This Week's Look At Tacoma Raniers

The Tacoma Rainers began

their season last Friday.

They have 4-2 record and 

in second  place behind

Las Vegas at 4-1.

They lost Reno Thursday night 

8-2. They are 2-1 in this series

on the road. Harry Ford and

Blake Hunt have split time 

at catcher each playing in

three gamed.

Harry has three hits in nine

official at bats. He has walked

four times and struck out once

which is a good. Blake is still

waiting for his first. Gone

hitless in ten at bats. Has  no

walks and struck out six times.

Not sure how long they will 

continue splitting games and

whether we see Harry play

elsewhere too.

Cole Young is getting off to 

a slow start. He has only 

four hits in twenty- three 

at bats. Ben Williamson

is hitting .304 playing in

all six games. His defense

at third base has been

spectacular.  Since Polanco

hasn't played well defensively

for the Mariners and it 

continues we could see 

Williamson soon. Polanco

will still be in the lineup

somewhere if he continues 

hitting.

The Rainiers have only five

home runs so much similar

to the Mariners. Leo Rivss

who went up as a paternity

replacement and has now

back with the Rainiers leads

with two home runs. He has

two hits so both were homers.

Double A Arkansas, Everett

High A and Modesto Low A

all begin their season on

April 4.  Most of the Mariners

top prospects are at Everett 

and Modesto this year. 

Let you you how they do

next Thursday..

WSU and Huskies Men's Basketball Update

The WSU lost barely on Monday

to Georgetown in men's basketball

in a great game that came down to

the wire. This without having

Isaiah Watts and Nate Calmese

who both went into the transfer

portal. }

Since the game LeJuan Watts 

announced he was entering the

transfer portal. Expect he is 

Pwanted since not only  score

in double figures he was the

Cougars top rebounder.

Just like the Huskies and the

Zags the Cougars will have a new 

starting lineup with transfer and

graduation.

The Washington Huskies have

Zoom Diallo returning and Franck

Kepnang. The center has been hurt

since coming to Washington the

last two years.

The Huskies have a new center 

in Lathan Somerville who transfered over from Rutgers. He averaged 8.2 points and 4.1 rebounds. Being 6'10

the Huskies expect him to be good

inside.

The Huskies are building a good 

front line as they have high schooler

Niko Bundalo who is a McDonald's

All-American. He to is 6'10 and play

at strong forward. Also signed 

Junior College transfer Mady Traore.

He would be small forward.

News just came out on Thursday

 they signed 18- year old big man Hannes Steinbach out of Germany. 

He has experience in the German

pro league. The Huskies are

building their team next season

quickly.

Again another signing Southern

Conference player of the year

Quimari Peterson from East

Tennessee State. 

No news about anyone transferring 

to the Cougars yet.

Gonzaga's Dusty Stromer is

transferring to Grand Canyon.

A good basketball team though

a level below Gonzaga. 

We wish all three teams having

good classes coming in. 

Washington Huskies in NFL: Atlanta Falcons

The Atlanta Falcons had five players

from the Huskies who played or 

where on their roster in 2024.

The most familiar face for Huskies 

fans is  Michael Penix Jr. who was 

drafted in the first round last year.

When drafted by the Falcons was why.

They had Kirk Cousins and he is 

making a lot of money.  The last 

three games of the season Penix

became the starter with the Falcons

struggling on the season and he

is expected to start the 2025 season.

The Falcons drafted Bralen Trice

in the 2024 draft. Unfortunately

he injured a knee and was out for 

the season. We hope he is back

to play edge rusher in 2025.

Kevin King a veteran cornerback

was drafted by the Green Bay

Packers back in 2017 in the

second round . He played for 

them five seasons. King played 

last  year for the Falcons in 15 

games s a reserve. He now is a 

free aentso not sure where he 

will land.

Kaleb McCrary right tackle was

drafted by the Falcons in 2019

in the first round. He has been

influence in their running game

ever since than.

Keith Taylor a cornerback was

drafted in fifth round by Carolina

in 2021. He spent two years there

and the last two with the Kansas

City Chiefs as a reserve. Now he

is with Atlanta so hopefully he 

gets in playing time.

We wish the best for all former

Huskies on the Falcons. Go Dawgs.

Mariners Beat Tigers

The Mariners took three games

to do it however finally beat the

Tigers 3-2.

We would have thought the M's

would have won either game one

or two however stuck to winning

game.

As expected it was a pitching 

duel. The Mariners scored first

in the second inning after the 

Tigers had a miscue in the infield.

Victor Robles hit a double to

drive in both Dylan Moore and

JP Crawford. Dylan Moore had 

a  solo home run in the 4th.

Tigers got their two runs in the

fifth inning. Trey Sweeney led

off with home run and second 

was on a double play. 

Luis Castillo was pitcher of the

game going seven innings. He

gave up five hits, two walks and

five strike outs. This allowed 

the Mariners go with two 

relievers.

Gabe Speier who is back now

and healthy gave up no hits

and struck out one. The ninth

inning was tough as Andre 

Munoz allowed the Tigers

to load the bases with no

outs. Fortunately he was 

able to get out of it. Dylan

Moore took a short grounder 

and threw it home to Mitch 

Garver who was catching 

on the day.

The Mariners lineup for the

most part still struggling at

the plate. Just need to get 

three or four runs to win.

