With only a three game series against each other left on their regular season schedules the Stanford Cardinal and California Golden Bears are definitely in the mix for the 2011 NCAA tournament, and the newest college rankings show it. Although they both have similar records Stanford moved up in the NCAA Division I baseball rankings to 20th overall, while the Golden Bears have slipped to 35th.
At 30-19 on the season, Stanford has gotten some good wins over solid Pac-10 talent including taking two out of three last week from #28 Arizona. They're 18-6 at Sunken Diamond for the year, also giving them a big boost in the rankings, though other polls aren't as forgiving. USA Today's poll has them sitting 24th while Baseball America doesn't even have them in the top 25. Stanford will likely be in for the NCAA tourney, but could be on the cusp of falling short.
The Golden Bears are 30-18 on the year, but are 35th overall in the standings. Their recent series losses to #24 Oregon State and #42 UCLA aren't helping out their tournament resumes either, but still have a chance to make they tourney. They are 14-7 at home this year and could play their way into the postseason with a good showing against Stanford in their final series of the season. They are also on neither of USA Today or Baseball America's top 25 polls.