After a year that saw just two Pac-10 baseball teams make it to the NCAA Tournament, the conference is back with a vengeance. Two teams have already held down the No. 1 spot in the country and as many as eight could make the tournament in 2010. Here is how teams stack up within the top baseball conference in the nation this season: 1. UCLA Bruins (25-3, 4-2 Pac-10)
UCLA is finally living up to expectations thanks to its pitching staff. No team in the conference can match the Bruins’ weekend starters. With ASU senior Josh Spence still on the shelf, sophomore Gerrit Cole (6-0, 2.37 ERA) has taken over as the best starter in the conference. Last year’s National Freshman Pitcher of the Year Trevor Bauer (5-1, 1.95) has made a flawless transition to the rotation and junior Rob Rasmussen (5-0, 2.89) is as good as it gets for a Sunday starter. It is going to very difficult to win a weekend series from UCLA, the No. 1 team in the country according to Baseball America, if the rotation keeps pitching like it has.
The offense is no slouch, either. UCLA ranks third in the conference in batting average (.331) and second in home runs (26). The Bruins have won both of their Pac-10 series against ranked teams, including last weekend on the road against Oregon State
2. ASU Sun Devils (28-3, 6-3) It is hard to have the season that ASU has had and not get the top spot in your conference’s power rankings. But with UCLA getting a road series win in Corvallis and ASU dropping a series to Washington State, the Bruins jumped the Sun Devils, at least for this week.
The good news is that ASU now returns home for two weekends and hosts the bottom two teams in the conference in USC and Washington.
ASU leads the conference in runs scored (276) and the pitching staff has been solid and should soon get the return of All-American Josh Spence.
3. Oregon State Beavers (20-8, 3-3)
It is just your typical Oregon State team, but that is a good thing. Coach Pat Casey has a formula for winning a lot of ball games: good pitching, good defense and just enough offense to get by.
The Beavers are sticking to that formula in 2010. OSU is dead last in the conference in batting average (.264) and has struck out more than any team in the Pac-10 (235), but the Beavers still produce enough runs to win because their pitching staff is getting the job done.
OSU’s offense did hurt them this past weekend when it matched up with UCLA’s staff and couldn’t scratch a run across the board for seven innings in a 16-inning 3-1 loss that decided the series.
4. California Golden Bears (20-10, 6-3)
Cal opened up Pac-10 play by getting swept by ASU in Tempe, but it responded by winning six straight conference games to move into a first-place tie with the Sun Devils.
The Golden Bears have already exceeded expectations and have put themselves into a good position to make the NCAA Tournament.
Expected ace Erik Johnson has struggled in conference play, but freshman Justin Jones (7-2, 3.83) and sophomore Dixon Anderson (3-1, 3.26) have been sensational and picked up the slack. The weakness on the mound comes in the bullpen, where they lack depth.
The offense has been surprisingly good and that is the key to Cal’s success. Junior Mark Canha (.398 batting average) is a Pac-10 Player of the Year candidate.
5. UA Wildcats (22-9, 4-5)
The Wildcats are another Pac-10 club that has had an outstanding season and is well on its way to the NCAA Tournament.
The strength of UA is its offense, as Jett Bandy (.438 average) Steve Selsky (.434) and Joey Rickard (35 RBI) all are having good years. The Wildcats are tops in the conference in batting average (.351) and are second to ASU in runs scored (270).
Coach Andy Lopez has gotten surprising seasons from freshman Kurt Heyer (5-0, 2.16) and sophomore Kyle Simon (5-2, 2.93), but they still are a bit unproven. Even if Heyer and Simon keep up their current pace, UA lacks a quality third starter and bullpen to compete for a Pac-10 title.
6. Oregon Ducks (21-11, 4-5)
It sure didn’t take coach George Horton long to build a winner in Eugene. In just UO’s second year since restarting the baseball program, the Ducks are pushing to make the tournament.
UO isn’t a great offensive ballclub by any stretch of the imagination, and they have just 11 home runs as a team on the season, but the Ducks’ pitching staff has picked up the slack.
Tyler Anderson (5-3, 2.16) and Justin LaTempa (2-2, 3.44) form a good 1-2 punch and the bullpen has performed at a
high level.
In Pac-10 play, UO came close to taking a series from ASU but responded with a big series win against Stanford.
The Ducks have talked a big game this season and believe they can play with anyone in the conference, but the lack of offense and poor defense will hurt them against the big boys. 7. Washington State Cougars (17-11, 3-3)
A series win against ASU was exactly what Donnie Marbut’s ballclub needed to get back into the NCAA Tournament mix, especially after losing two of three to Washington to start conference play.
The Cougars are middle of the road in the Pac-10 at the plate (fifth in batting average), on the mound (seventh in team ERA) and in the field (seventh in fielding percentage), but that could be good enough for a regional berth.
Starting pitching is a huge concern, because outside of Chad Arnold (3-1, 3.33), WSU struggles to fill out its rotation.
While the series win against ASU was good, the Cougars still have a long ways to go to solidify a tournament berth.
WSU can start by proving it can win away from Pullman when it takes on UA this weekend.
8. Stanford Cardinal
(14-13, 4-5)
An extremely tough schedule has hampered Stanford in the early going, but the team has still not met expectations, yet.
After opening conference play with a series win over USC, the Cardinal has dropped back-to-back series to UCLA and Oregon.
Stanford has scored the fewest runs of any Pac-10 team (157), and they have the second-highest ERA (5.11).
Despite that, some polls still believe in the Cardinal enough to rank them, because the talent is still there to make a late-season run.
9. Washington Huskies (17-13, 3-3)
The Huskies got a nice series win to open Pac-10 play against WSU, but then dropped two of three to UA last weekend. UW has the worst pitching staff in the conference (5.65 team ERA) and has scored the second-fewest runs (275). There haven’t been too many good wins on the schedule either, so don’t let the 17-13 record fool you.
UW is going to fight to stay out of the conference basement.
10. USC Trojans
(15-17, 2-7)
This once-proud program has fallen to new lows, as it will miss the NCAA Tournament for the fifth straight season.
It is time to hit the panic button for coach Chad Kreuter, because that is unacceptable at USC. No other program has won more national championships than the Trojans, and another losing season will likely cost Kreuter his job.
He needs his club to go on a late-season run and surprise some people. With a trip to Tempe against an ASU team that is coming off a rare series loss looming next, that is unlikely.
Reach the reporter at andrew.gruman@asu.edu
