Kevin Newman and the UA freshman need three wins and some help to make their first tournament.
Photo by David Kadlubowski/azcentral sports

The final week of the college baseball regular season is here.

Conference tournaments are going on around the country but the Pac-12 doesn’t believe in such redundancy. The 30-game conference season will be wrapped this weekend, then 16 NCAA regional hosts will be announced on Sunday and the full field of 64 will be made known the morning of Memorial Day.

Will the defending national champions be a part of it?

One final look at the polls:

BA = Baseball America
CB = Collegiate Baseball
NC = National Collegiate Baseball Writers
PG = Perfect Game
US = USA Today/ESPN coaches’ poll

Expect the Pac-12 to end up with three regional hosts and a chance at two national seeds.

Up next are the games you don’t want to be your last:

USC (20-33 / 10-17) at ARIZONA (31-21 / 12-15)
Something for next year’s Wildcats to shoot for: The last time the UA won the baseball season series against Arizona State three straight years was way back in 1957-1959 under Frank Sancet.

Friday and Saturday’s games (both at 6 p.m. Arizona/Pacific time) will be streamed live for free on Pac-12.com. Sunday’s 12 p.m. game will be televised on Pac-12 Networks.

WSU (22-30 / 8-19) at #4.0 OSU (43-9 / 22-5)
Oregon State needs just one win to clinch at least a share of the Pac-12 crown. Then again, that’s all Oregon needed last year. Pac-12 Networks will broadcast all three games, Friday at 4 p.m., Saturday at 1 p.m. and Sunday at noon.

#10.0 UCLA (38-15 / 20-7) at Stanford (30-21 / 14-13)
The Bruins are still alive for the championship if OSU stumbles. The entire series (Friday and Saturday 7 p.m., Sunday at 3 p.m.) will be on Pac-12 Networks.

#9.2 Oregon (43-13 / 20-7) at Utah (20-29 / 6-21)
Last week didn’t go the Ducks’ way but they’re still playing for a national seed and home field advantage up until the College World Series.

#17.6 ASU (34-18 / 15-12) at Washington (22-31 / 13-14)
The Sun Devils are most likely done with home games and the road hasn’t been kind to ASU in tournament play. Pac-12 Networks will be showing Saturday’s 4 p.m. game and Sunday’s 12 p.m. finale.

Cal is the odd team out and the Bears don’t have anyone to play. Cal’s bye week will last until next February.

* * *

It’s simple for the BatCats: Sweep or weep. And the UA may end up weeping anyway.

Arizona’s RPI is up to 62 but it’s not going to get much better no matter what happens this week. Case in point, Stanford had an RPI of 80 last week. After sweeping No. 101 Cal, the Cardinal’s RPI is now…80. USC’s RPI is a not-helping 128.

Just like a month ago, the precedent is Oregon State defending its 2006 national championship. The difference is the 2007 Beavers had an insane 28-3 non-conference record while the 2013 Wildcats went 19-6. But sixth place in a nine team league (with a 10-14 conference record) is still sixth place and OSU got the benefit of the doubt that year. Then they erased doubt all the way to title number two.

So win three games and wave the Remember the Beavers! flag.

USC is 4-10 over the last four weeks so the Trojans are not coming to Tucson with momentum. This series is all about the home team. Can the Wildcats get back to throwing strikes? Can they put together good at-bats with men in scoring position?

It would be a shame to see the big series win at ASU go to waste.

Remember the Beavers!

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Scott Terrell will try not to weep. Close out the regular season strong on Twitter and Facebook.

Johnny Field had five hits, two stolen bases and a season-saving catch in the series win at ASU.
Photo by David Kadlubowski/azcentral sports

Why do the Arizona Wildcats and ASU Sun Devils play five college baseball games a year?

Because six might kill us all.

It was another weekend of intense rivalry drama with the Cats escaping Tempe with a series victory and keeping their NCAA tournament hopes flickering.

The three games over the weekend weren’t just close, they were crazy. Friday night’s opener saw the Wildcats sprint out to a 9-0 lead before running out of gas and barely rolling across the finish line with a 10-7 win. The Devil comeback was halted twice, once in the eighth when Johnny Field sprawled out on the warning track dirt to leave the bases loaded, and again in the ninth when Sunday starter Tyler Crawford had to come in and retire the potential tying run three straight times for the save.

