With 10 games left in the regular season, the No. 4 ASU baseball team still has plenty of work to do.
The Sun Devils (43-9, 10-5 Pac-10) find themselves a game-and-a-half out of first place in the conference thanks to Stanford's three-game sweep over USC this past weekend.
With yet another week off from conference play, the Sun Devils will have their work cut out for them when they return to Pac-10 action, playing six games in eight days starting May 12 - all are on the road.
Their first opponent will be Oregon State. Although the Beavers are just 5-13 in conference action, they have given the Pac-10 fits, defeating Stanford, UCLA, Washington and California.
The Beavers have four players batting well over .300 with junior shortstop Tony Calderon leading the team at .388. He has four home runs and 35 RBI in 40 games this season.
After two days off, the Sun Devils will then face Washington, which is currently fourth in the conference standings at 8-7. Freshman Brent Lillibridge leads the team with a .400 average but junior Chad Boudon has connected for 18 home runs this season, tied for tops in the Pac-10.
The following weekend, ASU wraps up the regular season at home against the University of Arizona. The Wildcats are third in the conference and just a half game back of ASU. UA's biggest threat is its team speed, as six different players have at least 10 stolen bases.
ASU will first battle UC Irvine (18-29, 6-8 Big West) at home this Tuesday night.
In the final 10 games, the Sun Devils will be shooting for both personal and team records.
Sophomore shortstop Dustin Pedroia is two doubles shy of tying the school record for two-base hits in a season (30) and freshman left fielder Travis Buck is 15 hits short of tying Pedroia's record for hits by a freshman (82).
As a team, ASU needs just seven victories to win at least 50 for the first time since 1990 (52-16), and another grand slam would give them 13, setting the NCAA mark for the most ever in a season.
The one goal that matters more than any statistic is playing in the College World Series, the place ASU hopes to be in mid-June.
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Reach the reporter at casey.pritchard@asu.edu.
