Gonzaga Baseball Loses Two of Three at Texas State, Falls to 2-5
Continuing a tough stretch to begin the season, Gonzaga baseball (2-5) took on Texas State (5-2) this past weekend, but once again succumbed on the road. Although they had opportunities to win the series, the Bulldogs instead lost two of three games to the Bobcats.
Texas State scored first in all three contests, with the Zags needing to play catch-up constantly throughout the set. The first game was the toughest pill to swallow for the Zags, as they blew a three-run cushion, with the Bobcats plating four runs in the eighth to steal it. GU’s bats were quieted by the opposing starters in each of the final two games, sparking a rally late in the middle game but not being able to repeat its heroics in the rubber match.
How did another series squeeze out of Gonzaga’s grasp?
Sounders Overcome Tough Calls, Injuries in 2-0 Season-Opening Win
In one of the clunkier games of soccer ever played under the lights of Lumen Field, the hometown Sounders emerged with a 2-0 win over the Colorado Rapids to open the 2026 season.
Paul Rothrock took over early for an injured Jordan Morris, picking up a hustle-driven assist and a second-half goal to add to his local legend. Keeper Andrew Thomas wasn't tested much, but logged a clean sheet in his first game after being named the starter.
All in all, the Sounders were in another weight class from a younger Colorado squad, winning practically every moment of the game.
Analysis: How Does Zach Charbonnet Injury Impact Seahawks’ Offseason Game Plan?
Winning the Super Bowl in the NFL requires a talented roster and strong coaching. But teams that make it all the way to the mountaintop also need good fortune, particularly when it comes to injuries.
Capturing the Lombardi Trophy for the second time in franchise history earlier this month, the Seattle Seahawks checked off all three of those boxes. General manager John Schneider assembled the deepest, most talented roster in the league with coach Mike Macdonald and a fantastic staff maximizing on that talent, and health-wise, the team suffered far fewer significant injuries than other playoff teams.
With that said, the Seahawks didn’t escape the season without a substantial injury happening in the playoffs as they orchestrated their run to the Super Bowl, as standout running back Zach Charbonnet suffered a torn ACL in a 41-6 Divisional Round beatdown of the 49ers. There’s never a good time for such an injury to occur, but in the case of Charbonnet, blowing out his knee so late in the season creates a conundrum that the organization will have to navigate heading into free agency and the upcoming NFL draft.
Washington State Fizzles in Second Half, Saint Mary’s Pulls Away for 83-67 Win
The Washington State Cougars hung with Saint Mary's for nearly 27 minutes on Saturday night, but a cold half from beyond the arc and a lack of stops down the stretch allowed the favored Gaels to pull away for an 83–67 victory in Pullman.
For much of the game, the Cougars showed they were capable of competing with one of the top teams in the West Coast Conference. However, they needed to play at their best for 40 minutes and once Saint Mary’s started to pull away, Washington State wasn’t able to make another run to get back in it in the closing minutes.
Washington State shot the ball from three-point range really well in the first half, going 7-12 from downtown, sending coach David Riley’s team into the break trailing 40-39.
John Christofilis, Seniors Step Up in Redhawks 71-59 Win Over Pilots
With Seattle U celebrating senior night at the Connolly Center, all three seniors that dressed were in the starting lineup together for the first time this season, and all made a significant impact in the Redhawks 71-59 win over the Portland Pilots on Saturday night.
Prior to his senior season, John Christofilis started 50 games over his sophomore and junior seasons with the Redhawks. This year, however, his minutes and opportunities have all been reduced in a bench role. However, the savvy guard has not hung his head, instead fitting into whatever role Chris Victor needed from him and on Saturday, he made the most of his chance in a return to the lineup with Brayden Maldonado still out due to injury.
Gonzaga Wins Clunky Contest Against Pacific 71-62
It sure wasn’t pretty. There were plenty of ill-advised shots, rushed possessions, and a bunch of missed free throws, but Gonzaga (27-2, 16-1) still found a way to get past Pacific (17-13, 8-9) 71-62 at home for its fifth consecutive victory.
Watching the Tigers on tape, Mark Few figured the game would be far from a smooth operation. His prediction was taken to the extreme, with Gonzaga playing one of its rougher stretches of basketball this season in the first half.