The final two games of the series were back-and-forth heart-stoppers as the teams combined to lose five different leads. Arizona State rallied and re-rallied to win 6-3 on Saturday, and Sunday was even wilder. The Sun Devils loaded the bases in both the eighth and ninth in the finale but the UA bullpen turned them back both times, including a rare pitcher-to-catcher-to-first-base double play to clinch the 7-6 victory and the series.

When the dust (and blood pressures) settled Arizona had won its first series in Tempe in eight years. The Cats have taken the season series in consecutive years for the first time since 2005 and ’06.

As an added bonus there’s a strong chance the Wildcats knocked ASU out of a regional hosting slot. There’s a huge difference between playing tournament games at home and traveling to face a powerful team like Cal State Fullerton.

For the weekend’s victors, talk of making the field of 64 begins again. The national writers think it’s too little, too late for Arizona. The Wildcats’ RPI is in the 60s and playing a USC team rated No. 132 isn’t going to help much.

But – and there is a but – as we discussed last week, ending the season winning five of six and finishing .500 in Pac-12 play could get the selection committee to ignore the defending champs’ RPI.

There’s no doubt Arizona has no hope without winning all three games against the Trojans. Can the Cats play well enough to get though an entire weekend unscathed? Can the pitching hold it together for three straight games? That may be a bigger hurdle than the team’s computer ranking.

My gut feeling isn’t good for the Wildcats getting in. However, three weeks ago my gut had Arizona making the tournament. Feel free to believe that gut over this gut.

I cannot deny there’s a chance. Today, right this second, there is hope. That’s what happens when you win a series against a very good team on the road.

That very good team being Arizona’s bitter rival is a pretty sweet bonus.

Photo by David Kadlubowski/azcentral sports

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Scott Terrell’s gut has not been confirmed as a reliable source. Invest at your own risk on Twitter and Facebook.

Trent Gilbert’s first experience in the UA/ASU rivalry was a good one.
Photo by Andy Morales

It is time for the Pac-12 baseball version of rivalry weekend.

Oregon State and Oregon are meeting to decide the conference championship while Arizona and Arizona State do battle for Territorial bragging rights.

Here are this week’s college baseball polls:

BA = Baseball America
CB = Collegiate Baseball
NC = National Collegiate Baseball Writers
PG = Perfect Game
US = USA Today/ESPN coaches’ poll

And then there were four. What’s bad for the conference is not only have Arizona and Stanford dropped out of the polls but they’ve slid so far it looks like the four ranked teams will be the only ones that make the tournament.

The good news for the Pac-12 is those four ranked teams are unanimous top-15 squads so there’s a solid chance all four end up hosting regionals. It’s a top-heavy league this year, as evidenced by the Beavers and Ducks making a run at a record-breaking conference record.

On to the penultimate series of the season:

ARIZONA (29-20 / 10-14) at #13.6 ASU (32-15 / 14-10)
The Sun Devils are battling roughly a dozen SEC teams for one of the final hosting slots. Game times are 6:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 12:30 p.m. on Sunday.

#4.8 OSU (41-8 / 20-4) at #7.8 Oregon (41-11 / 19-5)
I’m glad Pac-12 Network is broadcasting the games on Saturday (2 p.m. Arizona/Pacific) and Sunday (12 p.m.) but what is going on Friday night at 6 that is more important? Old basketball games? Old bad basketball games?? Oh, no, I have no interest in seeing a conference championship decided on live TV. I’d much rather watch a replay of Kevin O’Neill’s team shooting 18% from 3-point land.

#9.8 UCLA (34-15 / 17-7) at USC (19-30 / 10-14)
If the Bruins win their final two series (at Stanford next week) they’ll finish with a better Pac-12 record than last year’s co-championship-winning 20-10 mark…and UCLA will still probably end up in third place.

Stanford (26-21 / 11-13) at Cal (22-28 / 10-17)
The Cardinal took the first two games against ASU…and hasn’t won since. Six straight losses in May is a great way to reduce your postseason travel budget.

Washington (19-31 / 10-14) at WSU (21-27 / 8-16)
It took the Huskies six games to match the 23 runs they scored against Arizona on May 3.

Kansas (31-21) at Utah (17-29 / 6-21)
The Jayhawks are still waiting for the Andrew Wiggins of baseball.

* * *

With Pat Murphy back coaching in the state of Arizona this is a great time to look back at what’s gone on in the UA/ASU rivalry the last couple of decades.

