Two weeks into the season, the Pac-12 still has five ranked teams, but their placement looks a bit different from that of the preseason polls. There has been a lot of shakeup from the first edition of the power rankings. See where all of the conference's squads line up in the latest installment.
The Beavers have spent the first two weeks of the season in Arizona participating in the Surprise Tournament. They have handled business as expected, their only loss being to Utah Valley in the second game of the season. Since then, they have won six straight. No. 4 OSU has been impressive at the plate, as well. The team has scored seven or more runs in six of its seven wins thus far.
The Golden Bears had a rough opening weekend, dropping two of three games at Duke. Additionally, both losses came via walk-off. Since then, No. 12 Cal has won four straight but faces a tough test in an upcoming weekend series with No. 23 Texas.
Stanford has had, arguably, the toughest schedule of all Pac-12 teams through two weeks. However, the Cardinal have dealt with it well, taking two of three from No. 23 Cal State Fullerton on opening weekend and splitting a series with then-ranked Texas.
No. 9 Oregon has had a fairly easy start to the year with series against San Diego State and Illinois State. However, the Ducks have taken care of business and their one loss was by a run. Unlike a few other teams in the conference, Oregon has played like it's supposed to against weaker non-conference opponents.
While the Bruins are under .500 to start the year, they hosted No. 6 North Carolina on opening weekend, which is the toughest opponent any team in the conference has played. However, No. 21 UCLA was also pummeled in a midweek matchup with Long Beach State, who just took two of three from ASU. The Bruins are given a bit of slack because of the difficult opening weekend.
While the Sun Devils started with a nice four-game sweep of Xavier, they have now lost three of their last four games. Still, the sweep on opening weekend — while of a much weaker opponent — was impressive as ASU played well in all facets of the game. However, ASU reared a bit of an ugly head at Long Beach State. After winning the first game, poor defense doomed the Sun Devils. The potential shown in the Xavier series gives them an edge in the rankings for now.
No. 22 USC's opening weekend series loss to North Dakota at home hurt its ranking this time around. The Trojans did take two of three from Wake Forest right after, but the first series seems a bit concerning. Still, their talent gives them a nod over other Pac-12 teams in the rankings teams with such a small sample size of games thus far.
Head coach Jay Johnson has the Wildcats above .500 in his first year. However, Arizona's midweek letdown at Lamar is a bit tough to overlook. Although, its next midweek game is against Cal State Fullerton, which will hopefully be a great chance to see where the team is at.
Washington took two of three from Baylor on opening weekend, but the Huskies stay in the same spot because they also split a series with UC Riverside. They will need to show more as the non-conference slate progresses to earn a better spot.
The Cougars lost three of four games to Texas State on opening weekend, but have won two of their last three. Washington State has a four-game series with Utah Valley coming up, which will be a chance to try and get to .500.
Utah has allowed six or more runs in all five of its losses in the young season, perhaps showing its subpar pitching staff. The Utes remain in the bottom spot in the power rankings, but can use an upcoming four-game series with Houston Baptist to start strengthening their case.
Related Links:
ASU baseball loses series to Long Beach State
ASU baseball falls behind early, loses 5-2 at Long Beach State
Reach the reporter at Justin.Toscano@asu.edu or on Twitter @justintoscano3.
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