Eight and a half hours earlier, there was a bracket preview held for the NCAA Tournament, where the Zags were listed as one of the No.3 seeds. One of the committee chairs, Keith Gill, shared that the group was seriously considering GU as a No.4 seed prior to a season-ending injury to Texas Tech’s JT Toppin, with the Bulldogs’ lone conference loss to Portland still looming large in the eyes of the committee.
Mariners Drop Saturday Spring Game 10-5; Hancock Appears Solid in Start
The beating Arizona sun took quite its share of victims for the second day in a row as the San Francisco Giants made the trip over from Scottsdale to Peoria for some Cactus League action against the Seattle Mariners. Chief among those victims this time was Emerson Hancock’s Spring Training ERA as the M’s let a five-run lead become a five-run loss.
But since the score doesn’t matter in February, let’s take a look at some of the few things that might give us the faintest echo of an idea for how the Mariners look going into 2026.
Emerson Hancock shows some life in his first outing of the spring.
Seattle’s pitching lab has seen a lot of success in recent years, with Bryan Woo, Logan Gilbert, and George Kirby turning into key pieces of the Mariners’ arsenal. But so far, that success has not been flowing in Emerson Hancock’s direction. Hancock, who has a career 4.81 ERA, 5.23 FIP, and 1.359 WHIP across 37 appearances (31 starts), enters 2026 with one more shot to become a major league starter.
Huskies Men’s Basketball Can’t Close Out Terrapins On the Road
The Washington Huskies men’s basketball team missed a trio of opportunities to tie or win the game before Maryland’s Andre Mills threw down an alley-oop dagger in a 64-60 loss on Saturday, Feb. 21, at the Xfinity Center.
UW (13-14, 5-11 Big Ten) ended up on the wrong side of a nail-biter, as its struggling defense rose to the surface as a critical issue once again. Maryland (11-16, 4-12 Big Ten) continued its recent success, winning three out of its last five games.
Analysis: 3 Trade Scenarios for Seattle Kraken Involving Shane Wright
In a playoff spot as of the Olympic break, the Seattle Kraken sit third in the Pacific Division with a record that keeps them competitive in the Western Conference Wild Card race as well. However, their offense ranks towards the bottom in most offensive statistics and to make a real push to be a playoff contender, they need some serious scoring juice.
Trading Shane Wright, the 2022 fourth-overall pick now 22 years old, could be a strategic move to address immediate needs and accelerate the team's contention window with an instant upgrade, though making such a deal with a talented young player carries significant risk.
With the NHL trade deadline looming on March 6, let’s explore three possible trade scenarios that involve Seattle packaging Wright for an upgrade.
Baseball’s Back: Five Notes from Mariners’ First Spring Training Action of 2026
With blue skies above and many excited fans all around in that picturesque Cactus League ballpark, the Seattle Mariners played their first game of 2026 Spring Training on Friday, Feb. 20. The first day of spring is perhaps the most hopeful time for all 30 teams in any given year, with a nearly clean slate injury-wise and the first harsh reality checks of the regular season still a month and change away.
A quite packed house of 9,956 spectators dotted the Peoria Sports Complex to see the Mariners and Padres both take to their home Spring ball yard. They saw prospects go up against powerhouses in exciting duels and yet also witnessed players trip over each other, lose cans of corn in the sun, and make Little League errors in base coverage. No one got hurt and the game doesn’t count, so both sides came away with a smile in a 7-4 win for Seattle. But what does the first preseason action of 2026 tell us about how things might go when real chips are down for the Mariners?
Michael Arroyo put on a good display at the dish, with a homer and double to power early Seattle production.
Seattle’s system has a fair amount of top-end hitting prospects, and although Colt Emerson and Lazaro Montes headline the system, the crown in Peoria bore witness to another of Seattle’s guys in the farm system. Michael Arroyo, who struggled a bit with his power after his promotion to Double-A in 2025 with a .255/.376/.341 slash line (though this was still a 121 OPS+ where 100 is league average) - and yet decreased his strikeout rate against better pitchers - went into Spring with the chance to show what exactly the Mariners have with him.
Super Bowl Champion Seahawks Bolster Secondary, Pass Rush in Pre-Combine Mock Draft
On the heels of a historic Super Bowl run that brought the Lombardi Trophy back to the Pacific Northwest, the Seattle Seahawks won’t have too much time left to celebrate with the heat of the offseason now underway, including the upcoming 2026 NFL combine in Indianapolis.
