Wenatchee (April 13), and travels to Arizona for three games against the Wildcats (April 16-18) following the final meeting with Gonzaga in Pullman.

WSU plays three games at Oregon (April 30-May 2) after Oregon State leaves Pullman, then hosts California (May 8-10) and plays at Stanford (May 14-16) in three-game series. After battling Gonzaga for the final time, the Cougars finish the season with three games at home against USC (May 21-23) and three games on the road against UCLA (May 28-30).

"I expect the Pac-10 to be extremely competitive this year," Marbut said. "I know many people thought the Pac-10 was down last year. That will not be the case this year."

2010 FULL SCHEDULE