The eyes of the college baseball world will be on Los Angeles this weekend. The fans in Tucson may be paying attention to the Arizona Wildcats taking on USC, but everyone else will be watching to see what happens when ASU visits Westwood to duke it out with UCLA.

(The rankings are the average of the five college baseball polls.)

#19.0 ARIZONA (28-11 / 8-7) at USC (17-23 / 3-12)
You can’t assume a sweep on the road but you should be able to win two of three from the last-place team. Anything less would be a step backwards for the Cats.

Expect the Devils and Bruins to get down and dirty in L.A.
Photo by David Kadlubowski/The Arizona Republic

#2.6 ASU (35-5 / 11-4) at
#6.4 UCLA (30-7 / 7-5)
Here it is. The Pac-10 series of the year is here. Stanford will have its say in the conference race but UCLA has already beaten the Cardinal head-to-head so the winner in L.A. this weekend will have the inside track at the league crown.

A series this big gets a second paragraph. It’s a classic showdown of offense vs. defense. The Sun Devils lead the Pac-10 in every offensive category. Seriously. ASU is at the top of the list for every offensive category that doesn’t involve making an out except Hit By Pitch, and I doubt they feel bad about conceding that one.

On the flip side (three paragraphs!) the Bruins lead the conference in ERA, Opposing Batting Average, Strikeouts, Hits Allowed and Runs Allowed. Arizona fans just got a taste of what the UCLA arms can do, and it’s a very strong flavor. Sadly, Pac-10 baseball isn’t on TV anywhere but you can listen to the games online via the UCLA site.

#30.0 OSU (21-14 / 4-8) at #24.8 Cal (23-15 / 8-7)
The Beavers continued their slide with a midweek loss to Oregon. Cal tries to regain its footing after losing three games to Stanford by a combined five runs.

#21.2 Stanford (21-14 / 10-5) at Washington (21-19 / 5-7)
If the Cardinal can take care of business in Seattle they’re going to gain ground on somebody and they could very well end the weekend in 1st place. Saturday’s game will be played in the Mariners’ home stadium.

WSU (21-15 / 5-7) at #21.2 Oregon (28-13 / 8-7)
The Cougars have lost all three of their road series this season. Oregon has won three straight Pac-10 series and are a 1-0 loss away from having beaten all three of the league contenders.

Andy Lopez has to be nervous about how his young Wildcats are going to approach this series. The Trojans have lost every conference series. They’re the only Pac-10 team with an overall losing record. The Cats have another game with ASU on Tuesday followed by the final nine home games of the year. That’s a whole lot of reasons for a bunch of inexperienced players to come out flat and unfocused.

With seven games left against ASU and Stanford, and another Pac-10 road series waiting, you can’t miss this opportunity to win a couple games. If the Cats can get the kind of pitching they got from Kurt Heyer and Kyle Simon the last time they hit the road they’ll be fine, but if balls start flying around Dedeaux Field, look out.

Game times for the UA this weekend are 6:30 p.m. on Friday, 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, and 1 p.m. on Sunday. All three games can be heard on 1290 AM in Tucson and seen on USCTrojans.com.

As expected, Cal is finding the tougher portion of its schedule to be, well, tough. Stanford is on the move, Oregon State is on the bad kind of move, and the same old team is at the top of the heap.

ASU won two of three vs. Washington. Scores: 10-2, 4-9, 10-4
Arizona State continues to get it done but the Devils only have one home conference series left.

Oregon won two of three at USC. Scores: 12-2, 4-5 (10 inn.), 8-4
The Ducks now have a winning Pac-10 record which is very impressive for the program’s sophomore season.

Stanford scooped up another sweep.
Photo by Andrea Bloom/The Arizona Republic

Stanford won all three vs. Cal.
Scores: 3-2, 15-12, 11-10
It’s the Cardinal’s turn to be the red-hot team…on the weekends. Stanford has won seven straight Pac-10 games but has lost five of its last six midweek games.

