Skip to main content

Oregon State's undefeated record leads Pac-12 baseball

Mar 7, 2018

DOWNLOAD COMPLETE RELEASE (PDF)

WEEKLY RECAP:  No. 2 OREGON STATE collected five wins last week improving to 13-0 this season and is one of five schools left in the country with an undefeated record (Auburn, Louisville, Florida State and Texas Tech). The Beavers swept a four-game series against Hartford and beat Portland, 6-3, to continue their 22-game win streak at Goss Stadium at Coleman Field, the longest active streak in the nation. Dating back to 2016, OSU has gone 72-7 for a .911 winning percentage.
 
In the DQ Classic/Pac-12 vs. Big Ten Challenge at U.S. Bank Stadium last week, No. 13 UCLA and WASHINGTON both won two-of-three games against Big Ten opponents. The Bruins fell to Illinois (5-3) in the opening game and bounced back to defeat Michigan State (4-1) and Minnesota (6-1). The Huskies beat Michigan State (4-3) and Minnesota (6-4) in extra innings, and dropped their Sunday finale to Illinois (1-7). 
 
STANFORD recorded its best start to a season going 10-0 before losing its first game of the season. The Cardinal bested its previous start of 8-0 set in 1998. CALIFORNIA went 2-2 last week while picking up wins against Baylor (8-2) and Xavier (13-3). The Bears then dropped a 9-5 decision to No. 8 Texas A&M in the Frisco Baseball Classic finale at Dr. Pepper Ballpark. 
 
USC served then-No. 5 Arkansas its first home loss of the season with a 3-1 victory on Saturday and then fell in a heartbreaking 7-6 loss on Sunday in a shortened game. Arizona completed an amazing comeback win against San Diego State, 13-4, with the help of Wildcats’ outfielder Alfonso Rivas, who led the way with three hits, a home run and four RBI. OREGON went 3-1 against Florida At-lantic last week, including a 10-4 victory on Monday as the Ducks scored all 10 runs in the final four innings. WASHINGTON STATE was forced to cancel its four-game series against Sacramento State last week 
 
PREVIEWING THE WEEKEND: USC competes in the Dodger Stadium College Baseball Classic this week, hosting TCU on Friday, No. 14 Vanderbilt on Saturday and crosstown rival UCLA on Sunday at Dodger Stadium. The Cougars host Saint Mary’s (Calif.) in a four-game series with their home opener on Thursday. Stanford wrapped up an eight-game homestand with a stretch of 12-of-13 games at home and hit the road for a four-game series against No. 20 Texas. The Utes head back to California on Friday, to begin a three-game series against UC Riverside. 
 
NUMBERS GAME:  California thrives in the stats leading the conference in eight statistical categories after three weeks, including runs scored (105), hits (141), slugging percentage (.548) home runs (17) and batting average (.348). The Bears also rank fourth in the country in batting average. Arizona State leads all teams with .77 triples per game, USC tops the fielding percentage with .997 and UCLA is fifth with. 989. Arizona State leads the conference and all Division I teams with 10 triples and .77 per game. 
 
STARS DELIVERING: Arizona State’s infielder Spencer Torkelson led the Sun Devils to a 3-2 record last week with a .500 batting average (8-of-16) with six runs scored and ranks ninth in the country in slugging percentage (.959). Torkelson recorded eight hits with six going for extra bases, in the five games. Stanford’s Tristan Beck collects his second Pitcher of the Week honor in his third start of the season. The righthander guided the Cardinal to a 7-0 victory over Michigan in the opener of a four-game series against the Wolverines. 
 
In slugging percentage, Cal’s Andrew Vaughn leads the nation at 1.162 percent followed by Cal’s Jonah Davis tied for 14th (.902) and OSU’s Trevor Larnach tied for 28th (.833). All three players rank in the top-15 nationally in RBI. Vaughn holds the no. 1 on base percentage at .654. ASU’s Gage Canning tops the country in triples (6) and hits (28) followed by teammate Lyle Lin, who is tied for ninth with 23 hits. Quentin Longrie from USC scattered eight hits and gave up just one run in 7.1 innings pitched on the road to help USC move to 8-2 on the year.
 
IN THE RANKINGS: In the USA Today/ESPN Top 25 Coaches Poll, Oregon State remains at No. 2, Stanford makes a huge jump to No. 5 and UCLA moves up one to No. 13. In the NCBWA poll on March 5, Oregon State still leads the Pac-12 at No. 2 Stanford climbs to No. 6 and No. 11 UCLA.
 
ALL AMERICANS: The Pac-12 had 11 different student-athletes from six different Pac-12 teams featured on Baseball America, NCBWA, and Collegiate Baseball preseason All-America teams.
 
