Cal Faces Crucial Series to Reach Pac-12 Tournament

Cal is locked in a battle for the final berth in the upcoming Pac-12 baseball tournament.

The Pac-12 has changed its format for this year's conference tournament. Instead of the eight teams that qualified for the inaugural Pac-12 tournament last year, nine teams will qualify for the conference tournament this year, with the nine teams divided into three, three-team groups to begin play in Scottsdale, Ariz., on May 23.

Heading into their final three-game series of the season this week against Washington, the Golden Bears are 22-25 overall, but more importantly they are 10-17 in Pac-12 games, leaving them tied with Arizona for the ninth and final spot in the Pac-12 tournament. Cal and Arizona are just a half-game behind Washington State (10-16) and a game-and-a-half ahead of Utah, which is currently last in the 11-team conference.

The tiebreaker is head-to-head results. Cal lost the season series to Arizona, so if the Bears finish tied with Arizona for the ninth spot, Arizona would get to the tournament and Cal would be left out. Cal also lost the season series to Washington State so a tie for ninth with the Cougars would leave the Bears at home too.

However, Cal did win the season series against Utah, so if those two teams tie for the final berth in the conference tournament, Cal would be in.

Cal faces a stiff challenge this week with a road series against Washington, which is 32-14 overall and 16-10 in the conference, putting the Huskies in second place. Washington is ranked 24th nationally this week and has won six in a row, including a sweep of Oregon this past weekend, heading into Thursday's first game against Cal.

Meanwhile, Washington State , Arizona and Utah all play their final series at home this weekend. Washington State faces first-place Stanford (20-7 in the conference), Arizona goes against USC (16-11 in the Pac-12) and Utah plays Oregon (14-13 in the Pac-12).

If three teams tie for the final Pac-12 tournament berth, the tiebreaker could come down to the teams' records against the team occupying the highest position in the final standings, which would be Stanford. Cal lost all three conference games to the Cardinal during the regular season.

If Cal loses all three games to the Huskies this week, the Bears would be eliminated from the Pac-12 tournament no matter what the other three teams do.

Kade Kretzschmar, a transfer from Dartmouth, leads the Bears in hitting with a .330 average, and he tied with Rodney Green Jr. for the team lead in home runs (13) and RBIs (34).

Cover photo of Rodney Green by Rob Edwards, KLC fotos

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