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But as much as they could use a breather, they can’t afford to take one. The Cats face an uphill climb to get back in the mix to host an NCAA regional, and they can’t afford many slipups. Non-conference games at New Mexico State on Tuesday and vs. Nevada on Thursday-Sunday cannot be overlooked.

However, this break in the Pac-12 slate does provide an opportunity to take stock of ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ (28-13, 13-8 Pac-12) roughly three-fourths of the way through Chip Hale’s first season.

With their trip to Las Cruces on tap, here’s where the Wildcats stand:

Pac-12: ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥, the defending league champion, sits in second place, 1½ games behind Oregon State. Both teams have 13 conference wins. The Beavers, who already have had their Pac-12 bye week, are 13-5 in league play.

Among the top five teams in the conference, ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ is the only one that hasn’t had its bye yet. After this weekend, they all will be on the same footing.

Three teams are tied for third behind the Wildcats at 11-7: UCLA, Oregon and Stanford. ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ has faced two of the three. The Wildcats lost two of three to the Bruins and swept the Cardinal. They visit the Ducks to close the regular season.

It’s possible — although unlikely — that ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ could fall to fifth place in the standings by the end of the weekend. That would require OSU winning at least one game at Utah, and UCLA, Oregon and Stanford sweeping their series against ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ State, Cal and Washington.

Regardless of how this weekend plays out, the Wildcats have positioned themselves to at least have a shot to repeat as regular-season champions. They finish Pac-12 play at USC (which sits in last place at 5-13), vs. Oregon State and at Oregon.

The twist this year is the advent of the Pac-12 Tournament, which is slated for May 25-29 in Scottsdale. It’s more likely than not that the Pac-12 regular-season champ and/or tournament winner will earn the right to host a regional (unless a team such as ASU, Cal or Utah wins the tourney). So, in a sense, the Wildcats have two cracks at it.

Top 25: Despite going 4-1 last week — sweeping a two-game set at Creighton before taking two of three from ASU — ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ didn’t reclaim a spot in the rankings.

Neither Baseball America nor placed the Wildcats in their Top 25s Monday after dropping them the previous week following ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥’s second straight series loss.

BA ranked four Pac-12 teams: OSU (2), Stanford (4), UCLA (14) and Oregon (25). D1 ranked three: OSU (2), Stanford (6) and UCLA (13).

As mentioned above, the Wildcats swept the Cardinal. Since then, Stanford has gone 15-4.

The rankings are more of a source of pride than an actual metric that matters. RPI — Rating Percentage Index — is a much bigger deal. Speaking of which ...

RPI: ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ currently sits at No. 37. The Wildcats tumbled out of the top 10 after losing two of three at home against Washington State April 1-3, and they might never recover that status.

But ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ did move up 10 spots from the previous week, and there are opportunities for a bigger ascent at the end of the season against the Oregon schools. OSU is seventh in RPI, Oregon 14th.

The challenge between now and then is to hold serve, especially at home. Just as the RPI formula rewards teams for road victories, it docks them for home losses.

The basic elements of RPI are your winning percentage, your opponents’ winning percentage and your opponents’ opponents’ winning percentage. Apologies to those who were told there would be no math.

Since a team can’t control all of those elements, the best thing to do is to just keep winning and let the computers handle the rest.

What’s ahead: ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ faces NMSU for the second time this month after defeating the Aggies 4-2 on April 12 in ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥. NMSU is 16-21 and 247th in RPI.

Nevada is 21-17 but has a solid RPI of 63 — higher than the likes of Ole Miss, South Carolina, UC Irvine and Mississippi State. The Wolf Pack’s résumé includes a season-opening series win over Grand Canyon, which is 27-14 and 30th in RPI.

The Lopes have split a pair of games with the Wildcats. They play again on May 3, which is ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥â€™s final non-conference game. From that point forward, the UA will play nine straight league games without any midweek contests — a welcome respite for the Wildcats’ pitching staff.

ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ has had to lean on its bullpen more than Hale would like because of ineffective starting pitching. The latter has become the most worrisome aspect of the team as the Wildcats approach the stretch run.

Susac keeps bouncing back

UA catcher Daniel Susac has displayed a remarkable ability to rebound after having a bad day at the plate.

Susac — who leads the Pac-12 in hits and ranks second in batting average behind teammate Tanner O’Tremba — has gone hitless in nine of 41 games.

He has had at least two hits in the next game on eight occasions. Only once has he failed to get a hit. In the nine games following a hitless performance, Susac has batted .462 (18 of 39) with three home runs, nine runs and 11 RBIs.

“He’s just mentally tough,� Hale said. “He knows how to play the game. And he knows from years of watching his brother (professional catcher Andrew Susac), you’re gonna go through some struggles.�

Susac — who went 2 for 3 with a home run and three RBIs on Sunday after going 0 for 5 Saturday — credited his resilience to being the youngest of three siblings.

“For lack of a better term, they kicked my ass in the backyard,� Susac said. “I’d have to get back up. I’d cry a little, but my dad would tell me to just deal with it, grow up. (My) mindset is, it can only get better.�

Susac, a draft-eligible sophomore, is projected to be a first-round pick in this summer’s MLB draft.

Inside pitch

Susac on whether sweeping Creighton, which followed a series loss at Utah, could be the turning point in the season: “It’s tough to know a turning point in the moment. But it could be. Especially for our pitching staff’s confidence. Our first shutout was a seven-bullpen-arm day or five-bullpen-arm day (six, actually), which you probably wouldn’t think. You’d think it’d be TJ (Nichols) or Garrett (Irvin) going the distance. That was big.�

Six UA relievers — Trevor Long, Quinn Flanagan, George Arias Jr., Jonathan Guardado, Chris Barraza and Holden Christian — have ERAs under 4.00. Only one starter, Irvin (3.04), has an ERA lower than that mark.

ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ has stolen 13 bases in 14 attempts in its past seven games. The Wildcats are 28 of 34 (82.4%) for the season. O’Tremba leads the team with seven swipes. He has been caught only once.