On Monday, the NCAA announced the 64 collegiate baseball teams to earn the honor to be a part of the Division I national tournament, which will begin Friday at noon when the Missouri Tigers take on the Ole Miss Rebels. In preview of the regional tournaments that will be held this weekend, throughout the week our resident college baseball fanatic Rosenblogger will examine each individual regional:

Palo Alto Regional

1. Stanford Cardinal (33-21) vs 4. UC Davis Aggies (34-22)
2. Pepperdine Waves (36-18) vs 3. Arkansas Razorbacks (34-22)

**Winner to take on champion of Fullerton Regional.**

Stanford’s Sunken Diamond will once again play host to a regional, as the Cardinal will host what should be a very competitive weekend of baseball. The fourth seeded Aggies of UC Davis will provide a tough test for Stanford in the opener. An at-large selection out of the tradition-rich Big West Conference, UC Davis is appearing in the tournament in what is its first eligible season.

They are led by Co-Big West Player of the Year Jake Jeffries (.396, 4 HR, 54 RBI), who anchors an Aggie lineup that hit .318 during the season. The offense is complimented by a pair of quality starters in Eddie Gamboa (6-3, 2.67 ERA) and Brad McAtee (8-4, 3.03 ERA), who will be relied on for big performances.

The top-seeded Cardinal once again feature a deep, talented pitching staff that features four quality starters led by Austin Yount (4-3, 3.88 ERA) and Erik Davis (7-2, 4.22 ERA). Like most Cardinal teams of the past, the 2008 squad will have to rely on their pitching and defense if they want to make it to Omaha. Playing at home, I like Stanford to get past the Aggies, but UC Davis is certainly worthy of being there and more than capable of pulling the upset.

Third seeded Arkansas may be the first team to earn an at-large bid despite not even qualifying for their conference tournament. The Razorbacks finished a respectable 14-15 in SEC play and had a strong RPI, which convinced the committee to “call the hogs” on selection Monday.

After losing Jess Todd and Nick Schmidt to last year’s draft, Arkansas is without quality starting pitching. They will need Logan Forsythe (.352, 7 HR, 33 RBI, 11 SB) and the Razorback bats to carry the team.

The Waves of Pepperdine will take a balanced ball club with them to Palo Alto. Led by star Eric Thames(.407, 13 HR, 59 RBI, 11 SB), the Waves’ offense features seven starters hitting over .300. They have also fielded at a .975 clip for the season, which has been a big reason for their success. Pitcher Nathan Newman (7-4, 3.52 ERA) is capable of beating anyone he faces, and the Waves feature a strong closer in Nick Gaudi (5-1, 2.68 ERA), who enters the regional with 13 saves. Expect Pepperdine to advance past Arkansas in the opening round.

This regional features four teams that all have a legitimate chance of advancing on to the super regionals. The third and fourth seeded teams are both at-large clubs from quality conferences, who have competed with quality teams all year. This will be a very hard fought regional, but when the dust settles, I like the Waves of Pepperdine to be the last team standing.

Rosenblogger

Also, check out our other regional previews: Ann Arbor, Athens, Baton Rouge, Cary, College Station, Conway, Coral Gables, Fullerton, Houston, Lincoln, Long Beach, Raleigh, Stillwater, Tallahassee, Tempe

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