Running the bases will be

important for the guys.

Don't strike out so much.

The Mariners have Thursday 

off and then face the Giants

in the San Francisco area.

This series won't be easy

as they take on Justin 

Verlander who is now with 

the Giants on Friday. Glad 

he isn't with the Astros 

anymore. On Saturday 

the Mariners will face 

former Mariner pitcher 

Robbie Ray. Remember 

he was traded to the 

Giants for Mitch Haniger. 

Go M's.

Washington State Cougars Spring Practice 2025

The Washington State Cougars 

spring practices started before

the Huskies last Saturday. Each

team has about 30 practices in

the spring. 

The Cougars are having practice

in Spokane this year. Helps not

to be distracted. The Cougars have

to do what the Huskies did last

year go with a new head coach

Jimmy Rogers who came over

from South Dakota State and

his new staff along with new 

offense.

Now with the transfer portal

new players besides freshmen

are new to the team and fans.

It is going be like the NFL or

more so having free agents

each year.

If you are a freshman this could

be your only season or you have

to compete against some new

guys. On offense the Cougars

have many of the guys return

who have eligibility left though

did lose their starting quarterback

John Mateer before last years

bowl game.

The Cougars have Zevi Eckhaus

back at quarterback who had

initially gone into the transfer 

portal.  Though a backup until

the bowl he is a senior so one

year to show his stuff.

The Cougars have only two

transfers into their starting

lineup. One is wide receiver

Devin Ellison a transfer from

junior college so he will have

to learn to cope at a higher

level. 

At tight end is Ademola Faleye

a transfer from Michigan State

and a senior. Not used a lot

last year in catches with only

two. Expect a lot more this 

season.

On defense the Cougars have

five new starters who have

transfered over. Mostly at

linebacker and defensive backs.

They have five more backing

them up. Cougar fans hope

they will have a better defense

this season. 

We will introduce to the guys

over the weeks ahead. Go Cougs!

Mariners Second Loss To Tigers

Again Logan Gilbert is getting

little run support and unfortunately

the Mariners unable to win.

Final Tigers 4 Mariners 1

Logan gave up two runs with

a double  followed by a single 

and the hitter who drove in

the run went to second. He was 

driven in too. This was in the first.

Victor Robles had the only hit 

of the game for the Mariners

to lead off in the Mariners

half of the first. 

Logan gave up another run

in the third. No other runs

through five innings. He 

threw 92 pitches as he struck

out five. 

The Mariners got their lone

run in the seventh inning

when Tellez had s sacrifice

fly to score Arozarena.

The Tigers got their final

run on a homer off Thornton.

The Mariners and Tigers

play a day on Wednesday.

The Mariners face the Tigers

ace do.they will have to find

a way to score runs to avoid 

a sweep. We could say the 

Mariners missed the playoffs

on how they played the Tigers

last year and the same happening

this time.

The Mariners could learn from

the Tigers on how to score in

T-Mobile Park. Work elsewhere 

too. 

The Mariners were without

Jorge Polanco who went on

parenity list as his wife was

having a baby. Leo Rivas

was brought up from Tacoma.

The Mariners sent down 

Emerson Hancock to Tacoma

after Monday's game. The

Mariners will have Thursday's

off before facing the Giants

on Friday. The Mariners

likely skip the fifth starter on 

Sunday with Logan facing 

them. The Mariners won't

need a fifth starter for a 

while  as they have a

day off on Thursday April

10th as well. They have two

Mondays off in a row after 

that too. They may not need

a fifth starter until May unless

Kirby returns before then. 

The Mariners brought up

Jhonathan Diaz in his spot

however he likely pitch out

of the bullpen until Troy

Taylor is activated. Matt 

Brash might be available 

before George Kirby too.

Go M's. 

Washington Huskies Spring Practice Begins

Now that April 1 is here and no joke

Washington Huskies spring practice

begins. Huskies fans can actually 

go and see practices.  There will

be a total of 15.

On offense it begins with Desmond

Williams Jr. who became the starter

near the end of last season. There

is a lot expected of him. The Huskies

brought in a senior to back him up

in Kai Horton from Tulane.

At running back the Huskies return

Jonah Coleman and Adam Muhammad. The Huskies again 

will go with three receivers. Denzel

Boston will be familiar name to

everyone. Decker DeGraaf who

had an outstanding freshman

year will return at tight end. Also

Quentin Moore who missed most

of last year will be the second

tight end as well.

On the offensive line  Landen

Hatchett will be the starting

center as long as he can stay 

healthy.  The left side at guard

wiil be his older brother Geirean

who returns after being gone

a year at Oklahoma. They bring

in Carver Willis a senior transfer.

We will let you know about the

right side at another time along

with the other receivers.

On defense the Huskies will.have

six new starters and we will let

you about them to later as transfers.

The Huskies will go with three on

the defensive line, three linebackers

and sometimes four. They will show

five defensive backs. The fourth

linebacker will come in when they

don't play the nickel.

The Huskies will have experience

with eight seniors and four juniors

included in the fourth linebacker

or nickel back. We hope this make

the dense stronger especially against

the run. 

As far as backups on defense

the Huskies have five seniors, 

They are all redshirted along 

with almost the rest of the guys.

We will let you know any changes

during spring camp. A better

group than last year. Go Dawgs.