Washington's 10th-year coach, Lindsay Meggs, previewed his team before the Huskies take the field for the first time on Friday, Feb. 15 at UC Irvine.
Q: What are your expectations for the team this season?
Lindsay Meggs: "I like our balance. I think that’s going to be a key for us. Hopefully because of that, on days that we don’t pitch well, we’ll score some runs. On the days that we don’t score some runs, hopefully we can keep the scoring down. I think we’re going to play good defense. We’ve proven that over the last five season that year in and year out, we’re among the leaders in the conference in fielding percentage. My hope is that we can win one-run games, we can win high-scoring games, we can win low-scoring games. You can’t do that if you don’t have balance and I think we have that."
Q: Do you pay much attention to the preseason predictions?
Meggs: "I don’t put a lot of stock about what anybody has to say about us unless they’re in this building. We preach to our players all the time to try and tune out the noise. We want them to focus on the task at hand – not the draft or the preseason predictions or in-season postseason predictions. We work so hard to talk about what we’re doing today and staying in the moment. We try not to get caught up in that stuff. It’s just a waste of our energy."
Q: Last year, the team bond was so important to the College World Series run. Is that something that is preached or does it grow from within the locker room?
Meggs: "We’re always trying to continue and improve upon on our culture, which we think is built on positive relationships, being team-oriented and being unselfish. We were fortunate to have really good player-driven leadership like we did last year, then sometimes that stuff takes on a life of its own. I think that’s what you saw last year. We had some older guys – Levi Jordan, KJ Brady, Alex Hardy – those guys had been through some great times and some tough times. I think they did a good job of passing things down to the younger guys, who felt really included and really valued. Those three along with the other veterans really made that locker room a home away from home for everybody. Our guys really benefited from that and it’s kind of an X-factor. When it’s Sunday and it’s one game apiece and it’s 2-2 in the seventh inning, that makes a huge difference. It showed last year, especially down the stretch during the postseason."
Q: Where is the program as you head into your 10th year?
Meggs: "We really feel good about where we are. I think in any athletic department, in any program, in any business, you kind of hope your group or your program is built to last. I think the way people evaluate that is typically in five-year blocks to really give yourself a good indication of where you are and the type of consistency you have. Five years ago, that coincides with the opening of Husky Ballpark. I think everything before that, is everything before that. Since when the ballpark opened, I think we have got a true indication of where we are. We have the second-best winning percentage in the conference in the last five years. It’s Oregon State and us, and then it’s everybody else. It’s a pretty impressive statement, so I feel pretty good about where we’re at. Some others are not very quick to acknowledge that, but as I tell our guys, I think that we’re better at what we do than a lot of the other people are at what they do, so do we care what they think? Let’s just concentrate on what we do and the personalities in the building. From that perspective, we like where we are. We’re excited about what we did last year, but we still think our best days are ahead of us. We’re really pleased."