2020 Season Coming Into Focus Against LMU

Friday, February 14

Los Angeles, CA

6:00 PM

University of Washington

Loyola Marymount

February 12, 2020 | Baseball

Weekly Release - vs. LMU Season Preview - Pitchers

By: Brian Tom

The Washington Huskies (28-24, 12-17 Pac-12) open their 120th season in program history with a two-week road trip to California. First up for the Huskies is a three-game series starting Valentine's Day vs. Loyola Marymount (34-25, 15-12 WCC) at Page Stadium.

The Diamond Dawgs will stay in Southern California to play Long Beach State (14-41, 8-16 Big West) on Tuesday, Feb. 18 at 6:00 p.m. before heading north to play at Fresno State (40-16-1, 20-8-1 MW) from Feb. 21-23.

UW is four wins away from 2,000 in program history (1996-1573-14). The Huskies return four players that made 20 or more starts (eight that made 10 or more in the field) and six pitchers that have logged 40 or more career innings on the mound. They finished ninth in the Pac-12 in 2019 and are picked by the league's coaches to finish sixth in 2020.

This weekend's action at LMU will be carried on WCCsports.com. Links to live stats and video links can be found online at GoHuskies.com // Sports // Baseball // Schedule. Constant updates are also available via Twitter and Instagram: @UW_Baseball.

SERIES HISTORY VS. LMU & LONG BEACH STATE
• vs. LMU: Washington leads the all-time series, 5-2, including wins in each of the last four games. The Huskies won in 10-innings, 8-7, last time the two team met, April 10, 2017. The Huskies swept a three-game series vs. the Lions in 2004 in Seattle. In the year prior, the Huskies won the first meeting Feb. 14, 2003, 10-9, but dropped the final two games of the series in L.A. Current Husky assistant, Ronnie Prettyman, spent 2016-18 in a similar role at LMU and recruited many of the Lions' upper classmen on the roster.

• vs. Long Beach St.: Long Beach State leads the all-time series 8-4. The teams first met in 1969 with the Dirtbags drawing first blood in the series, a 4-2 win. The teams would not meet again until 1994 when the Huskies beat them twice in the NCAA Regional hosted by Georgia Tech. LB State would get its revenge in 1996, sweeping a season-opening, four-game series in California. The Dirtbags knocked UW out of the 2003 NCAA Regionals, handing the Huskies a pair of losses. The last time the teams met was a three-game road series in early March of the 2010 season -- Lindsay Meggs' first season at UW. The Huskies won the opening game and series finale to claim the series, 2-1.

WHO ARE THESE HUSKIES?:
Among the 34 players on the 2020 Husky roster, there are 4 seniors, 15 juniors, 2 sophomores and 13 freshmen. The squad includes 16 returners and 18 newcomers (12 first-year freshmen and 6 transfers). The roster includes players from five different states and Canada: 15 are from Washington, 13 are from California, 2 each from Oregon and British Columbia and one from Arizona and New Mexico. 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 14 players from Washington come from west of the Cascade Mountains, (the western half of the state).

• The Fielders: Washington's lone returning All-Pac-12 recipient is junior Braiden Ward, who was honorable mention after leading the Pac-12 in stolen bases for a second-consecutive year. Ramon Bramasco started all 52 games at shortstop for the Huskies, but beyond that, there will be a lot of new faces. Noah Hsue (2B) and Christian Jones (RF) both were starters before injuries derailed their 2019 seasons. Michael Petrie played a ton down the stretch and will man the catcher's position. Nick Roberts made 43 starts around the infield last year and will also be in the mix. There are lots of new faces expected to be battling for starting positions, including junior college transfers Davis Delorefice (LF), Karl Koerper (DH) and Tommy Williams (3B/2B), plus a handful of freshmen: Will Simpson (1B), Dalton Chandler (INF), Christian Dicochea (UTL) and Michael Snyder (3B).

• The Pitchers: The Huskies have to replace two weekend starters and their leader in pitching appearances from 2019, but have lots of experienced arms returning. There are six pitchers on the roster that have logged 40 or more innings in their UW careers, including returning Friday night starter David Rhodes (5-6, 4.84). He will be joined in the rotation by Stevie Emanuels (2-3, 2.35), who has made 65 career appearances and just one start. Fighting for the Sunday spot in the rotation are Jack Enger (3-0, 3.20) and Jack DeCooman (0-0, 7.15). They both will be key contributors either way. At the end of the game, the Huskies hope to hand the ball off to Leo Nierenberg, who has made 60 career appearances. Junior Dylan Lamb, transfers Logan Gerling and Gabe Smith, plus freshmen Alex Giroux and Nate Weeldreyer will be counted on to log double-digit innings in 2020.

