| 1. OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY (27-12), 11-7 in the Pac-10, 3-1 vs. Oregon, Arizona State The biggest league series win of the season against the country’s No. 1 team according to one national poll. This weekend’s road series vs. a hot Washington team will be tough. Would a second place conference finish and 35 wins get a bid to host a regional? Maybe, it is still in sight. The Beavers are beginning to get healthy again and the offense is slowing finding its way—the pitching is solid but getting contributions from more of the staff than originally thought. One trade mark of Coach Casey’s teams over his 15 years—they are always better at the end of the year. This team is capable if it can finish like they hope—not only to get into the regionals—but do something while there. But first things first—two Northwest rivals stand in their way—the Huskies and Cougars—both in the hunt themselves for regional possibilities. The last 3 weeks should be good Northwest baseball drama. |
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| 2. GONZAGA UNIVERSITY (30-14), 12-6 in conference, 2-1 vs. St. Mary’s The Zags stay in a first place tie for the conference lead. Ryan Wiegland breaks Gonzaga’s all-time hits record. A week off for finals this week sets up the final big 5 games of the regular season: two at Oregon State on May 12th and 13th—could have NCAA regional bid ramifications for both teams and season ending series with Loyola Marymount who they are tied with for first in conference. The top two teams play in the WCC Championships on May 22-24. The winner gets the automatic bid. They have put themselves in a position for a regional bid even without winning the tournament—they have some early season wins vs. good teams also that will help. |
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| 3. WASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY (22-20), 11-7 in conference, 1-2 vs. Stanford The Cougs run to the top of conference got somewhat stalled this weekend with the home series loss to Stanford. But WSU has the last place Ducks coming to town. With a sweep of the Ducks—it would set up the last two weekends vs. the Beavers and the Huskies—the most important games in the history of Cougar baseball. At this point—considering their early season wins and loss against top 25 type teams—they would likely have to do both—get the magic 30 wins AND finish in top 3 in the conference to be in contention for the regional bid. The way the Pac-10 stacks up this year—it is down some—it may not get four teams in the NCAA Tournament. It has been awhile since that did not happen. |
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| 4. UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON (21-23), 10-8 in conference, 3-0 vs. USC The hottest team in the Pac-10 stays red hot with home sweep and moves into the upper division of the conference. The Huskies host OSU this weekend for their most important conference series to date and finish conference at Arizona and the Apple Cup at WSU on May 22-24. It is not out of the question at this point that that the final series could come down to huge ramifications for a regional bid. The Apple Cup is always interesting but that could really make for a wild weekend. |
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| 5. UNIVERSITY OF PORTLAND (22-20), 5-10 in conference, 1-0 vs. Concordia A week off for finals week will give the Pilots a chance to regroup. To finish over .500 for the season—something they have not done in 11 seasons–the Pilots must win conference series vs. Pepperdine and San Francisco at home—but also have non-league games vs. OSU and two vs. WSU. |
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| 6. UNIVERSITY OF OREGON (14-31), 4-14 in the Pac-10, 1-2 vs. UCLA It won’t get any easier for the Ducks with road series vs. ASU and WSU—lst and 2nd in conference and a non-league game at OSU. It is hard to think the Oregon can avoid the cellar in the Pac-10 in their first year—a result many expected—except maybe the Oregon athletic administration and their fans—but overall with 11 games remaining—they need to win 3 to avoid a 40 loss season. The last series at home vs. Arizona will be interesting. |
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–Jeff McKay
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