This Week In Pac-12 Baseball

WEEKLY RECAP: No. 4 Oregon State is riding a nine-game winning streak after sweeping a San Diego (two games) and William & Mary (one game) last week. Oregon took two out of three against UC Santa Barbara while California handed Texas its first-ever four-game sweep. UCLA and USC played against tough competition in the Dodger Stadium College Baseball Classic, with the Bruins going 3-0 and the Trojans going 1-2. Stanford hosted No. 2 Vanderbilt and won one of the two games against the Commodores. Arizona beat then-No. 16 Cal State Fullerton in a mid-week matchup before going 3-1 in the Wildcat Invitational. Arizona State swept Eastern Michigan in its three-game series. Utah went 1-2 against Houston Baptist while Washington State split the four-game series with Utah Valley. Washington’s won its series 2-1 over Santa Clara.

PREVIEWING THE WEEKEND: In one of many premier matchups in Pac-12 baseball this weekend, Oregon will play one game at No. 25 Alabama before it heads to Starkville for a three-game series at No. 21 Mississippi State. USC will also face a tough challenge when travels to Fort Worth for a three-game series at No. 9 TCU. Utah heads to St. Mary’s for a three-game series then heads to Provo for a one-game matchup. Arizona (versus Sacramento State), Arizona State (versus UC Davis), California (versus Texas Tech), Oregon State (versus San Francisco), Washington (versus Pacific) and Washington State (Northeastern) all have weekend homestands. Arizona State will host an exhibition match on Tuesday, March 15 against Meiji University from Tokyo, a match that will be broadcast live on Pac-12 Arizona at 6:30 p.m. MT.

NUMBERS GAME: Oregon State is 6th in the country in batting average at .343 ... Washington is sixth in the country in doubles per game with 2.8 ... Oregon State leads the country in triples per game with 0.87 while UCLA ranks seventh with 0.67 per game ... Arizona is tied for No. 22 in the country in drawing walks at 65 and it is also tied with USC for 10th in the country in sacrifice bunts with 14 on the year ... The league has four teams in the top 25 nationally for ERA: Oregon (No. 7, 1.61), Stanford (No. 16, 2.31), California (No. 19, 2.37) and Arizona State (No. 24, 2.5) ... Oregon’s 10.5 strikeouts per nine innings is the eight-best mark in the country ... The Ducks pitching staff also has the second-best mark in the country for hits allowed per inning at 5.68 with Stanford not far behind at No. 11 with a mark of 6.11 ... The Cardinal have the third-best fielding percentage in the country at 0.989 while Arizona is 21st at 0.982 ... Stanford has the fifth-best WHIP rating in the country at 0.97 and Oregon is 10th at 0.99 (WHIP is calculated by adding the number of walks and hits allowed and dividing this sum by the number of innings pitched).

STARS DELIVERING: Preseason All-American Colby Woodmansee of Arizona State is second in the country with eight doubles through 12 games. Woodmansee is also tied for the league-lead in runs batted in with 16. All-American Cole Irvin of Oregon is tied for seventh in the country with 27 strikeouts on the year. Irvin also has the 33rd-best WHIP in the country at 0.68.

IN THE RANKINGS: In the latest USA Today Top 25 Coaches Poll, four Pac-12 teams are ranked. Oregon State leads the way at No. 4, followed by Oregon at No. 10, California sits at No. 12 and UCLA is ranked 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.

Pac-12 Players of the Week

PLAYER OF THE WEEK – Logan Ice, Jr., C, Oregon State

Ice played in all three games of the Beavers’ sweep of San Diego and William & Mary and tallied a 1.875 slugging percentage on the weekend, and finished with a .769 on-base percentage. He reached base on nine of his 11 official at bats.

PITCHER OF THE WEEK - Erik Martinez, So., RHP, California

Martinez was an integral part of Cal’s four-game sweep of the Texas Longhorns in Austin this past weekend. Martinez logged 4.2 innings of work, maintaining a 0.00 ERA, winning a game and picking up two more saves.

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.

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