Nineteen years ago Arizona State’s hall of fame baseball coach, Jim Brock, died of cancer three days after the season ended. The Sun Devils turned to Murphy, formerly of Notre Dame, to run the program.

Murphy started slowly, finishing fourth in the Pac-10 each of his first three seasons in Tempe. Then he got things moving, advancing to the College World Series championship game in 1998 and winning the Pac-10 in 2000.

In 2002 Andy Lopez was tasked with rebuilding the baseball program at the University of Arizona. Murphy took full advantage of his head start and beat Lopez’s Wildcats nine of the first 10 times they met.

When Lopez surprisingly took Arizona to the College World Series in 2004 it looked like the tide was turning in the rivalry. Lopez had as many trips to Omaha in three years at the UA as Murphy had in a full decade at ASU. The head-to-head also reflected the change as the Cats won six out of seven versus Arizona State from the end of 2004 to the beginning of 2006.

Then Murphy and the Devils went on a tear. From 2005-2009 ASU made three College World Series appearances and won three straight Pac-10 championships. The rivalry gap never looked wider than in 2009 when ASU swept five games from Arizona by a combined score of 63-17.

Murphy really had things going. The problem is the NCAA declared some of those things to be illegal.

ASU was found to have committed multiple major infractions, wiping out all its baseball wins in 2007 and banning the team from the postseason last year. Murphy was forced to resign in November of 2009.

When Murphy and Lopez did battle from 2002-2009, ASU’s coach ended up with the upper hand:

But when you summarize each coach’s overall legacy in the Grand Canyon State, it looks like this:

The next chapter in this storied baseball rivalry will be written this weekend.

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Scott Terrell is feeling Territorial. Stake your claim on Twitter and Facebook.

Johnny Field and the Wildcats are going the wrong way.
Photo by Andy Morales

Last year the Arizona Wildcats and UCLA Bruins met on college baseball’s biggest stage with Arizona prevailing 4-0 on the way to winning the 2012 College World Series.

After UCLA swept the UA this past weekend it looks like only one of the two teams will have a chance to make a return trip to Omaha.

The Wildcats were in desperate need of a series win in Los Angeles but the host Bruins weren’t interested in yielding even a single victory. UCLA won the three games by a combined score of 29-8 and it appears last year’s national champions will be hanging up their cleats before June even begins.

The games on Friday and Sunday were carbon copies of each other (or, for the kids, right-click-Make-a-Copy of each other). The Wildcats started out with a 2-0 lead in both games but things unraveled quickly as UCLA put together a huge inning (seven-run fifth in the opener, six-run third in the finale).

Saturday was just UCLA’s Nick Vander Tuig showing why he’s the Bruins’ leader in wins, innings, complete games, shutouts and ERA among starters. And he doesn’t pitch on Fridays. That’s how you go 34-14 without a single .300 hitter in your lineup.

Last week we said if the Cats were going to turn this around it would have to be the veteran players leading the charge. It hasn’t happened. In the past three Pac-12 series Johnny Field, Trent Gilbert and Brandon Dixon are a combined 22-for-104 at the plate for a .212 average. The trio only has two extra base hits between them over the last two weeks.

It hasn’t looked much better on the mound. Konner Wade and James Farris have averaged less than six innings per start the last three conference series, allowing 27 earned runs combined (34 total runs) for a 7.22 ERA. Looking at the numbers it’s no wonder the UA won just a pair of games over that span.

Are the juniors and experienced sophomores pressing? It’s hard for three or four guys to carry an entire lineup and it’s hard for starting pitchers to compensate for missing half a lineup. Add in the pressure of knowing what last year looked like and it’s not a very relaxing situation.

So where does this sweep leave Arizona? If Omaha is the goal, the Wildcats are somewhere in Yuma. West Yuma.

The UA’s RPI was 83 going into last Friday. Now it’s projected to be 87, or slightly higher than Cal, a team with a losing record.

The only chance at this point is for the Cats to win at least five of their remaining six games and hope the selection committee puts more weight on the .500 conference record (and Arizona’s reigning champion status) than the RPI.

And on top of all that, this week – oh, by the way – there’s that whole rivalry thing. Wildcats and Sun Devils. The in-state schools split the two non-conference games this season so the winner next week gets bragging rights for the year.

Last season was the first time in six years that Arizona won the season series from Arizona State. No matter what happens with the NCAA tournament it would be a significant achievement to make it two years in a row against the highly-ranked Devils.

