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It's almost hard to remember this, especially these days, but at this point in 1989 WSU stood 56-12 and was waiting to begin the MVC tournament. They had just ended their regular season a few days earlier with four games outside the league, a home series against BYU in which the Shocks struggled a bit, winning the opener 8-6 and then splitting a doubleheader in which they won 16-15 to pick up their seventh straight win as BYU couldn't overcome a missed PAT after its first touchdown, but then losing not very competitively 9-3 in the second game; WSU then lost 9-3 again in the finale.
After that, the struggles continued as WSU went out in two days and four games in the conference tournament, dumped twice by Indiana State. So WSU went to Fresno for NCAA play on May 26 at an impressive 58-14, but having lost four of their last eight as well as shortstop and third place hitter Mike Lansing, whose back problems cut short a spectacular offensive season just as things were starting to matter most. It was a sour, somewhat uneasy note in what had been a pretty strong performance to that point, but of course we now know that brief stretch of .500 ball -- which this year would be a highlight if extended over eight games against decent competition -- was about to disappear in the rearview mirror.
I guess it's hard to have everything at once, and the rest of WSU's athletic program has never been better, especially the marquee guys in Koch Arena, but thinking back makes it hard even to imagine what's happening now. Of course, they're probably thinking the same thing at the University of Entitlement in Austin, where WSU's championship game opponents are currently watching the old Zenmaster's declining program, which has slipped to 21-28 and leads only the Chickenhawks in overall record and RPI among Big 12-2 teams.
Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders; WSU and Texas baseball at a combined 41-61 with a total of six regular season games to go. Hell may indeed be freezing over.
After that, the struggles continued as WSU went out in two days and four games in the conference tournament, dumped twice by Indiana State. So WSU went to Fresno for NCAA play on May 26 at an impressive 58-14, but having lost four of their last eight as well as shortstop and third place hitter Mike Lansing, whose back problems cut short a spectacular offensive season just as things were starting to matter most. It was a sour, somewhat uneasy note in what had been a pretty strong performance to that point, but of course we now know that brief stretch of .500 ball -- which this year would be a highlight if extended over eight games against decent competition -- was about to disappear in the rearview mirror.
I guess it's hard to have everything at once, and the rest of WSU's athletic program has never been better, especially the marquee guys in Koch Arena, but thinking back makes it hard even to imagine what's happening now. Of course, they're probably thinking the same thing at the University of Entitlement in Austin, where WSU's championship game opponents are currently watching the old Zenmaster's declining program, which has slipped to 21-28 and leads only the Chickenhawks in overall record and RPI among Big 12-2 teams.
Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders; WSU and Texas baseball at a combined 41-61 with a total of six regular season games to go. Hell may indeed be freezing over.
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