This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

No matter what happens Monday night at California, Utah's hopes for a Pac-12 baseball championship – and its only shot at an NCAA bid – will hinge on this weekend's three-game series vs. Washington at Smith's Ballpark.  The Utes (16-10) hold a half-game lead over Washington (16-11). So the series winner between the Utes and Huskies will have at least 18 wins and would own the tiebreaker, based on head-to-head results. Third-place Arizona State (15-12) could reach 18 wins by sweeping USC, but the Sun Devils lost their series with both Utah and Washington, so they would be eliminated from consideration for the automatic NCAA berth. Fourth-place Arizona (16-14) has concluded Pac-12 play.  Utah mathematically could qualify for an NCAA bid only by winning the conference title. The Utes are 22-26 overall and must have a .500 record to be eligible. They would have to win their last four games to get there – and, in the process, would claim an outright championship.  The Utes and Huskies are scheduled for noon starts Friday, Saturday and Sunday.  The standings:  Utah 16-10 Washington 16-11 Arizona State 15-12 Arizona 16-14 Oregon 14-13 USC 13-14 Oregon State 13-14 California 12-14 Stanford 12-15 UCLA 12-15 Washington State 10-17 – Kurt Kragthorpe