Oregon St. stayed at #23 in the BaseballAmerica.com top 25 poll this week, after going 2-2 last week. The Beavers lost to then #9, but now #6, Oregon, and then took 2 of 3 from Utah. All 4 games were decided by 1 run, and the last 2 contests went extra distance. All 4 were road games as well.
The Ducks were the biggest mover amongst the Pac-12 teams in the poll, climbing to their highest ranking ever after taking 2 games from USC on the heels of their win over the Beavers.
UCLA made no headway, staying at #11, despite beating Pepperdine and then sweeping Washington, all on the road. The Bruins continue on what will eventually be a 9 game series of road trips, with a big game a #8 Cal-St. Fullerton on Tuesday, and then 3 in a row at California.
While a mid-week game, the UCLA-Fullerton St. game could wind up being pivotal for possible Super-Regional sighting and seeding for both teams. The Titans took only 2 of 3 against UC-Santa Barbara (remember those are the guys Oregon St. took 3 of 4 from back on opening weekend?), but they were road games for Fullerton.
Its getting very interesting, as RPIs for everyone are being impacted by seemingly every game anyone plays these days.
Arizona also held steady at #14, after sweeping California. The 'Cats continue to trail the Bruins even though they are ahead of them in the Pac-12 standings, due mostly to the fact that UCLA went into Tempe and took 2 of 3 earlier in the year.
Stanford stayed in the same #17 spot they were in a week ago as well, after sweeping Washington St., next weekend's host for Oregon St. There's more to lose than to gain in a game against the Cougs at this point.
Arizona St. did make a little headway, though, inching up from #19 to #18 after sweeping a non-conference series at Gonzaga, though that had more to do with San Diego losing 2 of 3 to Loyola-Marymount (which did the Beavers no favor either), causing the Toreros to tumble from #18 to #21.
Florida St. stayed #1, despite losing 3 of 4, all to unranked opponents. South Carolina climbed back to #2, after Baylor fell all the way to #7 after the Bears were swept by still unranked Oklahoma in Norman, OK.
Andy_Wooldridge@yahoo.com