Looking to fortify the roster for a title defense, Seahawks general manager John Schneider won’t have near as much capital to work with as he has over the past four drafts, as the team currently has only four selections. This includes three picks in the first three rounds at the very tail end of the round due to winning the Super Bowl and only one pick in the final four rounds, in large part due to trading a fourth and fifth-round pick to the Saints at the trade deadline in October to acquire receiver Rashid Shaheed.
Kicking off our annual draft coverage on Emerald City Spectrum, if the 2026 NFL Draft happened over the next three days without any trades, who would the Seahawks add to the mix with their four selections?
Gonzaga WBB Smashes Washington State 75-50 to Remain Atop WCC Standings
Needing to keep pace with the other handful of teams bunched at the peak of the WCC, Gonzaga women’s basketball (20-8, 12-3) took care of business at home Thursday night, dismantling Washington State (5-22, 4-10) by a score of 75-50 to holds its first-place spot with three games remaining in the regular season.
Considering the Bulldogs beat the Cougs by six points the last time these teams squared off three weeks ago, GU certainly brought the correct adjustments and mindset for such a lopsided victory this time around, especially coming off the team’s tough loss on Saturday to LMU that had significant implications on conference seeding. The Zags played a brand of basketball that they intend to continue to build on with the postseason on the horizon — physicality on defense and limiting turnovers.
Offensive Explosion Guides Washington State to Blowout 87-70 Win vs. Pacific
After what may have been their worst performance of the 2025–2026 season, the Washington State Cougars responded in emphatic fashion Wednesday night. The Cougars delivered arguably their most complete game of the year, knocking off the fourth-place Pacific Tigers 87–70 in a performance that showcased their ability to shoot the ball.
With the victory, Washington State now finds itself tied with Oregon State for fifth place in the West Coast Conference standings and sits just a half-game behind Pacific for the fourth spot. Considering how tightly packed the middle of the conference table is, Wednesday’s win could prove pivotal as the regular season winds down.
What stood out from the Cougs’ unexpected offensive onslaught?
Kraken the Ice: Would Trading Shane Wright Be Right Deadline Move for Seattle?
Closing in on their return to action as the Winter Olympic break nears a conclusion, the Kraken could have a massive decision on their hands regarding the future of Shane Wright.
Emerald City Spectrum writer Nick Lee breaks down why Seattle may have interest in moving Wright for the right price, shares his thoughts on what that right price would have to look like in terms of compensation to finalize a deal before the deadline, and recaps the latest exploits by Kraken players on the Olympic ice in Milan.
‘It’s an Honor’: Brian Fleury Ready to Tackle First Play Calling Role as Seahawks’ New Coordinator
Selecting his third offensive coordinator in as many offseasons since taking over as head coach of the Seattle Seahawks, Mike Macdonald has learned a thing or two about trusting the process, sticking to his core principles and philosophies in the search for a new play caller as much as Xs and Os.
While some skeptics may question hiring a coordinator who has never called plays at any level, Macdonald isn’t in that camp, seeing far more to the job than simply turning plays into the quarterback. Looking at the entire picture while seeking a candidate with a diverse coaching background and a shared vision offensively post-Klint Kubiak, Brian Fleury checked off every other box on the checklist, landing himself the opportunity to be a coordinator for the first time in Seattle.
Now, Fleury plans to pay it forward rewarding by Macdonald for his faith in him, taking his career path to the next level as one of the few non-head coach play callers in the NFL with the defending Super Bowl champions.
Mitch Garver Returns to Mariners on Minor League Contract; Will Big League Team See Him in 2026?
When the 2024 season took flight, Mitch Garver was fresh off one of the best seasons of his career. In 87 games as a catcher and DH for the Texas Rangers, he slashed .270/.370/.500 for a 138 OPS+ (where 100 is league average) with 19 homers, 11 doubles, and 50 RBIs. But the real crown jewel of that season came on Nov. 1, when his Rangers sealed their first World Series victory.
The Mariners wanted a piece of that action. Ever short a bat and needing a reliable backstop to complement burgeoning star Cal Raleigh, president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto dished out the then-largest free agent hitter contract of his tenure, a two-year, $24 million deal with a $12 million mutual option for a third year that had a $1 million team buyout.