UCLA won two of three at ARIZONA. Scores: 6-3 (10 inn.), 6-2, 4-6
The UA’s Friday night error means the Bruins are in 3rd place instead of the Cats.

WSU won two of three vs. OSU. Scores: 5-1, 12-4, 2-3
That’s three straight series losses for the Beavers. Better get them some lug nuts. The wheels are falling off.

Stanford spanking Cal means we have a new team in ASU’s rearview mirror. Ye Pac-Tenne Standyngs:

The polls, however, aren’t as high on Stanford. That’s where those midweek losses come in.

BAS = Baseball America
COL = Collegiate Baseball
NAT = National Collegiate Baseball Writers
USA = USA Today/ESPN coaches’ poll
RIV = Rivals.com
CBCRDI = College Baseball Cumulative Rankings Directional Indicator

Seven Pac-10 teams are represented in the polls but only two are moving in the right direction. ASU went from the unanimous #1 to the unanimous not-#1 after splitting four games on the week. Stanford understandably made the biggest jump with Cal taking the biggest tumble. OSU continues to get votes in the coaches’ poll which proves, even in baseball, the coaches don’t pay again when they vote.

As far as the Wildcats, shouldn’t splitting four games against teams ahead of you in the polls make you move up? If it was a matter of moving Stanford ahead of Arizona that would make sense, but the Cats are still ahead of the Cardinal in four of the five polls.

Ye olde confusying.

The Arizona Wildcats baseball team wasn’t able to build on the momentum from the win at ASU as UCLA took two of three games over the weekend.

When the week began Arizona fans would have been satisfied with a 2-2 split against #1 ASU and top-10 UCLA. But after the surprising win in Tempe it looked like the Cats could take a huge step by beating the Bruins at Kindall/Sancet.

Arizona’s defense fell down against UCLA.
Photo by Pat Shannahan/The Arizona Republic

And that was true. The Wildcats could have beaten UCLA, but they didn’t.

The Bruins coasted in the second game and Arizona held on in the third game, which made Friday night’s series opener the difference. Kurt Heyer did his normal thing, allowing just one run in six innings. He left the game on the hook for his first loss, however, as the UA was having no luck scoring against UCLA ace Gerrit Cole.

You may remember Cole as the guy who turned down 4 million Yankee dollars to go to college. Was he worth the money? “He threw one pitch at 99 miles an hour,” Arizona coach Andy Lopez said. “Threw a sequence of 97, 98, 98 and 99 to (Rafael) Valenzuela.” In other words, maybe the Yankees shouldn’t have been so cheap.

But the Cats managed to scrape together a couple runs in the 7th inning thanks to three singles and a sacrifice fly. The lead held up until two outs in the 9th with freshman third baseman Seth Mejias-Brean booted a grounder to allow the tying run to score. Another error in the 10th inning led to four unearned runs to give UCLA the game and, ultimately, the series.

Saturday’s contest was lacking in dramatics as UCLA pitcher Trevor Bauer went the distance, striking out 13 and allowing just two runs. “A dominant pitching performance,” Lopez said.

(Here’s the type of thing you learn as you scan the crowd and read t-shirts and jackets while the home team is getting is shut down: Did you know the University of Arizona has a ballroom dance team?)

The BatCats do deserve credit for bouncing back with a win on Sunday. “There’s no reason to panic,” Lopez said. “We just faced two pretty good arms.”

The lone victory put the Cats back over .500 in Pac-10 play as the second-to-last road series awaits. The UCLA result does add clarity to the rest of season as it allows you to cross contending for the league title off the list, just in case you got your hopes up a little after the UA crept within two games of first-place ASU last weekend.

The NCAA tournament goal remains very much in play. The young Wildcats just need to catch it.

- – - – -

The early part of the NFL draft brought good news for the Arizona football program, while the end of the draft brought disappointment and a surprise visit from an old friend.

GRONK! went in the 2nd round which makes it very hard to argue he made a bad decision in leaving school early. If he goes on to a long career it means he was ready when he went pro. If his back goes out it means he probably would have gotten hurt here so it was good he got the bonus money when he did.

