Diamond Dawgs Open Season At Sac State

Friday, February 16

Sacramento, CA

6:00 PM

University of Washington

Sacramento State

February 12, 2018 | Baseball

Weekly Release Live Stats Live Audio - Sac St. Feed

By: Brian Tom

SEATTLE - Washington (28-26, 14-16 Pac-12) opens the 2018 season on the road with four games at Sacramento State (32-29, 12-12 WAC). The four-game series starts Friday and runs through Monday. It marks the second-straight season the Diamond Dawgs open up their year in California. They started 4-3 last year, winning two of three at Santa Clara and splitting four games at St. Mary's.

The Huskies were picked to finish seventh in the Pac-12 poll and enter the year unranked in any of the national polls. Sac State was picked to finish third in the WAC and is coming off a year in which they represented the conference in the 2017 NCAA Tournament.

The four-game series will be available via audio only at HornetsSports.com/Radio with Anthony Rifenburg calling all the action. Constant game updates will be tweeted @UW_Baseball and fans can follow live stats and listen live online by clicking links available at GoHuskies.com.

SERIES HISTORY VS. SACRAMENTO STATE
This marks the return of a home-and-home series between the two teams. Last season, Sacramento State traveled up to Seattle and after dropping the first game, the Huskies won the final three to win the four-game series. Justin Dillon pitched brilliantly for the Hornets in the opening game to lead his sqaud to a 7-1 victory, but UW rebounded sweeping a Saturday double-header (8-5, 3-2) before closing the series with a 4-0 shutout. The Huskies hold a 6-1 all-time record against the Hornets. The two teams had met three times previously, twice at neutral sites and once in Sacramento. The teams first played each other in 1979 and the Huskies won a single game on the road, 12-2. The Huskies and the Hornets met again in 1989 and UW won 10-5. The other time the teams met was in 2004 at the Riverside Baseball Invitational Tournament and UW won that game 4-2.

WHO ARE THESE HUSKIES:
• The Huskies return 20 players who were on the 2017 roster and welcome in 15 newcomers.

Fielders: Washington returns three All-Pac-12 honorable mention players in the field in AJ Graffanino at shortstop, Levi Jordan at second base and Willie MacIver, who will move from third base to catcher and first base this season. Besides that, the Huskies will be replacing every spot in the lineup. Nick Kahle and KJ Brady are the next most experienced players in the field, earning 29 and 19 starts, respectively, in 2017. Both will be expected starters in 2018.

Pitchers: The Huskies will have to replace 2017 ace Noah Bremer and bullpen stalwart Greg Minier, but besides that, return mostly intact. Joe DeMers, who was honorable mention All-Pac-12 in 2017, will assume the role as Friday night starter and he will be followed by sophomores Chris Micheles and Jordan Jones, who appeared in 23 and 18 games respectively. Senior Alex Hardy (5-0) returns and will anchor the backend of the UW bullpen. Sophomore Leo Nierenberg will fill in the gap as a late-inning reliever who has closing experience. A healthy Joe Wainhouse will be counted on to eat up innings and will even pick up the bat as a designated hitter and pinch hitter.

Newcomers: Junior transfer Mason Cerrillo and freshman Braiden Ward will anchor left and center field in the Huskies' re-vamped outfield. Cerrillo previously played a year at Washington State and Bellevue College, so he brings some D-I experience to the lineup. Next in line to see the field of the newcomers should be outfielder Kaiser Weiss, corner infielder Jonathan Schiffer and infielder Noah Hsue. On the mound, plenty of newcomers will be expected to eat up innings. Righty Stevie Emanuels should fill the role as fourth starter and also contribute out of the bullpen. Lefties Jack DeCooman and Lucas Knowles will eat up innings and could fill in as starters as necessary. Josh Burgmann was a starter and closer before injuring himself early in the 2017 season and earned himself a redshirt season. He is expected to be available by Pac-12 play and will be thrown into the bullpen mix. Right-handers Jack Enger and Dylan Lamb have had sneaky fall camps along with lefty Cole Galvagno and could be thrown in the mix in when Coach Meggs wants advantageous situations.

PAC-12 COACHES POLL: The Huskies were picked to finish seventh out of 11 teams by the Pac-12 coaches in the pre-season poll. Lately, being picked to finish in the bottom half of the poll has proved to be fortuitous for the Dawgs. In 2016, the Huskies were picked eighth and ended up second, while in 2014 they were picked 10th and also ended up second. Oregon State was the pick to win the conference, garnering 10 first-place votes, while Stanford was picked second and received the other first-place vote. Here is the complete order of finish predicted by the coaches: 1. Oregon State, 2. Stanford, 3. UCLA, 4. Arizona, 5. California, 6. Oregon, 7. Washington, 8. Arizona State, 9. USC, 10. Washington State and 11. Utah.

