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SEATTLE – Taking its Pac-12 Bye Week, Washington heads to the Lone Star State for the second time during the non-conference season, taking on the 14th-ranked Texas Longhorns in a three-game series, March 15-17, at UFCU Disch-Falk Field in Austin, Texas.
All three games will be broadcast on the Longhorn Network. Links to live coverage are available at GoHuskies.com.
DAWG BITES
• The Longhorns will be the first ranked opponent the Huskies have faced this season.
• It will be the first meeting ever between Washington and Texas, making the Longhorns the 162nd unique opponent in program history.
• Washington is coming off a 1-2 weekend in its Pac-12 opening series against Stanford.
• The Huskies earned their first conference win on Sunday, defeating the Cardinal 9-2 behind a seven-run third inning.
• In the game, Spencer Dessart became the first Husky starting pitcher to earn a win this season.
• Closing out Sunday’s victory, redshirt senior reliever Colton McIntosh made his first appearance in over two years with a scoreless ninth inning.
• The UW bullpen did not allow a single earned run over 13.0 frames during the series.
THAT’S NEW NEW
The Huskies and Longhorns will be squaring off for the first time ever this weekend, making Texas the 162nd unique college opponent Washington has faced all-time. UT will be the fourth unique school Washington will have competed against this season, joining Pitt, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and Maryland.
TWO BIRDS, ONE STONE
Washington leads the nation at 1.33 double plays per game, ranking 13th with 16 twin killings turned overall. The Huskies have turned at least one double play in 9-of-12 games in 2024 and have turned at least one double play in four games.
RETURN OF THE MACK
Closing out UW’s 9-2 win on Sunday over Stanford, Colton McIntosh made his first appearance on the mound in over two years, last coming out of the bullpen on March 5, 2022 in a 7-0 Husky win over Yale. McIntosh spent the entire 2023 season recovering from Tommy John surgery.
YOU’RE BEING EXTRA
Eight of Jeter Ybarra’s 15 hits this season have gone for extra bases, matching the Husky first baseman’s total extra base knock production from the 2023 season. Ybarra ranks 19th in the nation with 0.58 doubles per game.
THE PEN IS MIGHTIER
Over its last 10 games, Washington’s bullpen has allowed 11 runs over 49.1 innings of work, good for a 2.01 ERA. The UW bullpen did not allow a single earned run during the three-game series versus Stanford last weekend, totaling 13.0 innings of relief.
WORKING OVERTIME
Playing into the 17th inning at Long Beach State and completing 16 frames versus Santa Clara, Washington has played in the two longest games in college baseball this season.
GOING LONG
After entering the season with no career outing at UW going longer than 1.2 innings over the past two seasons, Gianluca Shinn has made three relief appearances of 2.0 frames or longer in 2024, including a career-long 4.0 innings versus Long Beach State.
SOPHOMORE YEAR
Washington is in his 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 joined Clayton, adding a steady outfield glove to his finished bat. Reliever Josh Emanuels rounded out the Dawgs honored, collecting six saves and a 3-2 record on the hill a year ago.
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.
DRAFT DEPARTURES
Washington had 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 Matters 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 Moraleswho had his rights selected by the New York Yankees in the 18th round.
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 added in D3 transfers 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 shortstops 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. Huskies sophomore Aiva Arquette was an 18th round draft pick by the Arizona Diamondbacks before coming to campus.
A DECADE ON THE DIAMONDS
Opened on March 21, 2014, Washington will be celebrating the 10th anniversary of the inaugural game played at Husky Ballpark. The Huskies are 161-105 all-time at the stadium.
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.
PRO PEDIGREE
Jason Ellisona 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, has 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 County – 2
Pierce County – 1
Snohomish County – 1
Spokane County – 1
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.