Another week, another series win for the Washington Huskies, this time thanks to a walkoff double on Sunday against the Oregon Ducks.
Oregon State swept Stanford last week, pushing the top two farther away from the rest of the field.
Some changes in the middle of the rankings from last week thanks to those Washington and Oregon series, plus a weekend full of struggles for UCLA.
Without further ado, here's how the Pac-12 Power Rankings shape up this week:
1. Washington Huskies (22-6-1, 10-2)
Previous ranking: 1
Last week: 2-1 vs. Oregon
This week: @ Seattle (Tues), vs. Stanford (Fri-Sun), vs. Northern Colorado (Mon)
After getting crushed by Oregon on Friday, the Huskies battled back for a 1-0 win on Saturday, followed up by that extra-inning thriller on Sunday, which ended with this:
Stanford comes in after a bad weekend against Oregon State. Completely expect Washington to keep this train rolling.
2. Oregon State Beavers (25-6, 9-3)
Previous ranking: 2
Last week: 1-0 @ Portland, 3-0 vs. Stanford
This week: @ Washington State (Fri-Sun)
Huge sweep for the Beavers, and it brought them a game closer to those surprising Huskies. OSU continues to get it done with their pitching, allowing a total of two runs in the three games against the Cardinal. Ben Wetzler's ERA is now 0.38! Just two earned runs allowed in 47 total innings. That's ridiculous.
3. Arizona State Sun Devils (17-12, 7-5)
Previous ranking: 3
Last week: 2-1 vs. USC
This week: vs. Arizona (Wednedsay), vs. Cal (Fri-Sun)
It was an interesting week for the ASU bullpen, but somehow the Devils still managed to get two of three from the Trojans. It must be nice to consistently get clutch hits. But the jerseys they wore on Saturday? Ew.
The #TequillaSunrise has arrived @ybar_14 @GregBordes5 pic.twitter.com/g4z9sCi3SJ
— ASU_Baseball (@ASU_Baseball) April 6, 2014
4. Oregon Ducks (22-10, 7-5)
Previous ranking: 4
Last week: 2-0 @ Gonzaga, 1-2 @ Washington
This week: vs. Portland (Tues & Wed), vs. UC Riverside (Fri-Sun)
Tough way to lose the series at Washington. Luckily for the Ducks, they have a week to regroup before heading into the stretch run of the season. And they at least got some runs on Friday and Sunday at UW, which was a nice change of pace from how they had been doing. Maybe a weekend against a team like UCR will get the lineup jump started.
5. Washington State Cougars (15-13, 6-3)
Previous ranking: 7
Last week: 3-0 vs. Cal
This week: vs. BYU (Tues), vs. Oregon State (Fri-Sun)
A series sweep heading into the biggest baseball weekend in Pullman in a long, long time is exactly what the doctor ordered for this team. Sitting at 6-3 with second place OSU in town is a huge chance for this team to make a statement. Will they do it?
6. UCLA Bruins (18-12, 6-3)
Previous ranking: 5
Last week: 1-0 @ Loyola Marymount, 1-2 vs. Long Beach State
This week: @ Cal State Fullerton (Tues), @ Arizona (Fri-Sun)
Really bad weekend for the Bruins, whose only win against LBSU came in extra innings on Friday. They fall to 2-4 over their last six, but luckily for them they get a struggling Arizona team this weekend. And it didn't count in the conference standings so they still only have a 3 in that loss column.
7. Stanford Cardinal (10-14, 3-6)
Previous ranking: 6
Last week: 0-3 @ Oregon State
This week: vs. UC Davis (Tues), @ Washington (Fri-Sun)
The thing that sucks for Stanford in that sweep is that their pitching kept them in all three of those games. The combined score for the weekend was 7-2, and the Saturday game was scoreless until the 13th inning. Tough luck, but on the bright side, Washington's pitching is not as dominant as OSU's, so maybe Stanford can get a surprise series win on the road in Seattle this weekend.
8. Arizona Wildcats (14-19, 4-8)
Previous ranking: 9
Last week: 2-1 @ Utah
This week: @ ASU (Wed), vs. UCLA (Fri-Sun)
It was close to a series loss against the worst team in the conference, but an extra-inning win on Saturday followed up with a decent game Sunday gave Arizona a much-needed series win. Big opportunity for them to take advantage of a slumping UCLA team this week, all while having the TV spotlight shined directly on Tucson.
9. California Golden Bears (14-15, 3-6)
Previous ranking: 8
Last week: 0-3 @ WSU
This week: @ ASU (Fri-Sun)
Not a great weekend in the Northwest for the Bears. Their only three conference wins are against Utah, so not a lot to like about what they've done so far in Pac-12 play. Can't imagine it gets any better with a weekend in Tempe.
10. USC Trojans (15-15, 4-8)
Previous ranking: 10
Last week: 1-0 vs. Long Beach State, 1-2 @ ASU
This week: @ Pepperdine (Tues), vs. Utah (Fri-Sun)
An extra inning win on Sunday salvaged the series in Tempe, but so did this:
Yep, former Arizona Wildcat Kenny Lofton, which was not lost on the Arizona Baseball twitter feed:
@ArizonaBaseball Absolutely! Congrats on your weekend and best of luck against our crosstown rivals next weekend!
— USC Trojans Baseball (@USC_Baseball) April 7, 2014
11. Utah Utes (10-19, 1-11)
Previous ranking: 11
Last week: 1-2 vs. Arizona
This week: @ USC (Fri-Sun)
A conference win! But a lost opportunity to win the series on Saturday keeps Utah at the bottom of the barrel here. A chance again to move up facing USC.
Clearly the series of the week is OSU/WSU, but TV will have tons of Arizona/UCLA action for you this week. Here's a look at how to tune in to find some Pac-12 Baseball.
Pac-12 Networks:
Friday (7 PM): UCLA @ UA
Saturday (6 PM): Stanford @ UW
Sunday (4 PM): UCLA @ UA
ESPNU:
Saturday (7:30 PM): UCLA @ UA