Now don't get too excited, but a perfect 16-0 record finally earned UCLA a spot in the top 10, according to the staff at Baseball America. They moved the Bruins from 12th place to 9th, still behind teams with several losses, such as Texas (15-5) and Florida State (15-4), both of whom scraped by with 2-2 records last week, but remained in the top 10.
The baseball writers polled by NCBWA are still not convinced UCLA is for real, although they did move the Bruins from 13th place to 11th, again behind Texas and Florida State.
Arizona State (20-0) is 3rd in the Baseball America poll and 2nd according to the baseball writers. Oregon State (14-3) is 17th and 13th respectively.
Pac-10 teams have absolutely obliterated non-conference teams, 130-47. UCLA, in spite of its 16-0 record, .370-.193 batting average, and 2.13-8.55 ERA, will soon have to run that gauntlet of Pac-10 teams, beginning on April 1st against Stanford (10-4). The Bruins could well be 21-0 coming into that first conference game, but it won't gain them any more respect from The Tree than they've been getting from sportswriters.
Can our boys in blue win against fellow members of the toughest baseball conference in the NCAA? Stay tuned.