Friday, March 1
Seattle, WA
6:05 PM
University of Washington
vs
Santa Clara
Diamond Dawgs Make Home Debut, Host Santa Clara
February 29, 2024 | Baseball
SEATTLE βΒ After spending the first two weeks of the season on the road, the Washington baseball team will make its home debut this weekend, taking on Santa Clara in a three-game series Friday through Sunday at Husky Ballpark.
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All three games will be broadcasted on Washington Live Stream 2. Links to live coverage are available at GoHuskies.com.
DAWG BITES
β’ Winners of two games in a row, Washington opens its home schedule with a three-game series with Santa Clara.
Β
β’ In last season's season-opening matchup, the two sides split four games in the Bay Area.
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β’ The Huskies posted a 17-8 home record in 2023, UW's best home winning percentage since 2014 (21-7).
Β
β’ Last weekend, the Huskies took 2-of-3 games at the Kleberg Bank College Classic, defeating Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and Maryland.
Β
β’ Freshman Carson Ohland led the Husky offense with four hits in seven at-bats, scoring all four times.
Β
β’ During the Kleberg Bank College Classic, the Washington bullpen pitched 9.2 innings of relief, surrendering just two total runs.
Β
β’ Four of Washington's six games this season have been decided by one run or fewer.
Β
β’ AJ Guerrero, Cam Clayton and Jeter Ybarra have all reached base safely in all six of UW's games this season.
Β
β’ The Huskies have left 53 men on base through six games.
SERIES HISTORY VS. SANTA CLARA
Washington has had a long history with Santa Clara, first taking on the Broncos in 1912. The Huskies lead the all-time series 18-12 over SCU, including winning five of six meetings in Seattle. UW opened its 2023 season at Santa Clara, with the two sides splitting four matchups.
LONE STAR LONG BALLS
After leaving the yard just one time in its three-game series at Long Beach State, Washington experienced a power surge at the Kleberg Bank College Classic. During its three games in Texas, the Huskies launched six home runs, including Cam Clayton's first-ever multi-homer game against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. The six home runs accounted for 11 of UW's 19 runs scored during the weekend.
THE PEN IS MIGHTIER
Since Washington's season-opener at Long Beach State, the Husky bullpen has allowed just six runs over 24.2 innings of relief work. The UW pen has been led by Isaac Yeager, who has yet to surrender a run in four appearances.
GOING LONG
In UW's 17-inning tie with Long Beach State, reliever Gianluca Shinn pitched a career-high four complete innings, allowing a single run. In 21 previous relief appearances, Shinn had pitched at least one complete inning just twice and had never thrown more than 1.2 frames in an outing. Shinn followed up the long outing with 2.0 frames of relief versus Maryland, picking up the win out of the bullpen.
SOPHOMORE YEAR
Washington enters its second season under head coach Jason Kelly after an impressive rookie campaign on Montlake. Not only was Kelly's 35 wins the second-most in program-history by a first year head coach, but the skipper became the first coach at Washington to lead the Huskies to the NCAA Tournament in his first season.
PRE-APPROVED
One year after Johnny Tincher was the lone UW representative on the Preseason All-Pac-12 Team, three Huskies were named to the list ahead of the 2024 season. Turning down a potential MLB Draft selection to return to Montlake, shortstop Cam Clayton earned a spot after batting .325 with 32 extra base hits a season ago. Leading the team with a .345 average in 2023, AJ Guerrero joins Clayton, adding a steady outfield glove to his accomplished bat. Reliever Josh Emanuels rounds out the Dawgs honored, collecting six saves and a 3-2 record on the hill a year ago.
DRAFT DEPARTURES
Washington will have a number of key pieces to replace after six Huskies were drafted in the 2023 MLB Draft, the most in a single class for UW since the Dawgs saw six players drafted in 2019. Kiefer Lord was the first Husky selected, picked in the third round by the Baltimore Orioles. At 86th overall, Lord was UW's highest draftee since Austin Rei was drafted 81st overall in 2015. Case Matter was also drafted on Day 2, going to the Texas Rangers in the 10th round. Stu Flesland III was next off the board to the Colorado Rockies in the 11th round. Johnny Tincher joined Flesland in the 11th round, selected by the Cleveland Guardians, while Will Simpson was picked by the Oakland Athletics in the 15th round. Finishing things off was Coby Morales, who had his rights selected by the New York Yankees in the 18th round.
SAFE HANDS
A year after leading the Huskies with six saves, redshirt-junior relief arm Josh Emanuels was named to the 2024 NCBWA Stopper of the Year Watch List. Emanuels was one of five Pac-12 relievers to be named to the watch list.