TEAM NOTES
• 2,000 wins: The Huskies enter their 120th year of baseball with an all-time record of 1996-1573-14, needing just four wins to reach 2,000 in program history.

• Meggs Approaching 300 Wins At UW: Lindsay Meggs enters 2020 with a 293-263-1 mark at Washington. He is seven wins shy of becoming the third Husky coach to reach 300 wins. He will join Ken Knutson (559) and Bob MacDonald (384).

• Washington's Winning Ways: The Huskies have the second-longest streak of winning seasons among Pac-12 schools. UW has posted a winning record every season since 2014, which has including three post-season appearances and the program's first College World Series appearance in 2018. OSU has the longest winning-season streak among Pac-12 school, last falling below .500 in 2003.

• New Strikeout Standard: Washington's 2019 pitching staff recorded a school record 501 strikeouts. Josh Burgmann led the staff with 101 strikeouts and he was one of five pitchers to surpass 50 K's during the season. It marked the first time the Huskies have had five pitchers with 50 or more strikeouts in a season.

• Cribby Returns To UW: Former Husky pitcher, Elliott Cribby, rejoined his alma mater this summer as the new Associate Head Coach, Pitching Coach and Recruiting Coordinator. Cribby was a pitcher at UW from 2006-08 and entered the coaching field shortly after graduating. He spent 2019 as pitching coach at Purdue University and the five years prior (2014-18) at Seattle University and 2013 at Abilene Christian.

INDIVIDUAL NOTES
• Ward Man of Steal: Junior Braiden Ward is attempting to become the first player in Pac-12 history to lead the league in stolen bases three times. He led the Conference with 26 in 2019 and 19 in 2018. Last season he became the first Pac-12 player to lead in back-to-back season since T.J. Steele (ARIZ, 2007-08) and the first Husky since Chris Magruder (1997-98).

• Steady At Shortstop: Senior Ramon Bramasco was one of two Huskies to start all 52 games last year. The JC transfer made every one of those starts at shortstop and played defensively in all but three of those innings -- 455.2 of 458.2.

• Playing For Alto: Among the nine lives lost in the Jan. 26 helicopter crash that claimed Kobe Bryant were Orange Coast College coach John Altobelli and his wife, Keri, and daughter, Alyssa. The Husky coaching staff has known Coach Alto for many years and most recently recruited two players from OCC -- Davis Delorefice and Tommy Williams. Delorefice was the team and league MVP as Orange Coast went on to win the California State Championship in 2019. Delorefice joined OCC after playing at Utah in 2018 and Williams played for one season after playing 2018 at West Texas A&M.

• Healthy Returns: The injury bug hampered the Huskies' efforts in 2019, but four of the main victims are poised for bounce back seasons in 2020. Christian Jones, who was the starter in right field during UW's 2018 College World Series run, played in only three games due to a hand injury, while starting second baseman, Noah Hsue, saw his season come to an end after 14 games due to a torn ACL. Both Jones and Hsue successfully petitioned for redshirt seasons. Starting first baseman Jonathan Schiffer was limited to 27 games due to a pair of concussions and will move to the mound in 2020. Outfielder Kaiser Weiss broke his hamate bone in mid-April and was limited to two pinch-running appearances after that.

• Experienced Arms: There are six UW pitchers that have amassed 40-plus innings during their UW careers: Stevie Emanuels (99.0), Leo Nierenberg (80.1), David Rhodes (67.0), Jack Enger (50.2), Jack DeCooman (41.1) and Dylan Lamb (40.). Additionally, Emanuels has made 68 appearances and Nierenberg 60, just outside of UW's top-10 all-time list (68, Chris Micheles and Matt Massingale).

• Family Connections: Dylan Lamb is the younger brother of Arizona Diamonbacks 2018 All-Star third baseman, Jake Lamb ... Christian Dicochea has an older brother, Jason, that is a senior infielder at Santa Clara ... Nate Weeldreyer's older brother, Colton, plays tennis at Seattle University ... Tommy Takayoshi is the son of former University of Hawaii star, Todd Takayoshi, who played professionally in the Indians and Angels organizations ... Jack Enger's dad, Kyle, rowed at UW and Brandon Leitgeb's dad, Brian, was on the UW golf team ... Rollie Nichols' father, Rolando, is a baseball broadcast for FOX Desportes in Los Angeles.