GOLDEN SPIKES: The USA Baseball Golden Spikes Award Preseason Watch List features 50 amateurs, six of which are student-athletes from four different Pac-12 teams. With six players, the Pac-12 is tied for the third-most representatives among all confer-ences. California and Stanford are 2-of-6 total schools with two players on the watch list. Now in its 40th year recognizing the top amateur baseball player in the country, seven former Pac-12 baseball players have won the award, most recently pitcher Trevor Bauer of UCLA in 2011.
 
USA Baseball Golden Spikes Watch List
Kris Bubic, STAN, SP
Tanner Dodson, CAL, UTL
Nico Hoerner, STAN, SS
Nick Madrigal, OSU, 2B
Alfonso Rivas, ARIZ, 1B
Andrew Vaughn, CAL, 1B
 
STOPPER OF THE YEAR: The Pac-12 has four student-athletes on the NCBWA Stopper of the Year Preseason Watch List. Arizona State’s Connor Higgins, California’s Erik Martinez, Oregon State’s Jake Mulholland and Oregon’s Kenyon Yovan. The National Colle-giate Baseball Writers Association will be presenting the Stopper of the Year Award to the top relief pitcher in Division I baseball for the 14th straight year at the College World Series on Saturday, June 16, 2018.
 
NCBWA Stopper of the Year Watch List
Connor Higgins, ASU, LHP
Erik Martinez, CAL, P
Jake Mulholland, OSU, LHP
Kenyon Yovan, ORE, RHP
 

CONFERENCE STANDINGS (Expanded Standings)

Teams Pac-12 Record Overall Record
Oregon State 0-0 13-0
Stanford 0-0 11-1
UCLA  0-0 10-2
Oregon  0-0 8-3
USC 0-0 8-3
California  0-0 8-3
Washington  0-0 6-5
Arizona State 0-0 7-6
Arizona 0-0 6-6
Washington State 0-0 2-6
Utah 0-0 0-11

UPCOMING SCHEDULE

Thursday, March 8    
Saint Mary's (Calif.) vs WASHINGTON STATE   4 p.m.
No. 5 STANFORD vs No. 20 Texas    4:30 p.m.
UC Davis vs OREGON  ORE1 6 p.m.
Friday, March 9    
Saint Mary's (Calif.) vs WASHINGTON STATE   4 p.m.
No. 5 STANFORD vs No. 20 Texas    4:30 p.m.
North Dakota State vs ARIZONA    5 P.M.
UNCW vs ARIZONA STATE ASU1 5:30 p.m.
Cal St Fullerton vs OREGON STATE OSU1 5:35 p.m.
UC Davis vs OREGON  ORE1  6 p.m.
TCU vs USC (1) USC2 6 p.m.
No. 14 Vanderbilt vs UCLA (1)   6 p.m.
UTAH vs UC Riverside    6 p.m.
Illinois State vs WASHINGTON    6:05 p.m.
Brown vs CALIFORNIA    7:05 p.m.
Saturday, March 10    
No. 5 STANFORD vs No. 20 Texas    12:30 p.m.
North Dakota State vs ARIZONA    1 p.m.
Cal St Fullerton vs OREGON STATE P12O 1 p.m.
UC Davis vs OREGON ORE1 2 p.m.
Saint Mary's (Calif.) vs WASHINGTON STATE   2 p.m.
Illinois State vs WASHINGTON    2:05 p.m.
Brown vs CALIFORNIA    2: 05 p.m.
No. 14 Vanderbilt vs USC (1) P12N 4 p.m.
UNCW vs ARIZONA STATE ASU1 5:30 p.m.
Brown vs CALIFORNIA    6:05 p.m. 
TCU vs No. 13 UCLA (1) P12N 7 p.m.
Sunday, March 11    
No. 5 STANFORD vs No. 20 Texas   11 a.m.
UC Davis at OREGON  ORE1 12 a.m.
Cal St Fullerton vs OREGON STATE P12O 12 p.m.
UNCW vs ARIZONA STATE ASU1 12:30 p.m.
UTAH vs UC Riverside   1 p.m.
Illinois State vs WASHINGTON    1:05 p.m.
Brown vs CALIFORNIA    1:05 p.m.
USC vs No. 13 UCLA (1) P12N 3 p.m.
Monday, March 12    
UTAH vs UNLV   2 p.m.
Illinois State vs WASHINGTON    6:05 p.m.
Tuesday, March 13    
No. 13 UCLA vs CSUN    2 p.m.
CALIFORNIA vs San Francisco   TBD
Gonzaga vs OREGON  ORE1 6 p.m.
USC vs Loyola Marymount    6 p.m.
ARIZONA vs ARIZONA STATE P12A 7 p.m.
WASHINGTON STATE vs Long Beach State    6 p.m.

1 - DQ Classic/Pac-12 vs. Big Ten Challenge 


2018 PAC-12 PLAYER AND PITCHER OF THE WEEK

 Week of Player Pitcher
Feb. 20 Trevor Larnach, OSU Tristan Beck, Stan
Feb. 27  Jonah Davis, CAL Joe DeMars, WASH
March 6  Spencer Torkelson, ASU Tristan Beck, Stan