Quick (Not Very In-Depth) Review Of 2010's Team

The 2010 WSU baseball team thanks the home crowd
after a game in Pullman at Bailey Brayton Field.

Going in to the 2010 season most fans and analysts had the same opinion of the Cougars: great defensive team with solid pitching whose offense will struggle to keep up with the rest of the hard-hitting Pac-10. I must admit this was also my view on the team, even through and after early non-conference play where the Cougs absolutely lit up scoreboards with crooked numbers.

I assumed the high averages and large numbers being posted by the Cougs lineup were a product of playing lesser level teams with pitching staffs and defenses that were not on-par with future conference opponents. Let's be nice and just say I was wrong, and leave it there. 

The 2010 Cougar team entered conference play and continued to hit, a lot. Now yes there was an exception to this; the 2010 team was not particularly strong in road games. Throwing bad starts and failing to make the hits they were roping in Pullman haunted this team most all of last season.

Then the Cougs would come home and doing things like, say, take two of a three game series versus No. 1 ranked Arizona State on mom's weekend (a series I unfortunately couldn't make it to). There was a good amount of talent on this team last season, and a good majority of it carried over into this season as well. Most notably would be the return of staff ace, Chad Arnold. After failing to come to contract terms with the Dodgers, Arnold will be returning for his senior season in 2011, further bolstering a WSU rotation that already looked to be strong. 

That's going to be it for this post, just a simple recap of how last year's team was viewed going into the season and what they were actually able to accomplish. After seeing their season end in the Fayetteville Super-Regionals last year, look for this team to be hungry for more this season.