It’s another week and another pivotal Pac-10 series for the UW baseball team.

In their final series of the season, the Huskies (32-20, 10-11 Pac-10) host 16 th-ranked Stanford (31-20-2, 12-9 Pac-10) in what will likely make or break the UW’s postseason hopes.

This past weekend, the Dawgs hoped to at least nab one or two games from conference-leading Arizona State, but came home with no wins, leaving the UW with almost no choice but to sweep the Cardinal this weekend.

UW coach Ken Knutson said the pitching was as consistent as it has been and that they need to step up this week.

“We have a chance to pitch better here than down there in the desert,” he said. “We just need to focus on playing the first game hard and concentrate on playing well throughout.”

Jorden Merry (8-1, 3.29 ERA) will be the starting pitcher for today’s 6:30 p.m. matchup. He will face off against Stanford right-handed pitcher Austin Yount (3-3, 3.84 ERA).

Merry hadn’t lost a game all season until Arizona State this past Friday, where he gave up nine runs in only 2 2/3 innings of work, inflating his ERA to more than 3.00.

Jason Erickson (3-2, 3.03 ERA) and Nick Haughian (6-5, 3.57 ERA), who will start for the Dawgs tomorrow and Sunday in a game against the Sun Devils, didn’t fare much better than Merry either, as Erickson gave up five runs in 5 2/3 innings while Haughian gave up eight runs in six innings of play.

It’s no wonder Knutson believes his pitchers should rebound at home.

The offense didn’t perform well enough to get the wins in the desert, but the Dawgs did put up 14 runs over three games against one of the best teams in the country, with home runs from several players, including David Bentrott and Kyle Conley.

For the sake of their postseason aspirations, Knutson hopes everything can come together against the Cardinal this weekend.

“[Getting to the postseason] is a goal of ours, that’s expected of us every year,” Knutson said. “If we play well, we have a good shot at being considered.”

Two weeks ago, the Dawgs needed roughly three more wins to play their way into the NCAA tournament. Nearly two weeks and one terrible series later, they still need those three wins. Their last chance is this weekend against the Cardinal.