Sat, Nov 07, 2009

UA Sports

UA baseball fails to win NCAA spot; 3 Pac-10 teams in

By Ryan Finley
Arizona Daily Star
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 05.25.2009
The Arizona Wildcats finished the regular season by winning 10 of their final 12 games, including a three-game sweep of Oregon over the weekend.
It wasn’t enough to get them into the postseason.
The NCAA unveiled its 64-team regional brackets this morning, and — perhaps not surprisingly — the Wildcats were left out.
In fact, just three Pac-10 Conference teams qualified.
Arizona State (44-12) will play Kent State in Tempe. Oregon State (35-17) will face Texas A&M in Fort Worth, Texas, and Washington State (31-23) will take on Arkansas in Norman, Okla.
Arizona (30-25, 13-14) finished its season tied with Stanford for fifth place in the Pac-10 standings. The Wildcats believed they needed to win their final nine games to advance to the regionals for the third consecutive season. The team won eight instead, its lone loss coming in a May 15 home game against Washington. The UA won its final five conference games after that, but couldn’t back-door its way into the playoffs.
The Wildcats’ coaches were hoping to use the same formula as the last two NCAA Champions. Oregon State won it all in 2007 despite posting a 10-14 record in Pac-10 play.
Fresno State went 33-27 in the regular season last year before making an improbable run through the College World Series. The Bulldogs were a No. 4 seed in their regional pod, the equivalent of a No. 13-16 seed in basketball.
At issue was Arizona’s lack of so-called “quality wins”. The Wildcats went 1-16 this season against ranked teams, their only win coming April 10 against No. 16 Oregon State.
Arizona’s exclusion from the postseason marks the end of collegiate competition for two of the team’s best players, pitcher Preston Guilmet and outfielder Brad Glenn. First baseman Dillon Baird, the Pac-10’s batting champion, is expected to be taken in next month’s amateur draft.
Baird’s college career would end if he signs a professional contract.