Maybe a heated rivalry series is what this UA team needs to let go of the pressure of expectation and get back to execution. Forget about projections and focus on rejections, as in The defending state champions aren’t ready to relinquish that title just yet.

There is a lot on the line this week and that is easy to see, even from West Yuma.

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Scott Terrell knows the rivalry is a season unto itself. Choose sides on Twitter and Facebook.

James Farris is scheduled to get his first Friday start against UCLA.
Photo by Andy Morales

The Pac-12 baseball Series of the Year is…not here yet.

Oregon and Oregon State will be meeting next week in a showdown that will more than likely determine the 2013 league champion. This week the key stories are UCLA and ASU trying to improve their chances to host regionals while Stanford and Arizona work to get added back onto the dance card.

Let’s see who the pollsters like this week:

BA = Baseball America
CB = Collegiate Baseball
NC = National Collegiate Baseball Writers
PG = Perfect Game
US = USA Today/ESPN coaches’ poll

Arizona is officially outside the top 25 for the first time in five weeks. Just in time to play a Bruin squad that two of the polls think is the second-best team in the conference.

Here are this weekend’s three-game sets:

ARIZONA (29-17 / 10-11) at #9.8 UCLA (31-13 / 14-7)
UCLA has lost four of their last five series finales. Can the Cats get to Sunday with a chance to win the weekend?

#5.6 OSU (37-8 / 17-4) at #22.2 Stanford (26-16 / 11-10)
Two ranked teams with some momentum. The Beavers have won eight straight and Stanford had an impressive series win at ASU last week.

#14.4 ASU (30-14 / 12-9) at Cal (21-26 / 9-15)
The Sun Devils had won five straight series before dropping two consecutive games to the Cardinal. Pac-12 Networks will be broadcasting Saturday’s game (7 p.m. Pacific/Arizona Time) under Cal’s new lights, as well as Sunday’s 12 p.m. game.

WSU (20-24 / 7-14) at USC (17-29 / 8-13)
This would be the worst series of the weekend if not for…

Utah (16-26 / 5-19) at Washington (16-29 / 8-13)
Watch the Huskies put up about seven total runs this weekend and really drive Wildcat fans crazy. The games on Saturday and Sunday will be on Pac-12 Networks, both at noon.

#8.0 Oregon (37-11 / 19-5) at Ohio State (32-14)
The Ducks are preparing for their showdown with OSU by playing OSU. Friday’s game will be televised on Big Ten Network at 4 p.m.

* * *

If you look at the full-season stats it looks like this is a matchup of strength versus strength. Arizona still leads the Pac-12 in team batting average (.305) and UCLA is second in the conference in team earned run average (2.72).

The power shifts, however, when you look at the numbers for Pac-12 games only. The Bruins are still a strong third in the league in team ERA (2.88) but the Wildcats only rank tied for sixth in batting (.275).

If the Cats are going to pull this off it has to be like the Oregon series where two of the games were decided by one run. But this time someone has to rise up and get that extra hit with a man in scoring position and someone else has to record outs to leave one additional runner on base.

The ideal UA weekend is James Farris and Konner Wade both turn in quality starts, Johnny Field and Brandon Dixon give the Wildcats late leads and Mathew Troupe nails it shut.

Last week Arizona faced a “small” team and played small. This series is, as they say, big on big.

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Scott Terrell will be watching the bigness of May. Tune in on Twitter and Facebook.

Mathew Troupe’s strong series wasn’t enough to beat the Huskies.
Photo by Andy Morales

The Arizona Wildcats lost a head-spinner and then a heartbreaker to the Washington Huskies over the weekend at Hi Corbett Field. The series defeat likely moved the UA to the wrong side of the NCAA tournament bubble.

There are nine games left and the Cats will have to win most of them to get a shot at defending their national title.

Friday night was one of those once-in-decade games where absolutely nothing goes right. It was like a Little League contest where your two best pitchers are on a fishing trip and another kid comes down with pink eye. You stand in the outfield watching run after run cross the plate and you know you’re not getting any ice cream.

Sunday was a solid win for the home team so that leaves game two as the deciding factor. Arizona got great pitching Saturday night from James Farris and Mathew Troupe but Washington’s combo of Austin Voth and Trevor Dunlap was one run better. And now the Wildcats’ NCAA tournament hopes have something far worse than pink eye.

