Off the bubble

Players gathered at pitcher Brad McAtee's house on Monday morning to watch ESPN's NCAA Selection Show. The Aggies thought they might have to sweep their final series of the season to make the postseason but dropped the final game at Cal State Northridge on a walkoff homer in the bottom of the ninth.

UC Santa Barbara lost its final game of the season and dropped a series at UC Irvine, however, as both teams had good credentials for being the Big West Conference's final at-large team.

The NCAA ultimately picked UCD, which finished sixth in the Big West but had a stronger RPI than Santa Barbara (52 to 61). The Gauchos, who finished a game ahead of the Aggies in the standings, played two games against NAIA Westmont and also opened the season with a sweep of a terrible Marist squad. The Aggies, to their credit, played all of their games against Division I competition.

UCD coach Rex Peters thought Santa Barbara might have gotten in with a win on Sunday at Irvine.

"Santa Barbara is a quality team," Peters said. "If they would have won a series at Irvine on the road, they might have gotten in. Who knows? They might have taken five teams from the Big West."

The Aggies received one of the final three at-large bids, along with Tulane and Arkansas, according to Baseball America. Defending two-time NCAA champ Oregon State was left off the field, along with other bubble teams Missouri State and Baylor.

The Big West was given four slots last season as well as two eventually advanced to the College World Series, another factor that might have played into the selection process this year.

Peters said the team will begin practicing again on Tuesday. He said Eddie Gamboa will throw on Friday against regional host Stanford (33-21-2), a team the Aggies beat twice this season and have won four of five against dating back to 2006.

The game at Sunken Diamond is 5 p.m. Arkansas (34-22) and Pepperdine (36-19) are scheduled to start at 1 p.m.

For a complete story on the selection, see Tuesday's Enterprise.