The Pac-10 heads into their fifth weekend of conference action with the big series being the #7 ranked UCLA Bruins taking on the #16th ranked Arizona Wildcats in Tucson. The only other conference series featuring ranked squads facing off is #25 Cal visiting archrival #30 Stanford. The rest of the conference slate sees Washington visiting Arizona State, Oregon State at Washington State, and USC visiting Eugene to take on the Oregon Ducks.
#7 UCLA at #16 Arizona
UCLA travels down to Tucson this weekend facing a red hot Wildcat squad that has won their last 6 contests, while the Bruins are 5-6 in their last 11, including a 16-4 loss to the Long Beach State Dirtbags during the week. Arizona comes off a mid-week victory on the road against the #1 ranked Arizona State Sun Devils, and hope to keep that momentum going. Steve Selsky is the main reason for the Wildcats resurgence as he is hitting .449 with 5 homeruns and and 17 RBI in conference play. Watch for Selsky to be on our Top 100 for next season.
If UCLA hopes to win this series, they are going to need increased production out of Niko Gallego and Steve Rodriguez, who are both having terrible starts to conference play and are both barely batting over the Mendoza Line with a combined 4 RBI’s in 9 games. Also, they’re going to need stellar performances out of Cole and Bauer, who have yet to register wins in conference play while Rasmussen has won all three of his Pac-10 starts.
I expect UCLA to take 2 of 3 games on this series, mainly because the Sunday game matches the Bruins most efficient starter in Rasmussen against the Wildcats least efficient weekend starter in Bandilla.
Gerrit Cole (6-1, 2.98) vs. Kurt Heyer (6-0, 2.15)
Trevor Bauer (5-2, 2.65) vs. Kyle Simon (6-2, 3.39)
Rob Rasmussen (6-0, 2.52) vs. Bryce Bandilla (3-3, 4.62)
Other Pac-10 Series Include:
Washington at #1 Arizona State
Geoff Brown (1-2, 4.43) vs. Seth Blair (6-0, 3.21)
Andrew Kittredge (5-3, 5.90) vs. Merrill Kelly (8-0, 3.83)
TBA vs. Jake Borup (7-1, 3.42)
Series Prediction: ASU Sweeps
#22 Oregon State at Washington State
Greg Peavey (3-0, 2.36) vs. Chad Arnold (3-2, 3.34)
Tanner Robles (4-3, 2.44) vs. David Stilley (1-1, 6.59)
Sam Gaviglio (1-1, 5.66) vs. TBA
Series Prediction: Oregon State Sweeps
#25 Cal at #30 Stanford
Erik Johnson (5-2, 3.63) vs. Brett Mooneyham (1-4, 6.69)
Justin Jones (8-2, 2.62) vs. Jordan Pries (3-1, 3.14)
Dixon Anderson (3-1, 3.26) vs. Brian Busick (4-1, 3.13)
Series Prediction; Stanford wins 2 of 3
USC at Oregon
Andrew Triggs (1-6, 4.14) vs. Tyler Anderson (5-3, 2.63)
Ben Mount (3-3, 3.77) vs. Justin Latempa (3-2, 3.55)
TBA vs. TBA
The Chad Kreuter Farewell Tour travels up to Eugene this weekend. Oregon Sweeps.
Predicted Pac-10 Standings after this weekend:
ASU 34-4 (12-3)
Arizona 29-10 (9-6)
Oregon 28-12 (9-6)
Cal 24-13 (9-6)
Stanford 20-14 (9-6)
UCLA 28-8 (6-6)
Oregon State 23-11 (6-6)
Washington 19-19 (4-8)
Washington State 19-17 (3-9)
USC 16-23 (2-13)
3 comments
No way the Cougs drop all three at home. I realize they had a tough weekend at AU but they also took two of three from the Sun Devils a couple weeks ago. This team is better at home and will certainly win one and I think at least two.
They sure need a win or two this weekend. I’ve been wrong before. I just don’t see Oregon State’s skid continuing.
It was a good game tonight. Chad Arnold pitched very well for the Cougs. He had a complete game and, if I counted right, 11 strikeouts. Overall both teams played well though and should set up for a couple more good games.
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