Things change that much over a single loss? One run is all that separates “staying the course” from “where’s the panic button?” It sounds harsh but that’s the reality for a young team carrying the title of Defending National Champions.

Last week the Cats’ RPI jumped from 64 to 45 after sweeping a team with a winning record. This week it’s projected to drop all the way into the 80s.

To make matters worse, Stanford took two of three from top-15 Arizona State, allowing the Cardinal to leapfrog Arizona in the RPI. Add in Stanford’s head-to-head series win and the Pac-12 pecking order is clear. If the selection committee draws the line at five Pac teams (the number that got in last year), the UA is the odd team out.

The bad news is the Wildcats now play six straight road games against quality opponents. The good news is winning those games would do wonders to the UA’s tournament profile.

With the number of automatic bids the general thinking is you need an RPI in the mid 40s to have a realistic shot at an at-large bid. Can the Cats still get there? According to Boyd’s World, home of one of the great college baseball math guys, Arizona needs to go 7-2 in its final nine games to get back in the RPI top 45.

The easiest path is to take two of three at both UCLA and ASU and then sweep USC in Tucson. I suppose that “easiest” should be in quotes because winning the final three series will be all kinds of of difficult.

That’s what happens when you pick a terrible time for your worst weekend of the season. Getting swept by Oregon State and Oregon is forgivable because both those teams could be national seeds. Dropping two at Stanford isn’t the end of the world either. But losing a home series to a Washington team creeping up on 30 losses just can’t happen, especially when you were already considered by some to be the last team in the NCAA tournament field.

So the Cats need to go from staggering to streaking right this second. What has to happen to make it happen? It sounds simple but the experienced players need to lead the way. On the mound that’s Farris, Troupe and Konner Wade. At the plate it’s Johnny Field, Trent Gilbert, Brandon Dixon and Riley Moore.

Field was red hot coming into the Washington series but the Huskies held him to one hit in 11 at-bats. Gilbert was also 1-for-11 in the series. With nobody in the bottom half of the lineup slugging above .400 it’s going to be up to the top half to string hits together and generate runs.

On the pitching front, what’s scary is Andy Lopez is so concerned about Wade’s struggles that he’s shuffling his starting rotation this late in the season. One of the keys to 2012’s success was the Cats were able to use the exact same weekend rotation the entire year. For all 15 weeks of the regular season it was Kurt Heyer, followed by Wade and Farris.

This year it took half the season to get Tyler Crawford fitted into the Sunday slot and now Lopez is trying to pull a new ace from the deck.

So playoff baseball starts early for the Cats. This week feels like a regional in that the UA can only afford one loss. Find a way to take two of three from the Bruins and go from there.

The pressure of the postseason brought out the best in last year’s team. We’ll soon found out if the same can be said about this group of Wildcats.

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Scott Terrell finished many a Little League game without ice cream. Stay up to date on the BatCats via Twitter and Facebook.

Arizona coach Andy Lopez had to make too many trips to the mound Tuesday night.
Photo by Bruce Thorson-USA TODAY Sports

They say it’s better to give than to receive but that’s certainly not the case when you’re on the pitcher’s mound.

Arizona State took advantage of gracious Arizona hurlers to beat the Wildcats by a score of 7-5 Tuesday night in a four-hour-plus baseball game at Hi Corbett Field.

The UA had leads of 3-0 after one inning and 5-4 after the fifth but it wasn’t enough on a Tucson night when the home team allowed eight bases on balls and hit five other batters.

The Sun Devils produced 10 hits, including Jake Peevyhouse’s solo home run in the third inning, but just three of ASU’s seven runs were driven in with a hit. The winning runs were scored via a wild pitch and bases-loaded walk against UA closer Mathew Troupe in the eighth.

Troupe threw just nine pitches and one strike before being pulled for Augey Bill. It was the second time in five appearances that the sophomore had to be removed from a game after losing contact with the strike zone. Tyger Talley closed out the Apr. 13 win at Washington State.

Arizona State bounced back from its come-from-ahead defeat two weeks ago to even the season series at a game apiece. This year’s bragging rights will be settled May 17-19 in a three-game Pac-12 series in Tempe.

Wildcat Universe hopes the UA pitchers won’t be so nice the next time around.