HAWAIIAN HAMMER
Despite being hampered by injury for much of his rookie season, Hawaii native Aiva Arquette demonstrated easy power in his first collegiate season. In just 45 at-bats in 2023, Arquette walloped five home runs. That was good for one dinger every five ABs, by far the highest rate on the team.
D3 DIAMONDS
For the second straight year, Washington has hit the NCAA Division III ranks to add to its pitching staff through the transfer portal. The Huskies added right-hander Spencer Dessart out of Middlebury College in Vermont, who posted a 4.32 ERA with 63 strikeouts over 50 innings. Last off season, UW brought in D3 transfer Kiefer Lord out of Minnesota's Carleton College, with Lord going on to be a third round draft choice in the 2023 MLB Draft.
DRAFT KINGS
Washington had seven players featured this offseason when D1Baseball released their Pac-12 MLB Prospect Rankings for the 2024 and 2025 draft classes.
D1Baseball Pac-12 MLB Draft Prospect Rankings
Cam Clayton - 2024 - No. 8 (No. 68 nationally)
AJ Guerrero - 2024 - No. 16
Josh Emanuels - 2024 - No. 45
Jeter Ybarra - 2024 - No. 48
Aiva Arquette - 2025 - No. 6 (No. 51 nationally)
Sam Boyle - 2025 - No. 21
Grant Cunningham - 2025 - No. 25
YOUNG BUCKS
The Huskies landed three rookie players on D1Baseball's Pac-12 Impact Freshman Rankings, announced during the preseason.
D1Baseball Pac-12 Impact Freshman Rankings
Blake Wilson - No. 14
Carson Ohland - No. 22
Carston Pearson - No. 23
TOP DAWGS
Washington had two players recognized in D1Baseball's national position rankings. Cam Clayton checked in as the No. 8 shortstop in the country, while AJ Guerrero was tabbed at No. 29 among outfielders.
IT CAN WAIT
For the second year in a row, a Washington commit turned down the opportunity to sign with an MLB team to join the Husky roster after Blake Wilson was drafted in the 20th round of the 2023 MLB Draft by the Kansas City Royals but still made his way to Montlake. Husky sophomore Aiva Arquette was a 18th round draft choice by the Arizona Diamondbacks before coming to campus.
FAMILIAR FACES
The UW roster features two newcomers with previous Pac-12 ties. Tommy Brandenburg, a junior college graduate of Central Arizona College, spent his true freshman season at Oregon, making eight pitching appearances and four starts. Meanwhile, catcher Colton Bower redshirted the 2023 season at Washington State.
A DECADE ON THE DIAMOND
Opened on March 21, 2014, Washington will be celebrating the 10th anniversary of the inaugural game played at Husky Ballpark. The Huskies are 160-103 all-time at the stadium.
PRO PEDIGREE
Jason Ellison, a six-year Major League Baseball player with the San Francisco Giants, Seattle Mariners, Cincinnati Reds and Texas Rangers, was added to Jason Kelly's staff as UW's hitting and outfield coordinator during the offseason following the departure of Billy Boyer. Ellison, a native of Port Orchard, Washington, had worked as an MLB scout since 2011 with the Los Angeles Angels and Pittsburgh Pirates organizations.
Kelly also promoted Jake Silverman and Mike Gange to associate head coach and recruiting coordinator, respectively.
WELCOME BACK, JOE
One of the all-time great Huskies, Joe DeMers has returned to Montlake as an undergraduate assistant. An All-Pac-12 standout, DeMers led the Dawgs to their first-ever College World Series in 2018, delivering a 1.80 ERA over four postseason starts. In addition to all-conference laurels, DeMers was awarded the ABCA/Rawlings Gold Glove. He was selected by the Oakland Athletics in the 11th round of the 2018 MLB Draft.
GROWING 'EM LOCAL
Well over half of the Husky roster, 24 of 41 players overall, are homegrown talents from the state of Washington. Of those 24 local products, 16 hail from the greater Seattle Metropolitan area. Below is a breakdown of the counties UW's Washington natives call home.
UW Washington Natives by County
King County - 15
Clark County - 4
Cowlitz County - 1
Kitsap CountyΒ - 2
Pierce County - 1
Snohomish County - 1
Spokane County - 1
KEEP DOUBTING
Washington was picked seventh in the Pac-12 Preseason Coaches Poll. UW was picked eighth in the 2023 edition of the poll, going on to finish third in the league standings.
PAC-12 SWAN SONG
Washington is competing in its final Pac-12 season before joining the Big Ten Conference in 2025. UW was one of the four founding members of what started in December of 1915 as the Pacific Coast Conference, which eventually grew to become the Pac-12.
