Huskies Kick Start 2016 In Waco
February 17, 2016 | Baseball
SEATTLE - The Huskies open the 2016 season -- the seventh with Lindsay Meggs as Washington's head coach -- on the road in Waco, Texas against the Baylor Bears. The teams will play a three game series at Baylor Ballpark (capacity 5,000) starting Friday, Feb. 19 through Sunday, Feb. 21.
All three games this weekend will be streamed on BaylorBears.com (premium content) and shown local on Fox Sports Plus. The Voice of The Bears John Morris will call the action, with former Bears' pitcher Pat Combs serving as analyst. UW fans can also follow live on @UW_Baseball twitter and live stats can be found at UW.Statbroadcast.com.
The Huskies are 79-33-1 all-time in 113 previous openers, including 4-2 in six previous season-openers under Meggs.
| WASHINGTON AT BAYLOR | ||||
| FRI, FEB 19 | Baylor Ballpark | 4:30 p.m. PT |
RHP Noah Bremer (6-3, 2.41) vs. |
Fox Sports Plus | Stats |
| SAT, FEB 20 | Baylor Ballpark | 1:00 p.m. PT |
RHP Joe DeMers (0-0, 0.00) vs. |
Fox Sports Plus | Stats |
| SUN, FEB 21 | Baylor Ballpark | 11:00 a.m. PT |
LHP Will Ballowe (0-0, 4.50) vs. |
BaylorBears.com | Stats |
| MORE INFO | ||||
| PDF: Weekly Release | Twitter | Facebook | ||||
SERIES HISTORY VS. BAYLOR AND BIG 12
The Huskies and Bears have never met before. Baylor, TCU, Texas and West Virginia are the four Big 12 teams that Washington has never played. The Huskies are 8-9 overall against the conference, including 1-3 last season in the Pac-12/Big 12 Challenge. Their lone win in 2015 against the conference was versus Kansas State, who the Huskies are 6-1 against all-time. UW's record all-time against other Big 12 schools: 1-1 vs. Texas Tech, 1-4 vs. Oklahoma State, 0-1 vs. Kansas and 0-2 vs. Oklahoma State.
THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT THE HUSKIES
• The Huskies are are comprised of 18 returners and 17 newcomers. The group of newcomers were rated No. 15 overall by Baseball America. With several position changes from returners, the starting defense stands to be entirely different than in last season's opener at Pacific.
• Among the returners, junior Chris Baker started all 54 games last year at shortstop and junior Jack Meggs played in all 54, starting 53 in the outfield. Baker will move to second base this season and Meggs will take over in center field for 2015 third-round MLB Draft pick Braden Bishop. Baker's move is made possible by addition of AJ Graffanino in the lineup, a freshman that was selected in the 26th round of the 2015 MLB Draft by Cleveland.
• Sophomore Noah Bremer was a Louisville Slugger All-American last season on a pitching staff that ranked second in the Pac-12 in ERA (3.01) last season. His brother, Tyler, pitched for Baylor in 2011 and '12. He will be joined in the rotation by California Gatorade Baseball Player of the Year Joe DeMers and senior lefty Will Ballowe.
• Troy Rallings returns for his senior season after bypassing a chance to join the professional ranks (36th round, Oakland A's). Rallings already ranks in the UW top-10 with 66 career appearances and is tied for fifth with 15 saves. He closed out the 2015 season especially hot, not allowing a hit, walk or run over his last 5 games, essentially throwing a perfect game over his final 9 2/3 innings of the season.
• Coach Lindsay Meggs and his assistants compiled one of the best recruiting classes in team history for 2017. They signed 17 players to letters of intent (list on Pg. 6) – 10 of which are from the state of Washington. The class is ranked 19th overall by Perfect Game and includes five players among the nation's top-160 recruits.
QUICK REVIEW OF 2015
• The Huskies went 29-25 overall, 14-16 in Pac-12 play. Of their 16 conference losses, 10 were by one run and three were by two runs.
• The UW pitching staff ranked second in the conference with a 3.02 ERA and the defense tied for the Pac-12 lead with a .977 fielding percentage. The team committed the fewest errors in the conference with 50, three fewer than the next best team (Oregon State, 53) in the Pac-12.