* * *

Here’s your weekly look at the Pac-12 in the polls:

BA = Baseball America
CB = Collegiate Baseball
NC = National Collegiate Baseball Writers
PG = Perfect Game
US = USA Today/ESPN coaches’ poll

Oregon reclaimed its spot as the second-highest ranked Pac team after sweeping Stanford. Not surprisingly, the Cardinal took the biggest tumble, dropping out of two polls and barely hanging on in another.

This week’s series:

Washington (14-28 / 6-12) at #24.6 ARIZONA (28-15 / 9-9)

#25.0 Stanford (23-15 / 9-9) at #11.8 ASU (29-12 / 11-7)
TV: Friday, 7 p.m. Arizona/Pacific Time on ESPNU

Cal (20-23 / 9-12) at #5.6 OSU (34-8 / 14-4)
TV: Saturday, 2 p.m. on Pac-12 Network

#8.4 Oregon (33-10 / 16-5) at WSU (20-20 / 7-11)

Utah (16-23 / 5-16) at #10.8 UCLA (27-13 / 11-7)

TCU (20-23) at USC (16-26 / 8-13)

* * *

The midweek loss to ASU kept the Wildcats one day short of a perfect April at home. The UA’s last loss at Hi Corbett had been Mar. 17, the final game of the Oregon State series.

Now there are just two home series left, wrapped around two road trips. And those away games won’t be easy. Both UCLA and ASU are in the top 10 in a couple polls and looking to lock up regional hosting slots.

The Cats remain on the tournament bubble and need to post a big win total in these final six home games. Washington comes to town this weekend fresh off a series loss against Cal.

The Huskies’ season highlight can be boiled down to a single day. On Apr. 20 UW shockingly swept a double-header from Oregon State. Washington had lost five of six conference games before that and has lost three of four since.

With the final midweek game in the rearview mirror the UA pitchers can get settled into their weekend roles. Starters Konner Wade, James Farris and Tyler Crawford go as deep as they can and relievers Talley, Bill and Troupe close it out. Tyler Hale and Cody Moffett will be available to provide extra righty/lefty options if needed.

When the calendar turns to May the temperatures hit triple digits in Arizona. It gets even hotter in college baseball with tournament bids at stake.

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Scott Terrell is ready for the stretch fun. Follow along on Twitter and Facebook.

Johnny Field and the Wildcats are eyeing a return to the postseason.
Photo by Andy Morales

The calendar is about to flip to May, which means the Arizona baseball team is about to hit the home stretch of the 2013 season.

The goal is to get the engine firing on all cylinders, get hot and make a run at defending last year’s national championship.

That is, if the Cats make it into the NCAA tournament at all.

Wait…what?! you say. How would the defending champs not get into the tournament? No, they’re not leading the Pac-12 like last year, but the Cats still have 28 wins and counting!

It’s true that if you just look at the standings everything looks fine:

(Based on Pac-12 loss column)

You can eliminate anyone without a winning overall record so that leaves six Pac-12 teams with a win percentage north of .600. Five Pac teams got into the tournament last year, six the year before that and a conference-record eight in 2010.

The problem comes when you rank those six teams by RPI:

That’s a big drop between teams four and five. What’s the deal? Why is ASU’s 28-12 so much better than Arizona’s 28-14?

It’s the same thing that had UA fans giggling at Herb Sendek’s three Sun Devil hoops squads that won 20 games only to play in the NIT: strength of schedule.

Arizona’s non-league slate consisted of more teams with RPIs worse than 200 (Coppin State, San Jose State, Alabama State) than schools with an RPI better than 100 (San Francisco at 91).

ASU has six wins over top-100 teams and that’s not including a combined 5-4 record against Oregon State, Oregon and UCLA.

But 28 wins are still 28 wins, right? Not anymore.

The NCAA changed its baseball RPI formula before this season and Arizona took a hit. The old RPI was blind to location so there was zero incentive for warm weather schools to play road games. The UA took full advantage, playing 75% of its out-of-conference games at home in 2011 and 80% at Hi Corbett Field last year.

That percentage actually got even higher this year with 88% of the Wildcats’ non-league games in Tucson, even though the new RPI formula makes a home win almost half as valuable as a road victory.

So instead of being in the running to host a regional, this year’s UA team is just trying to make a regional.

It’s far too soon to write Arizona off, however, because you don’t have to go back very far – or leave this conference – to find proof that anything can happen if you get into the tournament. Oregon State won the 2006 College World Series, lost nine players to the draft and slumped to sixth place in the Pac-10 in 2007. The Beavers barely made the tournament, got shipped off to Virginia, rediscovered the magic and went 11-1 in the postseason to win their second straight national title.