The true highlight for the UA was Earl Mitchell being selected in the 3rd round. I will always remember Big Earl running people over until the final gun in the blowout loss at LSU as a freshman fullback. We didn’t know he would turn into an NFL defensive tackle, but there was never any question about his heart and determination.

The only other Wildcat to get drafted never played a down at Arizona. Former UA basketball player Fendi Onobun is going to get a chance to show what his raw athleticism can do on the football field.

So that’s what was wrong during the end of Lute Olson’s tenure. He was recruiting NFL players instead of NBA players.

What does it mean that Arizona State got four players drafted (including UA hero Kyle Williams) while only one player from the 2009 Wildcats got selected?

If you wear maroon and gold it says Dennis Erickson is better at developing pro talent and it’s only a matter of time before the Devils are back on top.

If you prefer red and blue it means that Mike Stoops does more with less, and how is Erickson supposed to rebuild ASU when he can’t get more than four wins out of a team with four NFL players?

Maybe Erickson should start trying out some of Herb Sendek’s players.

Your TWIT-Pac is back to preview all of this week’s Pac-10 baseball action including the high-profile showdown between the Arizona Wildcats and the UCLA Bruins.

But first, I discussed this in Wednesday’s comments but it’s a good question so I wanted to go into it a bit more. Seth asked, “Why was (Tuesday’s UA/ASU game) considered a non-conference game?”

College baseball scheduling is a kick.
Photo by Pat Shannahan/ The Arizona Republic

How can you play a regular season game against a team from your conference without having it count in the league standings? It’s one of those oddities that make college baseball special. Each Pac-10 team plays a three-game weekend series against each of the other nine teams for a total of 27 official conference games. Outside of that you can play anyone you want to fill out your schedule (56 total games) but the extra games don’t factor into the Pac-10 championship race.

This year’s Arizona/Arizona State conference series will be in Tucson (May 15-17) so the two schools scheduled a couple games in Tempe (the second one will be Tue. May 4). Last year’s Pac-10 series was at ASU so the Wildcats got to host two non-conference games with the Devils.

So what’s the point? Why would you play a team you’re already going to face later in the year? For one it reduces your travel costs, which is always a factor in a non-revenue college sport. Along the same lines it lets you sell a few extra tickets in the years when you don’t get to host the conference series. It also gives you another couple games against good competition instead of having to fly in another Utah Valley or Northern Illinois.

But the main reason you play the extra games is to feed the good-old-fashioned rivalry fires. Three games just aren’t enough against the team you most want to beat, and the games certainly count in the all-time head-to-head record.

Which, by the way, now stands at 232-195-1 in favor of the Wildcats.

On to the weekend that will be!

(The rankings are the average of the five college baseball polls.)

#19.0 Cal (23-11 / 8-4) at #27.2 Stanford (18-13 / 7-5)
The Cardinal went from losing five straight (and seven of eight) to winning five straight, including an impressive sweep in Corvallis last weekend. The Bears are either going to come back to earth or they’ll prove they’re for real.

#26.2 OSU (20-11 / 3-6) at WSU (19-14 / 3-6)
Two teams coming off the wrong end of a weekend sweep are in desperate need of some wins. These will be the Cougars’ first games since the stunning 9th-inning defeat at Arizona.

#6.2 UCLA (27-6 / 5-4) at #16.6 ARIZONA (27-9 / 7-5)
The series of the week. Currently sitting in 5th place, the Bruins look to leapfrog some people before their showdown with ASU next week. The Wildcats hope to maintain the momentum they’ve regained after being swept at Cal (7-1 since, including the last six in a row).

USC (16-20 / 2-10) at #23.0 Oregon (25-12 / 6-6)
The Ducks lost two Pac-10 series then won two Pac-10 series. The Trojans have lost seven consecutive conference games.

Washington (19-16 / 4-5) at #1.0 ASU (31-4 / 9-3)
It’s already been a horrible week for the Sun Devils. It’s not often you lose 45 games in two days.

