This Week In Pac-12 Baseball

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Pac-12 Notes

WEEKLY RECAP: Utah and Washington remain tied at the top of the league standings for the second-straight week. Both teams took two out of their three Pac-12 games last weekend. The Utes were able to win two at Washington State while Washington went to USC and won two games. Arizona swept Oregon State in Tucson to sit just a half-game behind the leaders. Arizona State won its series against Oregon, taking two games and is just two games out of the lead. Stanford hosted California and won the series by taking two of three games. UCLA won two of three games its non-conference matchup against UC Irvine.

PREVIEWING THE WEEKEND: With the race for the Pac-12 title so close, each series is pivotal and excluding the Bay Area schools, it is rivalry week for the Conference, which heightens the excitement. Stanford heads to Salt Lake City for a matchup with while California goes to Northwestern for a four-game series in a non-conference contest beginning on Saturday. Arizona State heads to Arizona, a series in which in each game will be broadcast on the Pac-12 Networks. UCLA will host USC in a three-game series that will also be live on the Pac-12 Networks. The first two games of the Oregon and Oregon State series in Corvallis will be broadcast on ESPNU while the finale is set to air on the Pac-12 Networks. Washington and Washington State’s matchup will take place in Seattle and will also be shown live on the Pac-12 Networks.

NUMBERS GAME: Oregon State has 29 triples on the year, the second-best total in the country while Arizona has the ninth-most with 20 ... Arizona is tied for No. 21 in the country in drawing walks at 230 and it is also tied for seventth in the country in sacrifice bunts with 58 on the year. Washington tops the league with 61 sacrifice bunts and is fifth in the nation ... The Cardinal pitching staff has the 13th-best mark in the country for hits allowed per nine innings at 7.58 ... California turns 1.02 double plays per game, the No. 13 mark in the nation ... Four Pac-12 teams rank in the top 32 in the nation in WHIP with Stanford leading the way at No. 17 (1.20), then No. 20 Washington (1.23), No. 26 Arizona (1.24) and No. 32 Oregon State (1.27) (WHIP is calculated by adding the number of walks and hits allowed and dividing this sum by the number of innings pitched).

David Greer of Arizona State is tied for fourth in the nation with 22 doubles on the year ... USC’s Jeremy Martinez is 12th in the NCAA’s ‘toughest to strike out’ category, only striking out once every 18.9 at bats ... Fellow Trojan David Oppenheim has the No. 28 ranked on base percentage in the country at 0.487 ... Jack Meggs of Washington has laid down 16 sacrifice bunts on the year which is tied for the best mark in the nation ... In 25 appearances and 55.1 innings of work, Washington’s Troy Rallings has allowed only four earned runs, boasting an ERA of 0.65 which is tops in the country. Rallings also has the nation’s best WHIP rating at 0.70 ... Also in the top-15 in the country in WHIP is Stanford’s Tristan Beck at No. 9 with a mark of 0.88 and Nathan Bannister of Arizona is 14th at 0.91 ... Rallings is also tied for second in the nation in saves with 15 and Oregon State’s Max Engelbrekt is tied for the 19th-best total in the county with 10 saves on the year.

STARS DELIVERING: Preseason All-American Matt Krook of Oregon is 15th in the country in strikeouts per nine innings with 11.57. Fellow Duck and preseason All-American Stephen Nogosek has 11 saves on the year, tied for the seventh-best tally in the nation. Arizona’s All-American 3B/RHP Bobby Dalbec has earned eight victories (tied for No. 21 in the country) and six saves on the year. The reigning Pac-12 home run leader has hit five home runs on the year and driven in 29 runs while scoring 32 himself. KJ Harrison of Oregon State, a preseason All-American and the reigning Pac-12 Freshman of the Year, is tied for second in the Conference in runs scored with 44 and is tied for third in the league in doubles with 14.

IN THE RANKINGS: In the latest NCBWA Top 30, Oregon State leads the way at No. 17 while Arizona is No. 25 and Washington is 30th. In the NCAA RPI rankings as of May 11, Arizona sits at No. 25, Washington is No. 37, Arizona State is 49th, Oregon State is 50th and California is 52nd.

COSIDA ACADEMIC ALL-DISTRICT: Four student-athletes from the Pac-12 earned CoSIDA Academic All-Disrict honorees. In District 8, Stanford pitcher Andrew Summerville (So., 3.72 GPA, management, science & engineering major), Stanford infielder Tommy Edman (Jr., 3.84 GPA, computer science major), Oregon State infielder KJ Harrison (So., 3.39 GPA, pre-business major) and Oregon State outfielder Jack Anderson (Jr., 3.73 GPA, kinesiology major) represented the Pac-12.

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

Pac-12 Players of the Week

PLAYER OF THE WEEK – Hunter Simmons, Jr., 1B, Utah

Simmons hit .625 over two games against Washington State (5-of-8) and scored three runs, helping the Utes split the first two games. He went 2-for-4 and scored two of Utah’s three runs in game one of the series.

PITCHER OF THE WEEK – Ryan Schmitten, Sr., RHP, Washington

Schmitten allowed just one hit over a career-high seven innings against USC as he and two relievers combined to hurl a one-hit, 6-0 shutout of the Trojans on Sunday. In just his fourth start of the year, the senior did not allow a hit until there were two outs in the sixth inning.

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 four student-athletes on the NCBWA Stopper of the Year Midseason Watch List, tied for the second-most among all conferences. 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.

PAC-12 IN THE MAJORS: With the Major League Baseball season beginning last week, 41 former Pac-12 players made the opening day rosters while 10 coaches are in MLB dugouts. With representation from 10 of the 11 teams, Arizona State leads the way with 12 former players currently in the league.

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

Collegiate Baseball National Players of the Week
David Peterson, ORE, LHP - March 7
Ryan Hingst, ASU, RHP - March 29
Brett Cumberland, CAL, C - April 4

NCBWA National Players of the Week
Ryan Hingst, ASU, RHP - March 29

2015 Teaching Professional of The Year by Collegiate Baseball
John Savage, UCLA

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

National Pitcher of the Year Watch List
Troy Rallings, WASH

Brooks Wallace Shortstop of the Year Watch List
Cody Ramer, ARIZ
Colby Woodmansee, ASU
Trever Morrison, OSU
Tommy Edman, STAN

John Olerud Two-Way Player of the Year Watch List
Bobby Dalbec, ARIZ, 3B/RHP

NCBWA Stopper of the Year Watch List
Bobby Dalbec, ARIZ
Stephen Nogosek, ORE
Max Engelbrekt, OSU
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