At the end of the day, I believe the Cats will get an at-large bid next month. We’re not dealing with BCS computers here; it’s a human selection committee under a much more forgiving microscope than their basketball counterparts. Even if Arizona’s RPI stays where it is, I expect the defending champs to get the benefit of the doubt. It’s good for the tournament and good for the sport to have a name-brand team with some 2012 CWS heroes playing in a regional somewhere with a big bullseye on their chests.

That said, Arizona certainly shouldn’t play like its invitation is already in the mail, which brings us to this Tuesday’s game. ASU makes its second and final visit to Hi Corbett in 2013 at 6 p.m. on Apr. 30. The Wildcats’ comeback two weeks ago remains the UA’s best win of the season (by far) and a second victory over the top-20 Devils would be a nice resume booster.

The Cats have 13 games left in ’13. Thirteen games to decide if they’re going to get to put on the bullseye and go hunting for that magic.

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Scott Terrell sees no reason for the season to end in May. Get game updates on Twitter and previews and commentary on Facebook.

Brandon Dixon hit the game-winning home run in Arizona’s only victory at Stanford.
Photo by Rob Schumacher/The Republic

The top two baseball teams in the Pac-12 took a week off from winning and the previously-hot Arizona Wildcats cooled off on the Farm.

Read on for this week’s polls, schedule and teeny-tiny previews!

Here’s where the Pac-12 falls in the five major NCAA baseball polls:

BA = Baseball America
CB = Collegiate Baseball
NC = National Collegiate Baseball Writers
PG = Perfect Game
US = USA Today/ESPN coaches’ poll

Arizona State is No. 8 in two polls and outside the top 25 in another. Ah, the quirks of college baseball.

The games of this week:

#20.6 Stanford (23-12 / 9-6) at #9.6 Oregon (30-10 / 13-5)
Oregon gave up five total runs in three games against UCLA last week and lost the series. Who loses 1-0 games on consecutive days?

USC (16-23 / 8-10) at #6.4 OSU (31-8 / 11-4)
The Ducks didn’t lose any ground in the Pac-12 race because Oregon State lost two of three to Washington including a double-header sweep on Saturday.

#8.2 UCLA 25-12 / 9-6) at WSU (19-18 / 6-9)
The Bruins are giving up just 3.3 runs per game in Pac-12 play.

#15.0 ASU (24-12 / 8-7) at Utah (16-20 / 5-13)
ASU announced it will be moving to a city-owned stadium previously used for spring training. What a unique and not-at-all-borrowed idea!

Cal (18-22 / 7-11) at Washington (12-26 / 5-10)
The Huskies played top-10 Oregon State and almost doubled their Pac-12 win total.

Alabama State (27-18) at #25.6 ARIZONA (25-14 / 9-9)
The ASU Hornets are in 2nd place in the SWAC Eastern Division.

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The Stanford/Arizona series was one where both teams went home thinking they should have swept. The Cats had the bases loaded with one out in the 9th on Friday before losing by a run, and the UA had a seven-run inning in Sunday’s defeat.

This week you want to see the Wildcat pitchers get back into form, especially the three starters. James Farris and Tyler Crawford were excellent against Washington State two weeks ago but each gave up seven earned runs against Stanford. The staff as a whole allowed 21 runs in the final two games against the Cardinal.

Returning to Tucson should help, where the UA has won seven straight games at Hi Corbett Field. Arizona has only 10 home games left this season and seven come in a 10-day span starting Friday.

Time to make like last night’s dinner and get reheated.

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Scott Terrell is not too proud for leftovers. Eat up Twitter and Facebook.

The Red Zone is returning to Arizona Stadium and no stuffed mascot is safe.
Photo by Rob Schumacher/The Arizona Republic

The deadline for renewing 2013 Arizona Wildcats football season tickets is Wed. May 1 so it’s time to put your money down.

Where will you be sitting?

My friends and I are moving to a new section but returning to an old home. The “Red Zone” is back and it’s great news for fans who love to get crazy for the Cats.

I’m not a real writer but I play one on TV. Well, not TV, but in the press box at the occasional UA baseball game. During football season, however, I get back to my roots, buying tickets and rubbing sweaty elbows with the rest of the Arizona Stadium crowd.

This fall, I’m very happy to report my tickets will be in the new Red Zone.

