Pac-12 Baseball Power Rankings: OSU, UCLA climb the charts

It was not a great weekend for the Pac-12, as Oregon, Arizona and Stanford all got swept. Utah and Washington St. were both pretty close to that distinction as well.

ASU and Cal both had unbeaten weeks, moving those clubs up the rankings a little bit, but there is still quite a bit of separation between the top four and the rest of the field.

Last week's power rankings had Oregon at the top, but after being swept, we have a new Oregon team at the top. Let's get to it:

1. Oregon St. Beavers (9-3)

Previous rank: 3

Last week: 3-1 vs. Wright St. (7-0, 6-4, 2-6, 13-2)

This week: vs. Portland (Tues.), 4 games vs. Northern Illinois (Fri-Sun)

OSU moves to the top this week mostly because of the horrible play in front of them. And Ben Wetzler is back. Once they get their rotation back to what it is supposed to be, look out for the Beavs.

2. UCLA Bruins (7-4)

Previous rank: 4

Last week: UC Santa Barbara (L 4-6), vs. Notre Dame (W 2-1), vs. NC State (W 2-0), vs. Michigan (W, 5-0)

This week: vs. Loyola Marymount (Tues.), vs. Pepperdine (Fri.), vs. Houston (Sat.), at USC (Sun.)

The ND, NC State and UM games were all played in North Carolina, and UCLA pitching absolutely dominated every second of that tournament. The highlight for the Bruins was Cody Peteet throwing a complete game shutout vs. Michigan, a game in which Peteet only allowed two hits and struck out 13.

Also, against NC State, the Wolfpack threw their ace and possible top-overall pick Carlos Rodon, and Grant Watson won that College World Series rematch. Crazy good weekend for Bruin pitching.

3. USC Trojans (8-2)

Previous rank: 2

Last week: @ Long Beach St. (L 2-1), 1-1 vs. Cal Poly (2-5, 16-0)

This week: @ UC Irvine (Wed.), vs. Houston (Fri.), vs. Pepperdine (Sat.), vs. UCLA (Sun.)

Pretty excited to see how that USC/UCLA game turns out on Sunday. Although USC lost their first two games of the season, that 16-0 win over Cal Poly puts the Trojans above Oregon. CP has looked great this season with the exception of that game. The teams were supposed to play three times, but due to that massive storm system, they only got two of the games in.

4. Oregon Ducks (8-3)

Previous rank: 1

Last week: vs. Portland (W 8-2), 0-3 @ Cal State Fullerton (2-9, 2-3, 4-5)

This week: vs. Seattle (Two games Tues.), vs. Ohio State (Three Games Fri-Sun.)

The crazy part about Oregon getting swept in Fullerton is that Washington St. somehow has more wins against the Titans than the Ducks. No shame in being swept by Fullerton, but with everyone else that is now ahead of them winning, Oregon drops to fourth for the time being.

5. California Golden Bears (8-2)

Previous rank: 6

Last week: 2-0 vs. Baylor (8-5, 5-3), W vs. San Diego (5-2)

This week: vs. Stanford (Tues.), vs. Tulane (Fri.), vs. San Francisco (Sat.), Two games vs. Arkansas (Sun.)

Cal goes in front of ASU because the Bears went 2-0 vs. Baylor, while ASU went 1-2. The Bear pitching is getting it done still. 25 runs allowed in ten games. That's pretty dang good. Arkansas will be the main test this week.

6. Arizona St. Sun Devils (5-4)

Previous rank: 9

Last week: W vs. Santa Clara (9-6), W vs. Gonzaga (10-5), W vs. Oklahoma St. (6-1)

This week: Three games vs. Tennessee (Fri-Sun.)

ASU seems to have gotten it turned around this weekend in Surprise. Oklahoma St. was ranked in the teens coming into this weekend, so that is a big win for the Sun Devils. Tennessee is currently 10-0, and have two games vs. La Salle before heading to Tempe. If the Vols are 12-0 and ASU somehow wins the series, we can officially say the Devils have shaken off their slow start.

7. Arizona Wildcats (6-5)

Previous rank: 5

Last week: 0-3 vs. Seton Hall (1-9, 2-4, 2-11)

This week: Two games vs. Long Beach St. (Tues-Wed), Two games vs. UC Santa Barbara (Sat and Sun.), Two games vs. Mississippi St. (Fri and Sun.)

The Cats looked bad this weekend. There's no other way to put it. Credit to Seton Hall though. That team has the potential to do some things. UA has a chance this week to set itself up for an extremely successful season, or start falling into the abyss. They have the most challenging week of any Pac-12 team; let's see what you're made of.

8. Washington Huskies (6-4)

Previous rank: 10

Last week: 3-0 vs. UC Davis (4-1, 2-1, 8-3)

This week: Two games @ Santa Clara (Thurs. and Sun.*), @ San Jose St. (Fri.), @ Pacific (Sat.)

*What kind of ridiculous scheduling is that?

Three wins over a UC school gives you the right to move up a couple spots in the power rankings. That's all I've got for ya UW.

9. Stanford Cardinal (4-7)

Previous rank: 7

Last week: W vs. San Francisco (6-4), 0-3 @ Vanderbilt (1-4, 1-5, 2-4)

This week: @ Cal (Tues.), Three games vs. Kansas (Fri-Sun.)

Stanford decided to play an insanely tough non-conference schedule this season, and their record certainly reflects that. Tough to get a read on a team when they keep losing games to really good teams. But by virtue of being below .500, the Cardinal have to be way down here at nine.

10. Utah Utes (5-5)

Previous rank: 8

Last week: 1-2 @ Loyola Marymount (7-6, 0-2, 1-4)

This week: @ BYU (Tues.), Two games @ UT Arlington (Fri. & Mon.), vs. Abilene Christian (Sat.), vs. Missouri St. (Sun.)

Those final four games are a part of the UTA Invitational in Arlington. Really though, Utah needed to win the series at Marymount last week. None of their games have had double digit runs scored by either team, so at least they're in every single game they play.

11. Washington St. Cougars (2-7)

Previous rank: 11

Last week: 1-2 @ Cal State Northridge (2-3, 1-0, 0-1)

This week: Three games vs. Texas State (Fri-Sun.)

You've definitely earned this basement placement Cougs. What a crazy offensive explosion you had this week....

For real though, this team was supposed to be a tournament team coming into this season. What is going on? Hope you get it turned around, but not until after you come to Tucson in two weeks.

That'll do it for this week's Pac-12 Power Rankings, as there are still only 11 teams. Once MLB starts, I'll get the Rockies all up on here to represent Colorado.

A couple of conference matchups coming up with USC/UCLA and Cal/Stanford. Should make next week's rankings a little more interesting as some more of these teams will have actually played each other (UW/OSU is the only P12 game so far).

Until next week Pac-12 baseball fans!