LEADING OFF:  It was another big week for first-place Oregon State, sweeping Washington and then winning a non-conference matchup against Oregon.  The No. 2 Beavers take a five-game win streak into Salt Lake City this weekend where they own an 8-4 advantage all-time.  However, the Utes won their last home series against OSU in 2018 and have been playing inspired ball of late, winning six of their last seven games.

No. 14 UCLA will look to continue their strong play in April (11-5) after taking two of three at Cal last weekend.  The Bruins have won five of their last six series against this weekend’s opponent, Arizona State.  The Sun Devils will be looking for their first conference road series win of the season

After going 4-1 against non-conference opponents last week, No. 9 Stanford returns to conference play at Washington.  The Cardinal have won their last two conference road series and in impressive fashion at UCLA and Oregon State.  The Huskies took the series the last time these squads faced off in Seattle in 2018.

Oregon looks to get back into the swing of things as they have lost three straight, tying a season-high.  The Ducks last nine games however have all been decided by two runs or less.  They’ll welcome Cal to Eugene this weekend where the Bears will look to win a series in Eugene for the first time since 2014.

Arizona got its weekend started early with a 6-5 win over Nevada on Thursday, the first of a four-game series.  The Wildcats look to jump back into the Top 25 as they have won six of their last seven games.

USC and Washington State face off this week with both teams needing wins to get into contention for the inaugural Pac-12 Baseball Tournament.  The Trojans have won the last six series against WSU.  The Cougars have two road series wins over Top 10 opponents this season but are still searching for their first home conference series win of 2022. 

Rankings Roundup

• USA Today Coaches:  #2 Oregon State, #9 Stanford, #14 UCLA
• Baseball America:  #2 Oregon State, #4 Stanford, #14 UCLA, #25 Oregon
• D1Baseball:  #2 Oregon State, #6 Stanford, #13 UCLA
• Collegiate Baseball:  #4 Stanford, #5 Oregon State, #11 Arizona, #12 UCLA, #21 Oregon
• NCBWA:  #2 Oregon State,  #5 Stanford, #12 UCLA, #25 Oregon, #27 Arizona
• Perfect Game:  #2 Oregon State, #14 Stanford, #16 UCLA, #17 Oregon

RPI UPDATE:  Entering Thursday, the Pac-12 had 10 teams in the top 100 in Adjusted RPI, one of only three conferences that can say that (ACC, SEC).  Oregon State leads the way at No. 3 and are 5-3 against the RPI Top 25 teams with Stanford now the second highest Pac-12 school at No. 13. 

UCLA has the fifth highest adjusted RPI (No. 44) among Pac-12 schools but is 10-3 against the RPI Top 50, the second best win percentage (.769) against Top 50 teams behind Tennessee (15-2, .882) – minimum 3 games

FORWARD THINKING:  D1Baseball and Baseball America both released updated projections for the Field of 64 on April 27^th with both predicting five Pac-12 schools making the NCAA Tournament with two teams as regional hosts.

Just as in their previous releases, both publications have Oregon State as a number one seed and at number two overall.  Stanford is the other Pac-12 school currently projected as a regional host with Baseball America having the Cardinal as the number four overall seed and D1Baseball pegging them ninth overall.  Arizona, Oregon and UCLA are all currently projected as two seeds.

TICKETS ON SALE NOW!:  The inaugural Pac-12 Baseball Tournament is scheduled for May 25-29, 2022 at Scottsdale Stadium and tickets are now available at pac-12.com/tickets.  The double-elimination tournament will be spread over five days at the Spring Training home of the San Francisco Giants.

The top eight teams in the Conference standings at the conclusion of the regular season will earn berths in the Pac-12 Baseball Tournament, from which the champion will receive the Conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. The Pac-12’s initial agreement with the City of Scottsdale runs through 2024.

CLOSING TIME:  The NCBWA announced their Midseason Watch List for the 2022 Stopper of the Year this week with the Pac-12 having five guys make the list, tied for the second most among conferences. Of the four schools nationally to have multiple players make the list, two of them were in the Conference of Champions with Arizona (Holden Christian, Trevor Long) and UCLA (Ethan Flanagan, Alonzo Treadwell).  Oregon’s Kolby Somers also made the cut.

Pac-12 pitchers have won this award three times since its inception in 2005, with all of them coming from UCLA.  Holden Powell was the last to win it in 2019 while Dave Berg won it in both 2013 and 2015.

HONOR ROLL:  Washington State and Utah both picked up one of the Pac-12 weekly honors for the first time this season.  The Cougars’ Jacob McKeon was tabbed Pac-12 Player of the Week after homering in all three games of WSU’s series win over Oregon.  The Utes Matthew Sox was named Pac-12 Pitcher of the Week after going the distance against USC, becoming the first Utah pitcher to pick up this honor since 2015.