If you can recall the days before Arizona Stadium expansion and monstrous video boards, there was a set of old metal bleachers behind the south end zone. The UA athletic department marketed these seats as the “Red Zone,” a general admission section for “spirited” fans who wore jerseys and costumes and ridiculous hats and spent the whole game standing and yelling. The section had sponsors and there were giveaways such as t-shirts and hand towels, just like in the ZonaZoo.

Basically, the Red Zone was the student section for non-students.

But the old bleachers had to be torn out after the 2010 season to put up the video board. The Red Zone went away, forcing its former residents to find new seats and – horror of horrors – actually sit in them.

The wheels of change began turning back in the Red Zone’s favor during the 2012 season as the student section was noticeably emptier than previous years, especially at the end of games. The Arizona band was moved three sections to the north midway through the season to fill in some of gaps in the wide-angle TV shots. Everyone had an opinion on what to do with the ZonaZoo. Shrink it? Move it? End the Cold War with it?

Welcome home, Facepaint Guy.
Photo by Rob Schumacher/The Arizona Republic

The solution for 2013 was keep the band in section 7 and open up sections 9 and 10 to the public. Section 9 was designated as general admission and the Red Zone was reborn.

I’m not going to pretend it’ll be exactly the same. A big draw of general admission is the chance to control your seating destiny. Get there early enough and you could be in the front row, with the game in your face and a solid chance of getting that face on TV.

The new Red Zone is only about a third as wide as the old one, which stretched from sideline to sideline in the south end. There will still be plenty of room in the new section but a lot less fieldfront property.

Not that I’m complaining. When you lose something you’re far more willing to compromise to get it back. To keep it, We The People of the Red Zone have to make the most of this second chance. Fill the section, stay the whole game and get loud.

And behave ourselves. No more embarrassing YouTube videos of interactions with fans of the visiting team. Play nice and encourage the powers that be to keep the section around. Play nice and rowdy and make a case for the Zone to be expanded.

This isn’t about trying to be students or competing with the ZonaZoo. The dream is for there to be no discernible boundary between the two groups, an ocean of rabid students next to a sea of maniacal not-quite-grownups.

One Wildcat Universe passionately cheering for the home team.

I’m very curious to see what effect the completed north end zone project will have on the UA game day atmosphere as a whole. The construction was given as one excuse for the large chunks of empty seats throughout Arizona Stadium. Will attendance for Rich Rodriguez’s second season return to at least the peak of the Mike Stoops era?

The other change I’m excited to see – or hear, if not feel – is noise, and lots of it. With the enclosed north end the sound isn’t going to escape.

“I have to imagine the decibel level’s going to go up some,” UA athletic director Greg Byrne said at the spring football scrimmage. “How much, we’ll see the first game once we get the bodies in there.”

The players are looking forward to the extra fan volume as well. B.J. Denker, the frontrunner to start at quarterback this fall, said, “(The enclosed stadium is) going to make us louder. Our fans are already loud as it is but that’s going to make it harder (for the other team) to play offense here.

“It’s going to make (Arizona Stadium) look like an elite Division I program’s facility. It’s going to be exciting.”

Byrne talked about other changes associated with the Lowell-Stevens Football Facility, including links to Arizona’s past.

“There’s been a lot of discussion about the John ‘Button’ Salmon bust,” Byrne said. “I think most likely we’re going to put that outside of Lowell-Stevens.”

Arizona Stadium will also be equipped with mechanized collapsible goal posts. Byrne said, “When we beat the Devils to go to Pasadena we’ll just push the button and the goal posts will fall down. Gotta prepare for success.”

(I wonder if the wall will also collapse.)

I was happy to hear there are no plans to change the infamous visitors’ locker rooms, or the single-file stairs visiting players have to climb to get to the field.

“That’s one of the nicest (locker rooms) as it is in the Pac-12,” Byrne said. “I think it’s ranked 12th out of 12. Can’t do much better than that, right?”

Wildcat home games will look very different in 2013 and people who haven’t been to the stadium in a couple years won’t even recognize the place. The hope is many fans get comfortable in the new sections and Arizona Football moves from a fall pastime to six or seven must-see events every year.

I, for one, am happy to be moving to new seats and can’t wait to stand on them.

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Scott Terrell has been a UA football season ticket holder since moving back to Tucson a decade ago. Follow his fan-based musings on Twitter and Facebook.