Pennant Race Baseball in Seattle (Yes, Really!)

Looking for tense baseball? You'll find it (maybe for the last time this summer) at Husky Ballpark this weekend.

The Huskies, dealt a near death-blow to their postseason hopes when they were swept by Arizona State last weekend, have one last series to prove themselves to the NCAA Tournament Selection committee when they host #16 Stanford for three games.

The Dawgs sit tied for fifth in a bunched-up Pac-10 (six teams are separated by just 1.5 games), and based on how they play this weekend, they could finish as high as second or as far down as eighth.

A second-place finish would seem to guarantee a tourney berth, but for that they'd need a sweep. More realistic would be for the Dawgs to win two of three, which would leave them at 12-12 in the league, which might be enough.

But, essentially, these are must-win games for the Huskies, and not inconsequential for Stanford either, which has an outside chance of catching ASU for the Pac-10 title.

The strength of the Dawgs is their starting staff--they've got their three best lined up for this weekend's games.

Friday: UW's Jorden Merry (8-1, 3.29) vs. Austin Yount (3-3, 3.86 ERA), 6:30 pm. (Yount is Hall-of-Famer Robin's nephew)
Saturday: UW's Jason Erickson (3-2, 3.03 ERA) vs. Erik Davis (7-2, 4.00 ERA), 2pm.
Sunday: UW's Nick Haughian (6-5, 3.57 ERA) vs. Jeffrey Inman (7-2, 4.53 ERA), 1pm.

All games are live on KKNW 1150-AM.

Down in Corvallis, the defending champion Beavers sit at 7th in the Pac-10, their league schedule over. But they won series against ASU and Stanford, and played a very tough schedule. Still, they likely need a sweep this weekend against Pacific (which is coached by former Mariner Ed Sprague) to make the tourney, writes Brian Meehan.

The 64-team NCAA tourney field gets announced Monday at 9am on ESPN.