This Week In Pac-12 Baseball

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Pac-12 Notes

WEEKLY RECAP: After dropping the first game of the series against Washington, Utah rallied to win the final two games and claim the Pac-12 Championship outright. Washington earned a runner-up finish in the Conference. USC won the series against Arizona State, including a 31-run outburst in their season finale. Stanford swept Oregon and Oregon State swept UCLA without allowing the Bruins to score a single run in the three-game series. California won two games against Washington State to take the series victory. Arizona went to Hawaii and swept the Rainbow Warriors.

NCAA BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: Four Pac-12 baseball teams earned berths to the 2016 NCAA Baseball Championship, the Division I Baseball Committee announced. UTAH earned the Pac-12's automatic bid while ARIZONA, ARIZONA STATE, and WASHINGTON earned at-large selections. Regional action begins on Friday, June 3. All games will be broadcast live on the ESPN Networks.

The Pac-12 currently holds an all-time record of 784-474 (.623) in the NCAA Baseball Championship, with 28 titles all-time, the latest coming from UCLA in 2013.

Utah, the 2016 Pac-12 Champions for the first time in program history, had a remarkable run in league play, with a record of 19-11 (25-27 overall) to clinch the automatic bid. The Utes won seven of their last 10 games including a winner-take-all series against Washington last weekend for the league title. It is the Utes first trip to the postseason since 2009 and the fifth all-time. As the No. 4 seed in their regional pod, the Utes face the host and No. 1 seed Ole Miss on June 3 at 5 p.m. PT. Tulane earned the No. 2 seed in the pod while Boston College is No. 3.

Arizona earned its first trip to the NCAA Baseball Championship since they won the title in 2012. It is the program’s 34th all-time appearance, the ninth-most in NCAA history (1954-present). The Wildcats boast a 38-20 overall record and tied for third place in the Pac-12 with a 16-14 record. Arizona is entering postseason play on a six-game winning streak. The Wildcats are seeded No. 2 in their four-team regional pod and are joined by the host and No. 1 seed Louisiana-Lafayette, No. 3 seed Sam Houston State and No. 4 seed Princeton. Arizona will square off against Sam Houston State on June 3 at 11 a.m. PT.

Arizona State is in the NCAA Baseball Championship for the fourth-straight year and the 39th time overall in program history, the fourth-most in NCAA history. The Sun Devils tied for third place in the Pac-12, posting a 16-14 league record and a 34-21 overall record. Arizona State, the No. 2 seed in the regional pod, will face No. 3 seed Gonzaga at 12 p.m. PT on June 3. The host and No. 1 seed TCU and No. 4 seed Oral Roberts are the other two teams in the pod.

Washington earned a runner-up finish in the Pac-12 with 32-21 overall record and and a 17-13 Conference record. For the Huskies, it is their second appearance in the last three years and the 10th all-time. In its regional pod, Washington earned the No. 3 seed and will face No. 2 seed UC Santa Barbara at 12 p.m. PT on June 3. Vanderbilt is the host and No. 1 seed in the pod while the No. 4 seed went to Xavier.

Each of the 16 regionals features four teams, playing a double-elimination format. The regionals are scheduled to be conducted from Friday, June 3, to Monday, June 6 (if necessary). Selection of the eight super regional hosts will be announced on www.NCAA.com/cws, Monday, June 6 at approximately 8 p.m. (PT). The 70th Men’s College World Series begins play Saturday, June 18, at TD Ameritrade Park Omaha in Omaha, Neb.

NUMBERS GAME: Arizona is tied for No. 23 in the country in drawing walks at 271 and it is also tied for sixth in the country in sacrifice bunts with 69 on the year. Washington tops the league with 79 sacrifice bunts and is second in the nation ... Four Pac-12 teams rank in the top 38 in the nation in WHIP with Arizona leading the way at No. 12 (1.20), Oregon State is No. 25 (1.23), Stanford is 30th (1.26) and Washington is No. 34 (1.27)(WHIP is calculated by adding the number of walks and hits allowed and dividing this sum by the number of innings pitched).

Zach Gibbons of Arizona leads the league in hits with 85 on the season and is second in batting average at 0.385, the No. 27 mark in the country ... David Greer of Arizona State is tied for seventh in the nation with 23 doubles on the year ... Jack Meggs of Washington has laid down 23 sacrifice bunts on the year which is the best mark in the nation ... In 28 appearances and 61.0 innings of work, Washington’s Troy Rallings has allowed only six earned runs, boasting an ERA of 0.89 which is second in the country. Rallings also has the nation’s best WHIP rating at 0.72. Rallings has now earned 31 saves over the course of his career which is tied for the fourth-best total in Conference history ... Also in the top-15 in the country in WHIP is Nathan Bannister of Arizona who is 12th at 0.92 ... Rallings is also tied for second in the nation in saves with 16.

IN THE RANKINGS: In the latest NCBWA Top 30, Oregon State leads the way at No. 24 while Arizona is No. 29. No Pac-12 teams are ranked in the USA Today Top 25 Coaches Poll.

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 – DaShawn Keirsey, Jr., Fr., OF, Utah

Keirsey (San Diego, Calif.) played a pivotal role in Utah winning the series over Washington and claiming the Pac-12 title. He hit .467 (7-of-15) over three games including going 7-for-10 in a pair of must-win games for the Utes with two doubles, an inside-the-park homer and seven RBI.

PITCHER OF THE WEEK – Luke Heimlich, Sr., RHP, Oregon State

Heimlich (Puyallup, Wash.) threw his first-career complete game, a shutout of UCLA in the regular season finale on Sunday. He struck out a career-high eight and held the Bruins to five hits and no walks. For the game, UCLA was 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position, and 1-for-9 with runners on base.

GOLDEN SPIKES: The USA Baseball Golden Spikes Award Preseason Watch List features 50 amateurs, three of which are student-athletes from three different Pac-12 teams. 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
Brett Cumberland, CAL
Logan Ice, OSU
Stephen Nogosek, ORE