Baseball heads to Texas

If doubleheaders the previous two weekends weren't enough for the Washington baseball team, doubleheaders on back-to-back days might just be.

"It's awful," coach Ken Knutson said. "But it's part of the game."

The No. 19 Huskies (2-4 overall) head to College Station, Texas, this weekend to participate in the Dominos Pizza Aggie Baseball Classic, in which they will play six games in four days. The tournament includes four teams -- Washington, San Diego, Evansville and host Texas A&M -- and spans from tomorrow to Monday.

"It's going to show how much depth our program has," said sophomore pitcher Kyle Parker about the full weekend of baseball. "We're going to get some pitchers out there who haven't thrown a whole lot yet."

Today, the UW plays No. 11 Texas A&M at 5 p.m. Tomorrow they play a doubleheader, facing San Diego in the morning and Evansville in the afternoon.

Sunday, the Huskies play a day-night doubleheader against Evansville in the morning and Texas A&M in the evening. Washington will close out the tournament against San Diego Monday afternoon.

"It's a big-time place to play," said right-fielder Taylor Johnson about the trip to College Station. Johnson leads the team with two home runs.

On the bright side, each of the four doubleheader games will only be seven-inning affairs compared to the regular nine-inning games.

Starting pitchers Parker (1-1) and Tim Lincecum (0-2) will trade spots in the rotation, with Parker pitching today and Lincecum pitching the first game tomorrow. Senior southpaw David Dowling (0-0) will start tomorrow evening's game.

Juniors Keaton Everitt (0-0) and Matt Kasser (1-1) will start Sunday, while sophomore Jordan Ponzoha will pitch Monday.

"You're going to have to extend guys," Knutson said. "Some guys are going to start games that haven't started this year. We're going to have pitch count situations. We're going to have to bring a lot of arms that means probably people that have never pitched before."

With six games in just four days, the bullpen is likely to be taxed, and some relievers could pitch in three of the four games.

"The nice thing we have is a bunch of guys with resilient arms," Knutson said. "We have some bullpen guys that can come back and throw a lot."

The Huskies will make their home debut on March 2 against St. Martin's after playing their first 12 games on the road.

"We're road warriors," said Knutson. "It's going to be a good weekend for us."