Meanwhile, on the national scene, Oregon State’s Wade Meckler was selected as one of Collegiate Baseball’s Players of the Week.  Meckler collected 10 hits, six of them doubles, over five games with eight RBI while coming up clutch with two game-winning doubles and a game-tying home run.

D1Baseball National Players of the Week

• April 5- LHP Cooper Hjerpe (OSU)

Collegiate Baseball National Players of the Week

• April 25- INF/OF Wade Meckler (OSU)
• April 18- C Tyler Lozano (USC)
• April 11- C Vincent Martinez (Stanford)
• April 4- LHP Cooper Hjerpe (OSU), LHP Quinn Mathews (Stanford)
• March 21- LHP Cooper Hjerpe (OSU)
• March 14- OF Jacob Melton (OSU), C Daniel Susac (Arizona), LHP Adam Tulloch (Arizona St)
• March 7- 1B/LHP TJ Clarkson (Utah), RHP Thatcher Hurd (UCLA)
• February 28- RHP Matthew Sox (Utah)
• February 21- RHP Josh White (California)

Golden Spikes Performance of the Week

• April 4- LHP Cooper Hjerpe (OSU)
• February 28- LHP Quinn Mathews (Stanford), RHP Matthew Sox (Utah)

Dick Howser Trophy Player of the Week

• March 15- C Daniel Susac (Arizona)

Dick Howser Trophy Pitcher of the Week

• April 5- LHP Cooper Hjerpe (OSU) – Co-winner
• March 8- RHP Thatcher Hurd (UCLA) – Co-winner

Perfect Game/Rawlings Pitcher of the Week

• April 5- LHP Cooper Hjerpe (OSU)
• March 8 – RHP Thatcher Hurd (UCLA)

College Baseball Foundation Pitcher of the Week

• March 1- Quinn Mathews (Stanford)

College Baseball Foundation Shortstop of the Week

• March 1 – Nik McClaughry (Arizona)

NATIONAL AWARDS WATCH LISTS

GOLDEN SPIKES (Midseason)

• RHP Jake Brooks, UCLA
• LHP Cooper Hjerpe, Oregon State
• OF/INF Jacob Melton, Oregon State
• C Daniel Susac, Arizona

GOLDEN SPIKES (Preseason)

• OF Dylan Beavers, California
• OF Brock Jones, Stanford
• IF Ethan Long, Arizona State
• IF Sean McLain, Arizona State
• RHP Max Rajcic, UCLA
• C Daniel Susac, Arizona
• RHP Josh White, California

BUSTER POSEY (Collegiate Catcher of the Year)

• Cole Elvis, California
• Garret Guillemette, USC
• Kody Huff, Stanford
• Daniel Susac, Arizona

BROOKS WALLACE (Collegiate Shortstop of the Year)

• Josh Kasevich, Oregon
• Nik McClaughry, Arizona
• Sean McLain, Arizona State
• Keshawn Ogans, California
• Cody Schrier, UCLA

BUSTER POSEY (Collegiate Catcher of the Year)

• Cole Elvis, California
• Garret Guillemette, USC
• Kody Huff, Stanford
• Daniel Susac, Arizona

BOBBY BRAGAN COLLEGIATE SLUGGER AWARD

• OF Dylan Beavers, California
• C Cole Elvis, California
• OF Brock Jones, Stanford
• IF John Kasevich, Oregon
• OF Tanner Smith, Oregon
• C Daniel Susac, Arizona

STOPPER OF THE YEAR (Midseason)

• Holden Christian, Arizona
• Ethan Flanagan, UCLA
• Trevor Long, Arizona
• Kolby Somers, Oregon
• Alonzo Treadwell, UCLA

NCBWA STOPPER OF THE YEAR (preseason)

• Holden Christian, Arizona
• Stone Churby, Oregon
• Aaron Roberts, California
• Kolby Somers, Oregon
• Mitchell Verburg, Oregon State

SENIOR CLASS AWARD

• INF Sam Novitske, Oregon
• INF Jack Smith, Washington State
• OF Tanner Smith, Oregon
• LHP Kolby Somers, Oregon
• RHP Mitchell Verburg, Oregon State
• RHP Alex Williams, Stanford

COACHES CHOOSE CARDINAL:  The Pac-12 coaches took Stanford atop their preseason poll with the Cardinal receiving eight first-place votes for a total of 98 out of a possible 100 points.

Oregon State was second with 84 points and one first-place vote, Arizona was third with 77 points and UCLA with two first-place votes had the fourth-most points with 75.