SUCCESS IN THE CLASSROOM: Prior to Coach Lindsay Meggs arriving on campus, the grade point average of the baseball program rarely, if ever, reached 3.0 or higher. Meggs has turned around the culture in the classroom and the baseball team has a streak of reach 3.0 or higher in the classroom in 15 of the last 17 quarters. In the fall of 2017, the team recorded a 3.25 GPA, the second-highest ever in the program's history. A total of nine Huskies were named to the Dean's List with a 3.5 GPA or better. Based on the most recent Academic Progress Rates, UW is in the top-10 percent of all baseball teams

THE BONDS THAT LAST: Not only are juniors Willie MacIver (Pleasant Hill, Calif.) and Joe DeMers (Martinez, Calif.) the top returning hitter and pitcher, respectively, for the Huskies, but they have been connected on the baseball field for well over a decade. The pair grew up in the East Bay of California and began playing baseball together around the age of seven. Since then, they have been teammates at nearly every level including little league, high school (College Park), summer ball (Walla Walla Sweets, WCL) and college (UW). This summer, both were in the Cape Cod League but on different teams. MacIver was an All-Star for Wareham, while DeMers won a championship with Brewster. The pair figure to be playing their last season together as both are considered high draft prospects for 2018.

SONS OF MAJOR LEAGUERS: AJ Graffanino and Joe Wainhouse are both sons of former Major Leaguers. Graffanino's dad, Tony, spent parts of 13 years in the Majors from 1996 to 2009. He hit .265 in 981 games, with his longest tenure coming with the Chicago White Sox from 2000-03. He broke into the majors with Atlanta in 1996 and ended his career with the Cleveland Indians. Wainhouse's dad, Dave, spent seven seasons (spanning 1991-2000) as a pitcher with five different teams in the Majors. He broke in with Montreal in 1991 and ended his career with St. Louis.

NEW FOR MEGGS: For the first time in his nine years at Washington, Lindsay Meggs will not be coaching one of his sons on the field. During his first four years from 2010-13, oldest son, Joe, was and everyday outfielder on the roster. From 2014-17, youngest son, Jack, manned the outfield for the Dawgs. Jack is currently just starting his professional career after being a 10th round selection by the Oakland A's in the 2017 MLB Draft, while Joe is in his third season serving at the Huskies' Director of Baseball Operations.

SQUAD BREAKDOWN: Among the 35 players on the 2018 Husky roster, there are 5 seniors, 5 juniors, 11 sophomores and 14 freshmen. The squad includes 19 returners and 16 newcomers (11 true freshmen, 3 redshirt-freshmen and 2 upperclass transfers). The roster includes players from four different states and Canada: 19 are from Washington, 12 are from California, two from British Columbia and one each from Delaware and Oregon. Washington's baseball roster has traditionally been heavily dominated by in-state players. In Meggs first season in 2010, 34 of 35 players hailed from Washington. All 19 players from Washington this year come from west of the Cascade Mountains, (the western half of the state).

HUSKIES IN THE MLB DRAFT: Since Coach Lindsay Meggs arrived at Washington, Huskies have heard their names called in the MLB Draft 29 times (complete list on pg. 6). Last season, four Huskies were selected by MLB teams, with the first to hear his name called being catcher Joey Morgan in the third round by the Detroit Tigers. Pitcher Noah Bremer (6th, Rangers) and outfielder Joe Meggs (10th, Athletics) also heard their names called in the first ten rounds of the draft. Left-handed pitcher Greg Minier was the final Husky selected in 2017, hearing his name in the 32nd round by Chicago. In 2014, a record eight Huskies were selected by MLB teams. On the current roster, four Huskies were drafted prior to arriving on campus at Washington. Junior AJ Graffanino was picked in the 26th round of the 2015 draft by the Cleveland Indians. In 2016, three heard their names called during the draft: Ben Baird (20th, Indians), Josh Burgmann (30th, Cardinals) and Christian Jones (31st, Red Sox).

SWEET DIGS AT HOME: The Huskies opened 2,400-seat Husky Ballpark on March 24, 2014. The park features permanent seating, open main-level concourses with views of the field from every vantage and a top floor concourse that houses a press box, radio & TV booths, club seating and an AD booth. In addition, there is a 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. It is also available for rental during home games. The team also has access to a Team Performance Center with five indoor batting tunnels and state-of-the-art computer pitching system.