University of Washington
Kansas State
Washington Opens Season at the Baseball at the Beach Tournament
February 13, 2025 | Baseball
CONWAY, S.C. - The Huskies open the 2025 season in South Carolina, competing in four games at the Baseball at the Beach tournament hosted by Coastal Carolina.
All the games will have live stats, however only Sunday's game featuring Washington and the Chanticleers will be broadcast on ESPN+.
FIRST SEASON UNDER SMITH
On July 9, 2024, Eddie Smith was named the 25th head coach of University of Washington baseball, announced by UW Director of Athletics Pat Chun. Smith, a native of Olympia, Washington, comes to Montlake after three seasons at Utah Valley, quickly turning the Wolverines around from a Western Athletic Conference bottom dweller to one of the nation's most feared mid-major outfits.
INAUGURAL BIG TEN SEASON
Washington will compete in the Big Ten for the first time in 2025. The Huskies join the new-look conference as one of 17 competitors. Washington will face Nebraska, Maryland, Rutgers, Purdue, UCLA, Illinois, Northwestern, Iowa, Oregon, and USC this season.
This year's conference tournament will feature 12 teams and incorporate pool play with four groups consisting of three teams each. The four pool winners will meet in the single-elimination semifinals on May 24, followed by the championship game on May 25.
DRAFT DEPARTURE
Completing a dream every young ball player dreams of, Washington junior shortstop Cam Clayton heard his named called during the 2024 MLB Draft, being selected in the 14th round by the Miami Marlins. Clayton becomes the first Husky infielder to be selected in the MLB Draft since Ben Baird was taken in the 34th round by the St. Louis Cardinals in 2019. The Huskies have had at least one player drafted in each of the last 13 years dating back to 2012. A three-year starter at shortstop for the Huskies, Clayton established himself as one of the finest glove in the West, earning Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year honors in 2024, becoming the second Husky to receive the honor.
NEW FACES
The Huskies return 20 players while losing 21 following the 2024 season. Of the returners, four position starters come back to Montlake along with 10 pitchers.
TRANSFERS
12 new faces on the Huskies' roster are transfers, including players from Michigan, California, UCLA, and Washington State.
Reeve Boyd (INF, Oregon State)
Julian Sanders (OF, Claremont McKenna)
Carson Crawford (INF, California)
Casen Taggart (INF, Washington State)
Trevor Kole (INF, Florida Gulf Coast)
Max Banks (RHP, Chapman)
Malakhi Knight (OF, UCLA)
Charlie Denomme (RHP, Michigan)
Gunnar Nichols (RHP, Pepperdine)
Noah Sorensen (RHP, Oregon State)
Jackson Thomas (RHP, Utah Valley)
Nic Bronzini (LHP, LSU)
INCOMING FRESHMEN
The 2025 roster is full of young talent, with nine freshmen coming to Montlake, including the No. 2 prospect in the state of Washington according to Prep Baseball Report, Jackson Hotchkiss.
Micah Bujacich (RHP)
Matthew Henning (RHP/OF)
Jackson Hotchkiss (OF)
Easton O'Neal (C)
Lane Simonsen (RHP)
Justin Tims (RHP)
Bradley Gilbert (RHP)
Tommy Curran (LHP)
Luke Klooster (C)
COACHING INTRODUCTION
Head coach Eddie Smith bolstered his staff by retaining Mike Gange and hiring on Connor Lambert, Anthony Gilich, and Damon Lessler.
Gange, in his third season at Washington and serves as the recruiting coordinator, also works closely with the outfielders and hitters. He played collegiately at Everett Community College and Western Oregon.
Lambert serves as Smith's pitching coach. He spent the last seven seasons as the pitching coach at Portland and spent the 2023 season as Portland's associate head coach. During his playing career, he led Washington State to NCAA Appearances in 2009 and 2019 as a pitcher.
Gilich is also in his first year on the staff, serving as an assistant coach and as the defensive coordinator. He spent the 2024 season at ASU as an assistant coach as well. Prior to ASU, he served as longtime head coach at Central Arizona College where he was named NJCAA National Coach of the Year in both 2019 and 2022. Gilich is also a Washington State native and a 2003 graduate of Central Washington University.
Lessler serves as the team's Director of Player Development. He spent the last two seasons at Ohio State as director of operations/recruiting & player development. He also played shortstop collegiately at Mesa Community College, Sonoma State, and Mississippi Valley State.
BIG TEN PLAYERS TO WATCH
Transfer pitcher Max Banks, along with returners Isaac Yeager and AJ Guerrero were each named among the Big Ten's most notable players for the 2025 season.
Banks, a native of San Francisco, pitched three seasons at Chapman before joining the Huskies. He was named to the ABCA All-Region third team his sophomore year, and also earned first team All-SCIAC honors following a season with 12 starts, 76 innings, and 84 strikeouts.
Isaac Yeager was a key pitcher for the Dawgs in 2024, as he made 21 relief appearances and posted a 6.34 ERA in 38.1 innings with 31strikeouts.
AJ Guerrero figures to be one of the conference's best run producers in 2025. The senior slugger moved into a tie for fifth all-time in career home runs last season with 33, with a career-high 15 of them coming in 2024. He also koncked in a career-high 50 RBIs last season.
D1 BASEBALL BIG TEN PREVIEW
Of the 17 teams in the Big Ten, Washington experienced the most impactful changes. Coach Smith is a quality hire based on the success he has enjoyed at previous stops – most recently he instantly turned Utah Valley into a winner – and he assembled a proven collection of coaches with strong ties to the Pacific Northwest. In addition to the significant roster turnover, the Huskies will be playing in a new conference with rigorous travel challenges.
D1 BASEBALL IMPACT PLAYERS
AJ Guerrero figures to be a top run producer in the Big Ten and enjoyed a loud season a year ago, batting .305/.367/.563 while leading the team in home runs (14) and RBIs (48). He has a career .317 average in three years with the Huskies.
After missing most of the 2024 season due to injury, slider specialist Josh Emanuels returns for his redshirt senior season to anchor the back end of the bullpen. He enjoyed a strong 2023 season when he posted a 4.68 ERA with six saves in 28 relief appearances spanning 42 1/3 innings.
Sam DeCarlo is moving from third base to shortstop for the 2025 season and the catching tandem of Colton Bower and Colin Blanchard provides stability to the pitching staff.
On the offensive side of the ball first baseman Casen Taggert has shown intriguing power potential with a long and lean build from the lefthanded batter's box, most recently hitting .269 with six home runs at Washington State.
TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE
The Huskies will play in two tournaments during the 2025 regular season, facing off in the Baseball at the Beach to open the season and then at the Las Vegas College Baseball Classic to open March. Each tournament will feature a round robin schedule.
D3 DIAMONDS
For the third 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 Max Banks who enjoyed a strong three-year career at Division III Chapman, collectively going 12-4, 3.35 in three seasons with a 185-to-67 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 150 2/3 innings. Last season, Washington signed right-hander Spencer Dessart out of Middlebury College in Vermont, who posted a 4.32 ERA with 63 strikeouts over 50 innings. And in 2023, 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.
IT CAN WAIT
For the third year in a row, a Washington commit turned down the opportunity to sign with an MLB team to join the Husky roster. Jackson Hotchkiss was selected by the Arizona Diamondbacks, but opted to take his talents to UW first. Last season, 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. Former Husky Aiva Arquette was a 18th round draft choice by the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2022 before coming to campus.
