With the baseball team falling flat the second half of the season, the Ducks were statistically eliminated from reaching the post-season somewhere at the beginning of April. That’s what losing 27 of your last 29 games will do for you.
But in the midst of this epic failure down the stretch, there were some great story lines elsewhere in the Pacific-10 Conference. And with regionals starting Friday, the College World Series is just around the corner. It’s exciting because I’ve paid a lot more attention this year as a result of covering the baseball team. It will be interesting to see how the Pac-10 teams do.
There are three teams from the Pac-10 in the 2009 NCAA Regionals: Arizona State (44-12), Oregon State (35-17) and Washington State (31-23). All three teams took Oregon behind the wood shed, with the Ducks only squeaking out a 3-2 victory over the Beavers on March 28 in 10 innings. However, in my opinion, only Arizona State will make it to the College World Series at Rosenblatt Stadium in Omaha.
The reason? ASU is loaded in talent and its schedule sets up favorably. The Sun Devils are seeded fifth nationally and are hosting the first-round regional in Tempe. The No. 5 overall seed also guarantees them of also hosting their super-regional if they win in the regionals. And that doesn’t look like a problem considering that Kent State, Cal Poly and Oral Roberts are the other three teams in their regional.
The talent I mentioned is also off the charts. Arizona State is batting .302 as a team, while its opponents are hitting just .236. The team also has a 68-26 advantage in home runs, 103-75 in doubles and 29-8 in triples. This team hits for power.
And the pitching staff is just as impressive. They have a 2.85 ERA and their top three starters have lost a combined four games. The Sun Devils are led by 2008 Pitcher of the Year Mike Leake, who boasts a 14-1 record and an ERA under two.
As for the Washington State Cougars, they should just be happy they even made it to regionals. The last time the Cougars made the post-season in baseball was in 1990. The 19-year drought was ended after the team finished in second place in the Pac-10, four games ahead of the third-place Beavers. Part of the reason the Cougars’ record isn’t great is because of the pre-season schedule they played. They were swept by No. 22 Arkansas (who the Cougars play in the regionals), split four games with No. 16 Oklahoma, lost two to No. 17 Pepperdine and lost to No. 7 Rice.
It’s also that schedule that got the Cougars into the playoffs. They played very well in conference, but I do not foresee the Cougars getting out of Arkansas. They hit just .278 as a team and the team is giving up more than four runs a game.
Finally, we have the Beavers. They are an odd case because of their wavering performance this year. They are the third seed in their regional with TCU, Wright State and Texas A&M. Oregon State will face the Aggies, a very good team with impressive wins over Rice, Texas, Baylor, UC Irvine and TCU.
Oregon State lost four Pac-10 series to UCLA, USC, Washington and Washington State; however, it beat No. 3 Arizona State two games out of three. That sort of perplexity shows the Beavers are really young and inconsistent.
From the plate, the Beavers bat a moderate .275, but their pitching will ultimately decide whether the team makes it to a super regional. It has a 3.69 ERA and teams are batting just .237 against it.
On the topic of who makes it to Omaha, I feel any of the top eight seeds have a shot. Texas, Cal State Fullerton, LSU, North Carolina, UC Irvine, Oklahoma, Florida and Arizona State have all been at the top of the heap all year long. But as to who will win it all, it’s anybody’s guess. They have all beaten up on each other; there is no decisive favorite.
So sit back and enjoy the next few weeks, because this is when college baseball really gets interesting. The atmosphere at Omaha is unreal and the baseball is great. Who knows – maybe the Ducks will even be in the picture a few years from now.
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