Things didn’t quite go according to plan. Over 201 games in 2024 and 2025, Garver slashed .187/.290/.341 for an 85 OPS+. A decline in batting average on balls in play from .313 in 2023 - an unheeded warning that he was due for regression - to .236 over the next pair of summers took a lot of the wind from his sails, concurrent with a decline in line drives and an increase in grounders. The M’s took the buyout and Garver took heed of his options, but in the end, he returned to Seattle on a minor league contract. Will he find his way back to the big league club, or will any value from Garver in 2026 be more organizational?
What to Know About Storm’s Newest Assistant Coaches
More than three months after being hired, Seattle Storm head coach Sonia Raman has assembled her coaching staff for the 2026 season.
The Storm announced that they hired Natalie Achonwa, Jarell Christian and Michael Joiner, completing what will be an entirely new staff under Raman after the franchise parted ways with former head coach Noelle Quinn.
In an offseason that still holds an incredible amount of uncertainty, the Storm nearly have all their ducks in a row before the WNBA Draft in April. Now, they just have to wait and see what happens with the CBA, the expansion drafts and free agency before finalizing a draft plan.
Here’s what you should know about all three of the Storm’s newest coaches.
Late Game Mishaps Derail Redhawks’ Spirited Comeback vs. Gaels in 72-70 Loss
With the question of who fill the void of Brayden Maldonado after his ankle injury on Sunday against Oregon State, multiple Redhawks did their best to pick up the slack for Seattle U in a critical home game on Wednesday night.
But in a matchup against a 23-4 Saint Mary’s squad, an already shorthanded Redhawk squad made too many mistakes down the stretch to finish off a torrid comeback attempt, falling short in 72-70 loss to the Gaels at Climate Pledge Arena.
Despite trailing by as much as 14 points in the first quarter, Seattle stormed back in the second half and both teams were tied at 67 with about 1:30 left to play. On offense, the Redhawks had the ball in the hands of Jojo Murphy, who made his first start of the season in place of Maldonado. With a chance to take the lead, the senior guard drove into the lane but lost the ball for a costly turnover. On the other end, Saint Mary’s capitalized, turning to Mikey Lewis in isolation as the sophomore guard finished high off the glass for the go-ahead bucket.
Gonzaga Bulldozes San Francisco 80-59 at Chase Center
Mark Few’s message to his team all season long has been that ‘every dog will have its day’. When Braden Huff, Gonzaga’s star forward, was sidelined in the middle of January with a left knee injury, the significance of that motto increased substantially. Huff’s running mate in the frontcourt, Graham Ike, was expected to and has held things down from a production standpoint.
But for a period, the Bulldogs struggled to find consistent offense from those alongside Ike with Huff on the bench, lacking the balance needed to truly threaten teams in the half-court.
Now continuing to build off strong performances, the Zags (26-2, 14-1) are getting welcome contributions from several members on the roster game-over-game, most recently disposing of San Francisco (15-14, 7-9) 80-59 to extend their winning streak to four. Even with Ike scoring 22, his eighth straight game of eclipsing 20 points, punishing the Dons who dared him to knock down open mid-range jumpers – and he obliged – the story was about those around him, who provided enough to leave the Chase Center with a blowout victory.
Mike Macdonald, Seahawks Build Strong Contingency Plans With Fortified Coaching Staff
Paying the heavy toll that comes as a mandatory cost of winning in the NFL, the Seattle Seahawks expectedly have suffered significant coaching departures after defeating the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LX, headlined by the immediate exit of offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak to accept the head coaching job for the Las Vegas Raiders.
Losing Kubiak, who helped steer a top-three scoring offense quarterbacked by Sam Darnold in his lone season calling plays for the Seahawks, won’t be an easy task for the organization. In addition, former quarterbacks coach Andrew Janocko followed him to Vegas, taking over as the Raiders new offensive coordinator, leaving two major vacancies for coach Mike Macdonald to fill in quick order. Such staff turnover plays a big role in the struggle to repeat in the league, as only two teams have won back-to-back Super Bowls since 2001.
Fortunately for Seattle, however, Macdonald has grown leaps and bounds when it comes to evaluating coaching talent and building/maintaining a staff since the franchise first hired him as a first-time head coach in 2024. Already having experience hiring two offensive coordinators, he had a clear objective in mind seeking Kubiak’s replacement, emphasizing the desire for continuity while still keeping all options on the table with both internal and external candidates in the mix.
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