SEATTLE — The closer he got to breaking the University of Washington’s single-season home run record, the harder Chad Boudon tried to put it out of his mind.

Too bad his Husky teammates weren’t about to let that happen.

“I heard about it every single day,” said Boudon, a 1999 graduate of Shorewood High School. “I didn’t want to think about it too much, but I couldn’t help it because everyone was talking to me about it.”

Finally, he tied Dominic Woody’s four-year-old mark of 19 long balls on May 6. Seven games later, he made the record his own by socking his 20th and 21st homers in a 6-4 upset of then third-ranked Arizona State May 19.

“It was good to get it out of the way and just play baseball again,” Boudon said after Washington completed its first-ever series sweep of USC with a 10-8 comeback victory May 25 at Husky Ballpark.

The three wins helped the Huskies (40-16 overall, 15-9 Pac-10) earn a ticket to the NCAA regional playoffs this weekend in Long Beach, Calif. As a No. 3 seed, Washington drew a first-round matchup with second-seeded Minnesota this afternoon.

“It’s been a big momentum swing for us in the last 10 or so games,” Boudon said. “Everything’s been clicking. We’re going to ride that into (regionals).”

When it comes to big swings, Boudon’s an expert.

He ended the regular season tied for the Pac-10 lead in home runs. Last month, he became the second Husky to belt three homers in one game.

“I create a lot of power with my swing,” Boudon said. “I swing hard and look for good pitches I can hit out of the ballpark.”

The 6-foot-1, 210-pound junior outfielder took the scenic route to Montlake. When the Huskies didn’t come calling his senior year at Shorewood, Boudon accepted an offer from the University of Hawaii.

It turned out to be one catastrophe after another.

“I had two shoulder surguries right away, my first year there,” Boudon said. “After that, it was a healing process. It was kind of bad news the whole time.”

He appeared in just 25 games for Hawaii’s new head coach last season and decided a change was in order. Come to find out, after three injury-plagued years with the Rainbows, Boudon’s pot of gold was much closer to home.

UW was the school he had his eye on all along and the switch “worked out perfect,” just as he’d hoped. Boudon has made 43 consecutive starts for the Huskies in left field or at DH, has driven in a team-high 55 runs and was an all-Pac-10 first-team selection.

And in only his first year back on the mainland, Boudon has already slugged his way into the record books.

“It feels good to be a part of Husky history, for sure,” he said.