With top-ten UCLA coming to town the Wildcats didn’t have long to celebrate their big midweek victory. Can the young Cats continue to out-play their collective age?

If you look at the rankings UCLA is the solid favorite. But if you look at the conference standings, and the UA’s home record, and the Bruins’ last 11 games, you have to think the Cats like their chances.

Last week the three teams that were tied for 7th in the Pac-10 all won their series, beating the 3rd place team and two of the teams tied for 4th. In this conference you have to prove yourself every week.

Especially when the games count in the standings.

That’s how you introduce yourself to a rivalry.

The Arizona Wildcats baseball team beat #1 ASU Tuesday night by a score of 4-2 to snap the Sun Devils’ 28-game home winning streak, and get the UA’s week of top-10 action off to an impressive start.

Surprise!
Photo by Pat Shannahan/The Arizona Republic

It was a night of surprises for the Cats. Freshman Cory Bernard (who had a key pinch-hit single in the WSU comeback) was scheduled to make his first career start on the mound but injured his arm during warm-ups. Andy Lopez was forced to dust off Daniel Workman for his first appearance in a month.

How do you think that turned out? How about 6 1/3 strong innings, holding the top-ranked team in the land to two runs and five hits without issuing a walk?

Then you turn the game over to Bryce Bandilla, a guy who just lost his spot in the starting rotation due to his near-5 ERA. What do you think happened? An inning-and-two-thirds of shutout ball, naturally.

But you’ve got to finish the game, and we know all about this team’s lack of a reliable closer. The result? Freshmen Augey Bill and Nick Cunningham combine to pitch a hitless ninth to seal the deal.

When you haven’t won on a particular field in three years you don’t have high expectations. When you’re facing a team that is 22-0 on said field, and you’re starting six guys who have never played said team on said field, you don’t have any expectations.

Surprise! The New Cats are undefeated against ASU.

- – - – -

On to the Pac-10 results from last weekend!

ARIZONA won all three vs. WSU. Scores: 5-3, 13-6, 12-11
Blow a three-run lead in the 9th against the Ducks; overcome a three-run deficit in the 9th against the Cougars. Leaving a UA game early is not advised.

I've got this hunch...
Photo by Pat Shannahan/The Arizona Republic

ASU won all three vs. USC.
Scores: 5-4, 5-3, 14-6
The Devils took care of business at home, but for some reason I think they’re going to be in trouble against Arizona on Tuesday.

Cal won two of three vs. Washington. Scores: 3-7, 3-2, 9-7
The Bears did what they had to do to stay in the championship discussion. Now we’ll find out what they’ve really got.

Stanford won all three at OSU. Scores: 14-6, 5-3 (10 inn.), 10-7
Wow. The Cardinal got the statement it was looking for. The Beavers got crossed off the list of contenders.

Oregon won two of three at UCLA. Scores: 5-4, 8-4, 1-5
Wow, part 2. The Bruins were 21-0 heading into Pac-10 play. They’re 6-5 since.

Three sweeps in the five series and all three of the sweepers look good in the standings:

The top two teams and the last team stayed put but everyone else moved. Will the deck get shuffled again this week?

Time for the rankings, plus a new-new stat!

BAS = Baseball America
COL = Collegiate Baseball
NAT = National Collegiate Baseball Writers
USA = USA Today/ESPN coaches’ poll
RIV = Rivals.com
CBCRDI = College Baseball Cumulative Rankings Directional Indicator

The new stat is called the “average ranking” (sometimes it’s OK to go with the obvious). You get a 31 if you’re not ranked in a particular poll and then you take the average of the five rankings. Now instead of saying Arizona is ranked #17/18/16/17/15 you can say the Cats are ranked #16.6. I am here to serve.

Oregon tied the CBCRDI record with a 40-point jump. Their cross-state rivals set the plummet mark with their 48-point freefall. ASU posted a perfect score for the second time in three weeks.

But on Tuesday the perfect score was 4-2.