(Last week: No. 1)
Despite dropping the second game to Washington State and failing to earn a sweep, the Trojans impressed in their conference debut, outscoring the Cougars 25-5 in the series. USC travels to Cal Poly Friday, and heads to Seattle to play Washington the following week.
(Last week: No. 3)
The Sun Devils rebounded to take another series from defending conference champion Oregon State after a gut-wrenching 1-0 loss. They’ll get a heat check when they go on the road to Eugene to play No. 15 Oregon.
(Last week: No. 5)
It’s time we establish that the Golden Bears will be in the thick of the conference race. Cal can hit, and is led by a pair of undefeated righties in freshman Jeff Bain and junior Ryan Mason at the top of its rotation. Despite having only five seniors on its roster and one in its starting lineup, the depth of Cal’s junior class and its current crop of freshmen are signs that head coach David Esquer has assembled another contender. Having won the award in 2011, Esquer is a dark horse in the National Coach of the Year picture.
(Last week: No. 7)
The Bruins had a lot more to prove than most Pac-12 teams after flopping the previous week and going winless against three of the top teams in the country. It wasn’t as convincing as they would have liked, but UCLA opened its conference schedule with a series win over Washington, even though it dropped the middle game 8-1 and needed 13 innings to take the rubber match.
(Last week: No. 2)
The Beavers split a pair of games against ASU that were a pitch away from swinging in favor of the team that eventually lost, and hung around for about eight innings on Sunday. The defending conference champions won’t succumb to the “rebuilding” cop-out, because what they lack in experienced starting pitching, they make up for with a deep bullpen. The Beavers play host to Washington State this Friday.
(Last week: No. 11)
There’s no telling how long the Utes last in the middle of the pack, but the kids from Salt Lake City did something they failed to do all year: In taking two of three from Arizona in Tucson, they won a Pac-12 series. Up next is No. 10 UCLA in Pasadena.
(Last week: No. 4)
The Ducks snapped a four-game losing streak after falling to the San Francisco Dons at home in two non-conference tilts, and then salvaging a 4-2 win Sunday at upstart Cal. They dropped the series to the Golden Bears at home last year, and host ASU, whom they swept when the Sun Devils last visited in 2012.
(Last week: No. 8)
As surprising as it was for Washington to beat UCLA 8-1 on the road, it was equally shocking that the Huskies were shut out in the first game and managed just four runs in the second. They won’t experience much upward mobility unless they can win a series against a Pac-12 team trending toward the top of the conference, and hosting Cal presents them an opportunity to do just that.
(Last week: No. 9)
Fans of the Cougars probably don’t like being grouped in the same portion of the power rankings as their in-state rival. Too bad. Interestingly, both Washington schools avoided being swept by one of the Los Angeles schools on the road, and each play another top opponent. Washington State has it slightly harder, though: It’ll have to hit the road to play Oregon State Friday.
(Last week: No. 6)
How could the Cardinal drop four spots without playing a game last week? Enter some sad news from on The Farm: Stanford ace Cal Quantrill will undergo Tommy John surgery after he’d sat out since Feb. 27, and will miss the rest of his sophomore season. The Cardinal are now short of two starting pitchers, as the Stanford Daily reported junior Marcus Brakeman will also be out long-term with a shoulder injury. This leaves an already young, inexperienced team with thin pitching and heaps more pressure to score runs on a lineup tied for last in that category with Utah at 74 through 17 games.
(Last week: No. 10)
Wildcat country might have been so focused on what happened with its No. 2 seeded basketball team (which won the Pac-12 Tournament in Las Vegas) that losing a series at home to the worst team in the conference went under the radar. March is, in fact, madness.
Reach the reporter at smodrich@asu.edu or follow @StefanJModrich on Twitter.
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