Midseason

The Central Arkansas series was officially the midpoint of the season.  In the Pac-12, California and Utah sit at the top with Stanford a half game back.  Oregon State is in fourth a half game behind Stanford.  On a national picture, Baseball America's current projection has Oregon State hosting as a two-seed.  Last year, UCSB hosted at Lake Elsinore.  Something similar would probably happen this year, if UCSB finishes as a 1-seed.  The one knock on Oregon State is an abysmal RPI of 36 (33 with the win over Wazzu).  In order to get into the hosting discussion, Oregon State needs to go at least 16-9 on the back stretch.  South of there, and the chances of hosting are slim to say the least.  To clinch a hosting spot, the Beavers probably need to go 22-3.  To be certain of a national seed, Oregon State needs to go 24-1.  The non-conference schedule is pillowy soft and the conference is down, particularly the bottom of the conference.  Because the schedule is so light, the Beavers need to make up for that by just decimating the competition, putting together long winning streaks with few losses.

As for the weekend, Utah is playing UC Riverside, so Oregon State can catch up to the Utes with a sweep.  Stanford has not lost a series yet but plays three at Arizona.  California plays three at Arizona State.  With a sweep, Stanford stays ahead of Oregon State.  If California wins the series, they also stay ahead of Oregon State.  The first of the five game series against Oregon starts in Eugene on Monday.  The Beavers take on the Utes the weekend after.  Although Utah is tied for the conference crown, they also have a losing overall record, going 3-14 out-of-conference (including a midweek loss to BYU this week), which hurts the conference's RPI.  The Pac-12 is still third behind the ACC and SEC, per usual.