For more information on the UW baseball team, follow @UW_Baseball on Twitter and Instagram.
Β
All three games will be broadcasted on Washington Live Stream 2. Links to live coverage are available at GoHuskies.com.
DAWG BITES
β’ Winners of two games in a row, Washington opens its home schedule with a three-game series with Santa Clara.
Β
β’ In last season's season-opening matchup, the two sides split four games in the Bay Area.
Β
β’ The Huskies posted a 17-8 home record in 2023, UW's best home winning percentage since 2014 (21-7).
Β
β’ Last weekend, the Huskies took 2-of-3 games at the Kleberg Bank College Classic, defeating Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and Maryland.
Β
β’ Freshman Carson Ohland led the Husky offense with four hits in seven at-bats, scoring all four times.
Β
β’ During the Kleberg Bank College Classic, the Washington bullpen pitched 9.2 innings of relief, surrendering just two total runs.
Β
β’ Four of Washington's six games this season have been decided by one run or fewer.
Β
β’ AJ Guerrero, Cam Clayton and Jeter Ybarra have all reached base safely in all six of UW's games this season.
Β
β’ The Huskies have left 53 men on base through six games.
SERIES HISTORY VS. SANTA CLARA
Washington has had a long history with Santa Clara, first taking on the Broncos in 1912. The Huskies lead the all-time series 18-12 over SCU, including winning five of six meetings in Seattle. UW opened its 2023 season at Santa Clara, with the two sides splitting four matchups.
LONE STAR LONG BALLS
After leaving the yard just one time in its three-game series at Long Beach State, Washington experienced a power surge at the Kleberg Bank College Classic. During its three games in Texas, the Huskies launched six home runs, including Cam Clayton's first-ever multi-homer game against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. The six home runs accounted for 11 of UW's 19 runs scored during the weekend.
THE PEN IS MIGHTIER
Since Washington's season-opener at Long Beach State, the Husky bullpen has allowed just six runs over 24.2 innings of relief work. The UW pen has been led by Isaac Yeager, who has yet to surrender a run in four appearances.
GOING LONG
In UW's 17-inning tie with Long Beach State, reliever Gianluca Shinn pitched a career-high four complete innings, allowing a single run. In 21 previous relief appearances, Shinn had pitched at least one complete inning just twice and had never thrown more than 1.2 frames in an outing. Shinn followed up the long outing with 2.0 frames of relief versus Maryland, picking up the win out of the bullpen.
SOPHOMORE YEAR
Washington enters its second season under head coach Jason Kelly after an impressive rookie campaign on Montlake. Not only was Kelly's 35 wins the second-most in program-history by a first year head coach, but the skipper became the first coach at Washington to lead the Huskies to the NCAA Tournament in his first season.
PRE-APPROVED
One year after Johnny Tincher was the lone UW representative on the Preseason All-Pac-12 Team, three Huskies were named to the list ahead of the 2024 season. Turning down a potential MLB Draft selection to return to Montlake, shortstop Cam Clayton earned a spot after batting .325 with 32 extra base hits a season ago. Leading the team with a .345 average in 2023, AJ Guerrero joins Clayton, adding a steady outfield glove to his accomplished bat. Reliever Josh Emanuels rounds out the Dawgs honored, collecting six saves and a 3-2 record on the hill a year ago.
DRAFT DEPARTURES
Washington will have a number of key pieces to replace after six Huskies were drafted in the 2023 MLB Draft, the most in a single class for UW since the Dawgs saw six players drafted in 2019. Kiefer Lord was the first Husky selected, picked in the third round by the Baltimore Orioles. At 86th overall, Lord was UW's highest draftee since Austin Rei was drafted 81st overall in 2015. Case Matter was also drafted on Day 2, going to the Texas Rangers in the 10th round. Stu Flesland III was next off the board to the Colorado Rockies in the 11th round. Johnny Tincher joined Flesland in the 11th round, selected by the Cleveland Guardians, while Will Simpson was picked by the Oakland Athletics in the 15th round. Finishing things off was Coby Morales, who had his rights selected by the New York Yankees in the 18th round.
SAFE HANDS
A year after leading the Huskies with six saves, redshirt-junior relief arm Josh Emanuels was named to the 2024 NCBWA Stopper of the Year Watch List. Emanuels was one of five Pac-12 relievers to be named to the watch list.
HAWAIIAN HAMMER
Despite being hampered by injury for much of his rookie season, Hawaii native Aiva Arquette demonstrated easy power in his first collegiate season. In just 45 at-bats in 2023, Arquette walloped five home runs. That was good for one dinger every five ABs, by far the highest rate on the team.
