College baseball: Gonzaga Bulldogs host BYU in critical West Coast Conference series

The Gonzaga Bulldogs still control their own destiny, but they will have to be perfect.

Gonzaga (28-17, 17-7 West Coast Conference) hosts No. 18 BYU (33-15, 20-4) on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

A sweep would give the Zags a share of the conference title and the top seed in the WCC Championship. The Cougars need just one win this weekend to secure the WCC crown.

GU needs just one win to secure a berth in the WCC Championship series. The top four teams in the conference make the cut, and GU is currently tied with Loyola Marymount for second place, and holds tiebreakers over San Diego and LMU.

GU and LMU are two games ahead of San Diego and Saint Mary’s, which holds the tiebreaker with GU.

Cougars test their streak

Washington State has turned a rebuilding season into one of uncharacteristic success, winning four consecutive Pac-12 Conference series for the first time since 1995.

To continue the streak, Washington State (24-23, 10-14 Pac-12) will have to two take two of three, on the road, from the best team in the country.

No. 1 Oregon State (42-4, 24-3) is the only other Pac-12 team to win four consecutive conference series this year.

While the Beavers are excellent, the young Cougars (25 first-year players) have been ahead of schedule on offense and defense.

Not only are the Cougars second in the league in doubles (98) and fourth in on-base percentage (.367), they have turned more double plays in league play (25) than any other Pac-12 team.