PRESEASON ALL-AMERICAN TEAMS

POWER PLAYERS:  Reaching roughly one-third of the way through the season, D1Baseball named their Position Power Rankings with the Top 30 at each infield position, Top 75 relievers and their Top 100 in the outfield and among starting pitchers.  The following Pac-12 players made the lists:

• Catcher:  #1 Daniel Susac (Arizona)
• First Base:  #22 Carter Graham (Stanford)
• Second Base:  #6 Travis  Bazzana (Oregon State)
• Shortstop:  #21 Josh Kasevich (Oregon)
• Third Base:  #13 Ethan Long (Arizona State)
• Outfield:  #4 Jacob Melton (Oregon State), #17 Justin Boyd (Oregon State), #18 Dylan Beavers (California), #26 Colby Shade (Oregon), #28 Brock Jones (Stanford), #51 Tanner Smith (Oregon), #64 Tanner O’Tremba (Arizona), #80 Chase Davis (Arizona), #98 Joe Lampe (Arizona State)
• Starting Pitchers: #13 Cooper Hjerpe (Oregon State), #19 TJ Nichols (Arizona), #20 Thatcher Hurd (UCLA), #36 Jake Brooks (UCLA), #44 Josh White (California), #63 Quinn Mathews (Stanford), #81 Max Rajcic (UCLA), #100 Garrett Irvin (Arizona)
• Relievers:  #12 Stefan Raeth (Washington), #40 Holden Christian (Arizona), #43 Kolby Somers (Oregon), #46 Quinn Flanagan (Arizona), #60 Joey Dixon (Stanford)

PERFECT TIMING:  Perfect Game announced their Midseason Awards for this season and Oregon State lefty Cooper Hjerpe was named their Midseason Pitcher of the Year. 

Their Midseason All-American teams featured Hjerpe on the first team and two more on the second team with Arizona catcher Daniel Susac and Oregon State outfielder Jacob Melton. 

Their Midseason All-Freshman team was heavily Pac-12 influenced.  The hitters included Cal catcher Caleb Lomavita, Oregon first baseman Jacob Walsh, Oregon State second baseman Travis Bazzana and UCLA shortstop Cody Schrier.  The pitchers were a pair of Bruins with Thatcher Hurd and Ethan Flanagan.

PAC TO THE PROS:  MLB’s Opening Day saw 48 former Pac-12 stars on big league rosters.  Stanford led the way with eight former Cardinal suiting up, with Arizona State placing six big leaguers and five each for Arizona, California, UCLA and USC.

Former Sun Devil Spencer Torkelson, one of the top prospects in all of baseball, made his debut with the Detroit Tigers on Opening Day while former Beaver Steven Kwan got off to an historic start to his career.  The Cleveland Guardians outfielder reached base 18 times in his first five career games, the most in a player’s first five games in MLB’s Modern Era (since 1901).

FEELING A DRAFT:  D1Baseball released their MLB Draft Midseason Top 150 prospects with 12 Pac-12 players making the list with the rough estimate of the round they would be drafted in:

• #2- Arizona catcher Daniel Susac (1^st round)
• #13- Cal outfielder Dylan Beavers (1^st round)
• #30- Oregon State outfielder Jacob Melton (2^nd round)
• #32- Oregon State pitcher Cooper Hjerpe (2^nd round)
• #40- Stanford outfielder Brock Jones (2^nd round)
• #62- Oregon shortstop Josh Kasevich (3^rd round)
• #82- Oregon State outfielder Justin Boyd (4^th round)
• #93- Oregon pitcher Adam Maier (5^th round)
• #120- Arizona State outfielder Ethan Long (5^th round)
• #137- Oregon outfielder Anthony Hall (6^th round)
• #145- Arizona state infielder Sean McLain (6^th round)
• #149- UCLA pitcher Max Rajcic (6^th round)

AMERICAN MADE:  Seven Pac-12 players were part of the 45-man roster for the 2021 Collegiate National Team.  Normally this would include exhibitions against international opponents but instead played an 11-game intrasquad series last summer at Appalachian League ballparks.  The roster included OF Dylan Beavers (CALIFORNIA), OF Brock Jones (STANFORD), OF/1B Ethan Long (ARIZONA STATE), INF/OF Sean McLain (ARIZONA STATE), C Daniel Susac (ARIZONA) and RHP Josh White (CALIFORNIA).

NEXT GENERATION:  The Class of 2021 recruits will get their first taste of Pac-12 play this season and it was a strong class across the board for the conference.  

Baseball America ranked UCLA’s class number one in the country for the first time in their 22 years for rankings.  The class is highlighted by a pair of Top 100 pitchers in RHP Thatcher Hurd (#44) and LHP Gage Jump (#57) along with Top 100 outfielder Malakhi Knight (#72).

Three other schools made their Top 25 with Oregon State (#6), USC (#17), and Washington (#24).

ON DECK (Full Schedule) 

CONFERENCE STANDINGS (Expanded Standings) 

PAC-12 BASEBALL WEEKLY AWARDS