D3 DIAMONDS
For the second straight year, Washington has hit the NCAA Division III ranks to add to its pitching staff through the transfer portal. The Huskies added right-hander Spencer Dessart out of Middlebury College in Vermont, who posted a 4.32 ERA with 63 strikeouts over 50 innings. Last off season, UW brought in D3 transfer Kiefer Lord out of Minnesota's Carleton College, with Lord going on to be a third round draft choice in the 2023 MLB Draft.
DRAFT KINGS
Washington had seven players featured this offseason when D1Baseball released their Pac-12 MLB Prospect Rankings for the 2024 and 2025 draft classes.
D1Baseball Pac-12 MLB Draft Prospect Rankings
Cam Clayton - 2024 - No. 8 (No. 68 nationally)
AJ Guerrero - 2024 - No. 16
Josh Emanuels - 2024 - No. 45
Jeter Ybarra - 2024 - No. 48
Aiva Arquette - 2025 - No. 6 (No. 51 nationally)
Sam Boyle - 2025 - No. 21
Grant Cunningham - 2025 - No. 25
YOUNG BUCKS
The Huskies landed three rookie players on D1Baseball's Pac-12 Impact Freshman Rankings, announced during the preseason.
D1Baseball Pac-12 Impact Freshman Rankings
Blake Wilson - No. 14
Carson Ohland - No. 22
Carston Pearson - No. 23
TOP DAWGS
Washington had two players recognized in D1Baseball's national position rankings. Cam Clayton checked in as the No. 8 shortstop in the country, while AJ Guerrero was tabbed at No. 29 among outfielders.
IT CAN WAIT
For the second year in a row, a Washington commit turned down the opportunity to sign with an MLB team to join the Husky roster after Blake Wilson was drafted in the 20th round of the 2023 MLB Draft by the Kansas City Royals but still made his way to Montlake. Husky sophomore Aiva Arquette was a 18th round draft choice by the Arizona Diamondbacks before coming to campus.
FAMILIAR FACES
The UW roster features two newcomers with previous Pac-12 ties. Tommy Brandenburg, a junior college graduate of Central Arizona College, spent his true freshman season at Oregon, making eight pitching appearances and four starts. Meanwhile, catcher Colton Bower redshirted the 2023 season at Washington State.
A DECADE ON THE DIAMOND
Opened on March 21, 2014, Washington will be celebrating the 10th anniversary of the inaugural game played at Husky Ballpark. The Huskies are 160-103 all-time at the stadium.
PRO PEDIGREE
Jason Ellison, a six-year Major League Baseball player with the San Francisco Giants, Seattle Mariners, Cincinnati Reds and Texas Rangers, was added to Jason Kelly's staff as UW's hitting and outfield coordinator during the offseason following the departure of Billy Boyer. Ellison, a native of Port Orchard, Washington, had worked as an MLB scout since 2011 with the Los Angeles Angels and Pittsburgh Pirates organizations.
Kelly also promoted Jake Silverman and Mike Gange to associate head coach and recruiting coordinator, respectively.
WELCOME BACK, JOE
One of the all-time great Huskies, Joe DeMers has returned to Montlake as an undergraduate assistant. An All-Pac-12 standout, DeMers led the Dawgs to their first-ever College World Series in 2018, delivering a 1.80 ERA over four postseason starts. In addition to all-conference laurels, DeMers was awarded the ABCA/Rawlings Gold Glove. He was selected by the Oakland Athletics in the 11th round of the 2018 MLB Draft.
GROWING 'EM LOCAL
Well over half of the Husky roster, 24 of 41 players overall, are homegrown talents from the state of Washington. Of those 24 local products, 16 hail from the greater Seattle Metropolitan area. Below is a breakdown of the counties UW's Washington natives call home.
UW Washington Natives by County
King County - 15
Clark County - 4
Cowlitz County - 1
Kitsap CountyΒ - 2
Pierce County - 1
Snohomish County - 1
Spokane County - 1
KEEP DOUBTING
Washington was picked seventh in the Pac-12 Preseason Coaches Poll. UW was picked eighth in the 2023 edition of the poll, going on to finish third in the league standings.
PAC-12 SWAN SONG
Washington is competing in its final Pac-12 season before joining the Big Ten Conference in 2025. UW was one of the four founding members of what started in December of 1915 as the Pacific Coast Conference, which eventually grew to become the Pac-12.
For more information on the UW baseball team, follow @UW_Baseball on Twitter and Instagram.
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