This Week in Pac-12 Baseball

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WEEKLY RECAP: The Pac-12 Conference began the season with a 24-19 combined record with No. 15 Oregon (3-0) as the lone undefeated team. Arizona and Stanford both took two out of three in the opening weekend against ranked opponents. The Wildcats won the series at No. 24 Rice while the Cardinal got the upper hand over No. 16 Cal State Fullerton on The Farm.

PREVIEWING THE WEEKEND: No. 8 Oregon State and Utah will both head to the Surprise Tournament for the second-straight weekend, facing off against Kansas and Kansas State. Arizona heads to the Tony Gwynn Classic in San Diego while Washington State will compete in the UT - Rio Grande Valley Tournament in Edinburg, Texas. No. 9 UCLA heads to San Luis Obispo for a three-game series at Cal Poly. Stanford heads to Austin for a four-game series Arizona State will head to Long Beach, Calif. to put its undefeated record to the test against perennial powerhouse Long Beach State. No. 12 California (vs. Purdue), No. 15 Oregon (vs. Illinois State) and No. 20 USC (vs. Wake Forest) will all be hosting three-game series while Washington plays four games at home against UC Riverside.

NUMBERS GAME: Oregon State has the 11th-most hits in the country through four games with 53 and the 13th-best batting average at .373 ... Arizona State’s 17 doubles through five games is the second-best total in the country ... Oregon is 10th in the nation with its three triples in as many games ... Through four games Arizona has been one of the best in the country at small ball with 9 stolen bases (No. 15), 24 drawn walks (No. 15) and it has laid down eight sacrifice bunts (tied for No. 1) ... USC’s five sacrifice flies ranks them seventh in the country through four games ... Stanford is third in the country in walks per nine innings, allowing just 1.0.

STARS DELIVERING: Preseason All-American Colby Woodmansee of Arizona State leads the country with six doubles in five games. Woodmansee is also tied for the league lead in hits with nine on the season. A fellow preseason All-American is right behind Woodmansee in KJ Harrison of Oregon State. He is ranked second in doubles with five over four games.

IN THE RANKINGS: With the season beginning on Friday, the USA Today/ESPN Top 25 Coaches Preseason Poll has five Pac-12 teams ranked. Oregon State leads the way at No. 8, followed by UCLA at No. 9, California at the No. 12 spot, Oregon is No. 15 and USC is tied for No. 20.

STAR POWER: The Pac-12 had 10 different student-athletes from nine schools garner preseason All-America honors. Oregon and Stanford each two different players honored to lead the way while the rest of the teams just had one honoree.

GOLDEN SPIKES: The USA Baseball Golden Spikes Award Preseason Watch List features 50 amateurs, six of which are student-athletes from six different Pac-12 teams. With six, the Pac-12 has the third-most representatives among all conferences. Now in its 39th 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. 

STOPPER OF THE YEAR: The Pac-12 has eight student-athletes on the NCBWA Stopper of the Year Preseason Watch List, tied for the second-most among all conferences. Washington is the only lone Pac-12 team with more than one student-athlete on the list. The National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association will be presenting the Stopper of the Year Award to the top relief pitcher in Division I baseball for the 12th straight year in 2016. UCLA’s David Berg won the honor two of the last three years.

DRAFT: The league is coming off a 2015 season that saw six teams earn berths to the NCAA Tournament and saw 53 players selected in the Major League Baseball Draft. Arizona State led the way with nine draftees while UCLA and USC each had 8. Twenty-four players were selected in the first 10 rounds and 29 were selected on the final day. Since 1997, the Pac-12 has had at least one player drafted in the first round each season. During that time, the league has garnered 62 first-round picks.

NEW FACES IN THE DUGOUT: On June 8, 2015, Jay Johnson was named head coach at Arizona. In his second and final year at Nevada, Johnson was named the 2015 Mountain West Coach of the Year. He led the team to its first-ever Mountain West Conference championship. They tallied 41 wins on the year, second-most in program history. Johnson replaced Andy Lopez, who retired at the end of the 2015 season after 14 years at the helm. The three-time National Coach of the Year led the Wildcats to two College World Series Appearances and won the title in 2012.

Washington State’s Marty Lees became the 15th head coach in program history. Lees spent the last three seasons as the assistant coach/recruiting coordinator at Oklahoma State and the previous 11 at Oregon State. Lees thrived as Oklahoma State’s recruiting coordinator. The Cowboys’ first class with Lees on board was ranked No. 4 nationally by Baseball America and No. 5 by Collegiate Baseball, and followed that with a 2014 class that was ranked No. 5 by Collegiate Baseball for the second-consecutive year.

Pac-12 Players of the Week

PLAYER OF THE WEEK - Nick Madrigal, Fr., 2B/SS, Oregon State

Tied for Oregon State’s lead in hits with seven and leads the team with six runs batted in. Five of his six runs batted in have come with two outs. Went 4-for-4 in his collegiate debut against Ball State in the season opener.

PITCHER OF THE WEEK - Tristan Beck, Fr., RHP, Stanford

Beck became just the second Stanford freshman since Mike Mussina in 1988 to start Opening Day for the Cardinal. He shut out the 22nd-ranked Cal State Fullerton Titans in 6.1 innings and allowed just two hits while striking out two.

National Honors

Baseball America Preseason All-Americans 
First Team
KJ Harrison, OSU, 1B
Bobby Dalbec, ARIZ, 3B/RHP

Second Team
Daulton Jefferies, CAL, RHP

Third Team
Tommy Edman, STAN, 2B
Colby Woodmansee, ASU, SS
Cal Quantrill, STAN, RHP

NCBWA Preseason All-Americans
First Team
Bobby Dalbec, ARIZ, 3B/SP

Second Team
KJ Harrison, OSU, 1B
Stephen Nogosek, ORE, RP

Third Team
Daulton Jefferies, CAL, SP
Griffin Canning, UCLA, SP
Matt Krook, ORE, SP

Louisville Slugger Preseason All-Americans
Second Team
Daulton Jefferies, CAL, RHP
Ian Hamilton, WSU, RHP
KJ Harrison, OSU, 1B
Bobby Dalbec, ARIZ, 3B
Colby Woodmansee, ASU, SS

Third Team
Matt Krook, ORE, LHP
Cal Quantrill, STAN, RHP

NCBWA Stopper of the Year Watch List
Tucker Forbes, UCLA
Ian Hamilton, WSU
Mitch Hickey, OSU
Marc Huberman, USC
Spencer Jones, WASH
Erik Martinez, CAL
Stephen Nogosek, ORE
Troy Rallings, WASH

USA Baseball Golden Spikes Watch List
Bobby Dalbec, ARIZ
KJ Harrison, OSU
Daulton Jefferies, CAL
Matt Krook, ORE
Cal Quantrill, STAN
Colby Woodmansee, ASU