• Four Huskies were selected in the Major League Baseball draft, making it 12 in the last two years and 22 overall during Coach Lindsay Meggs' first six seasons. Austin Rei and Braden Bishop each went in the third round last year, the highest any Huskies have been selected since 2007.
• UW's pitching staff was very right-handed-centric in 2015. Lefties threw just 10 1/3 out of 494 total innings.
PAC-12 PREDICTIONS
According to Baseball America, the Huskies are predicted to finish among the nation's top teams and earn a 2016 NCAA berth. In the Pac-12 pre-season Coaches Poll, the Huskies were picked to finish eighth out of 11 teams. Oregon State was the overwhelming pick to win the conference, garnering nine first-place votes. UCLA and California each received one first-place vote. Here is the complete order of finish predicted by the coaches: 1. Oregon State, 2. UCLA, 3. California, 4. Oregon, 5. USC, 6. Arizona State, 7. Stanford, 8. Washington, 9. Arizona, 10. Washington State and 11. Utah.
HOME SWEET HOME
The Huskies opened brand new 2,400 seat Husky Ballpark on March 24, 2014. The park features permanent seating for the first time, open main-level concourses with views of the field from every vantage and a top floor concourse that houses a press box, radio and TV booths, club seating and an AD booth. In addition, there is a new video board, a full complement of restrooms and concessions, plus new field turf. The Gittinger Team Building houses a home locker room, team lounge, coaches offices, meeting rooms, training rooms and study spaces. The team also has access to a Team Performance Center with five indoor batting tunnels and state-of-the-art computer pitching system.
SQUAD BREAKDOWN
Among the 35 players on the 2014 Husky roster, there are 6 seniors, 13 juniors, 7 sophomores and 9 freshmen. The squad includes 18 returners and 17 newcomers (9 true freshmen, and 8 junior college transfers). The roster includes players from eight different states: 12 are from Washington, 16 are from California, 2 are from Arizona and one each from Louisiana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah and Wisconsin. Washington's baseball roster has traditionally been heavily dominated by in-state players. All 12 players from Washington come from west of the Cascade Mountains, (the western half of the state).
POSSIBLE STARTERS
Here's a look at the possible starters at each position, with 2015 stats and notes:
Pos. Player, Year, 2015 Avg.-HR-RBI, Notes
C – Joey Morgan, So. .215-2-11 Played in 40 games, 38 starts; 7 multi-hit games; threw out 17-of-32 SBA
C – Willie MacIver, Fr. N/A HS Battery mate w/Joe DeMers; hit .495, 37 RBI, 18 extra-base hits as Sr.
1B – John Naff, Jr. N/A Hit .365, 3 HR, 7 2B & 22 RBI at Everett CC; 2015 All-NWAC Northern Region
2B – Chris Baker, Jr. .259-2-18 1 of 2 players to start all 54 games; moving from SS to 2B; hit .400 in March
3B – Josh Cushing, Jr. .235-2-15 1st team Pac-12 All-Academic; 36 starts (25 DH, 8 2B, 3 3B); hit .344 vs. LHP
SS – AJ Graffanino, Fr. N/A Selected in 26th rd by Cleveland; son of former MLB's Tony Graffanino
OF – MJ Hubbs, Jr. N/A Hit .348, 64 hits, 11 HR, 15 2B, 5 3B, 60 RBI in 52 games for Central AZ CC
OF – Kyle London, Jr. .237-0-3 94 career games, 18 starts; team high 32 games off bench in 2015
OF – Jack Meggs, Jr. .243-1-18 54 games, 53 starts (45 RF, 5 CF, 3 LF) in 2015; 14 multi-hit games
DH – Alex Galgano, Jr. N/A Hit .359 for Bellevue CC; Second-Team All-State running back in HS
RHP – Noah Bremer, So. 5-3 2.33 Ranked 7th in Pac-12 in ERA; career highs 7 IP, 6 K's twice; 1.19 WHIP
RHP – Joe DeMers, Fr. N/A Baseball America's preseason Pac-12 Freshman of the Year; 3 time Team USA gold medalist
RHP – Will Ballowe, Sr. 0-0, 4.50 Was 4-1, 2.30 in 30 appearances in 2014; threw just 6 innings in 2015
