Mission accomplished.

The Cardinal headed north to Seattle last weekend to take on Washington for the final series of the regular season looking to get back on track and, hopefully, earn home-field advantage for the NCAA Regionals.

No. 16 Stanford (33-21-2, 14-10 Pac-10) took the first two games to secure the series, but Sunday didn’t go as well for the Cardinal. After jumping out to a 4-0 lead despite being held to just three hits through six innings, the Huskies (33-22, 11-13) capitalized on a Stanford error and ran away with a 7-4 victory. Still, Sunday had a happy ending as the announcement was made during the eighth inning that Klein Field at Sunken Diamond would be a host site for the first round of the 64-team NCAA tournament this weekend.

“We knew we needed to take two out of three [to be selected as a host site],” said junior Austin Yount. “The difference was probably that we took the first two, actually, because the selection committee made their decision before [the Sunday games finished].”

“Washington is a good team,” junior second baseman Cord Phelps added. “We played some very good, relaxed ball and had a pretty good weekend. We wanted to get back on track going into next weekend, and this series was a good step.”

Friday: Stanford 9, Washington 4

Stanford didn’t waste any time in the opener, as Phelps led off by launching his 11th homer — his third leading off a game — to spot the Cardinal an early 1-0 lead. Three batters later, junior Brent Milleville delivered a two-run homer — his ninth — to make it 3-0, Stanford.

Washington battled back in the third, though. Trailing 4-0, Joey Dunn, Andy Lentz and Kyle Conley all went deep for the Huskies to even the game at 4 apiece.

But those were all the runs the Huskies could muster, as Stanford starter Austin Yount turned in one of the best performances of his career on the hill. The right-hander pitched his first complete game, allowing just four runs on nine hits and one walk while striking out 10 Huskies. The win moved his record to 4-3 on the year.

“I just tried to throw strikes,” Yount said. “It makes things easy when you have great defense behind you, and our defense was great. Getting some runs on the board quickly was important also.”

Yount got some insurance from junior Joey August, who picked up his first home run of the year in the sixth inning to make it 9-4 Stanford. August finished the day 3-for-5 and was a triple shy of the cycle.

Saturday: Stanford 8, Washington 5

Washington starter Jason Erickson kept the Cardinal lineup quiet almost the whole afternoon but couldn’t quite reach the finish in the second game of the series. He held Stanford to just two runs on four hits through seven innings before the Cardinal finally got to the right-hander in the eighth frame.

Trailing 4-2, Stanford started off the eighth with pinch-hit singles from senior Brendan Domaracki and Yount. Phelps delivered an RBI single to chase Erickson, and the Card put up two more in the inning to take the lead 5-4.

Stanford picked up three more in the ninth and won by the final score of 8-5. Freshman Danny Sandbrink got the win to move to 1-1 after allowing just one run and three hits in four and a third innings out of the bullpen, while freshman closer Drew Storen got the final out to pick up his sixth save of the season. Phelps picked up three RBI and August two as they both finished the day 3-for-5 at the plate.

Sunday: Stanford 4, Washington 7

Junior left-hander Jeremy Bleich made his first start in eight weeks, leaving in the third inning after allowing no runs and just three hits, but Stanford couldn’t quite get its offense going.

The Cardinal manufactured four runs on just three hits — one of them sophomore Toby Gerhart’s fifth home run of the year — to take a 4-0 lead into the bottom of the sixth inning, when an unfortunate error allowed the Huskies to surge back into the game.

With sophomore Jeffery Inman pitching in relief for Bleich and a runner on first with two outs, Washington first baseman Troy Scott lifted a high pop-up into foul territory. Phelps got there on a long run, but the ball glanced off his glove for an error. Scott drove one over the left field wall just a few moments later to start a rally that would see Washington push across four more runs in the inning and take a 6-4 lead.

The Huskies got one more in the seventh to make it 7-4. Junior Blake Hancock took the loss to fall to 1-3.

By taking two of three on the weekend, Stanford finished the 2008 regular season second in the Pac-10 at 14-10, behind only Arizona State’s mark of 16-8 in the conference. The Cardinal has not been to the postseason since 2006 and has not hosted a Regional since 2004.

“[This group of Stanford players] hasn’t been able to play a playoff game at home, so we are really excited for that,” said Phelps. “We are lucky to have great talent in all four classes, and we have some guys who have been [to the postseason] before. I always look to the upperclassmen to be the anchors.”

“Leadership is always a key factor for any successful team,” agreed Yount. “We have some great, experienced leaders and look forward to competing in the postseason.”

Stanford is the No. 1 seed in the double-elimination Regional and will be matched with No. 2 Pepperdine, No. 3 Arkansas and No. 4 UC-Davis this weekend. Pepperdine will play Arkansas at 1 p.m. Friday while Stanford takes on UC-Davis at 5 p.m.