This Week In Pac-12 Baseball

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Pac-12 Notes

WEEKLY RECAP: Arizona is the lone Pac-12 representative remaining in the 2016 NCAA Baseball Championship. The Wildcats won four games at the Lafayette Regional to advance to the Super Regionals. Three of those wins came in 27 hours, playing double-headers on both June 5 and June 6. Arizona dropped the first game on the fifth to the host Louisiana-Lafayette but returned to beat Sam Houston State in an elimination game. Arizona then needed to beat the Ragin’ Cajuns twice on June 6 to advance and did just that. Arizona is back in the Super Regionals for the first time since 2012 when they claimed the NCAA Championship. ARIZONA STATE, UTAH and WASHINGTON were all eliminated before reaching the final of their respective regionals.

NCAA BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: Four Pac-12 baseball teams earned berths to the 2016 NCAA Baseball Championship. UTAH earned the Pac-12’s automatic bid while ARIZONA, ARIZONA STATE, and WASHINGTON earned at-large selections. The Pac-12 currently holds an all-time record of 791-481 (.622) in the NCAA Baseball Championship, with 28 titles all-time, the latest coming from UCLA in 2013. 

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, winners of 9 of their last 10 games, have been on a remarkable run of late. Dating back to May 19, the squad has traveled roughly 12,177 miles. They had a three-game series at Oregon, then flew to Tucson for a mid-week series against Abilene Christian. After that the team trekked to Hawaii to sweep the Rainbow Warriors. Following that, Arizona went to Lafayette and then right from there drove to Starkville for their upcoming matchup against No. 1 seed Mississippi State. The best-of-three series begins on Friday at 3 p.m. PT and will be broadcast live on ESPN2. The second game of the series will also start at 3 p.m. and will be shown on ESPNU. If necessary, game three will start at 3 p.m. PT and be broadcast on either ESPN2 or ESPNU.

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. Its season ended in the Oxford Regional but not before it handed Ole Miss a loss in the opening game, winning 6-5 in 10 innings. The Utes then fell to Boston College, 4-3, on June 4 and to Tulane, 4-1, on June 5 to end their season.

Arizona State earned its spot 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 lost their opening game in the Fort Worth Regional, falling to Gonzaga, 5-1. They rebounded to beat Oral Roberts (4-1) and Gonzaga (6-3) before losing to the host, TCU, 8-1.

Washington earned its second appearance in the last three years and the 10th all-time to the NCAA Baseball Championship. The Huskies dropped a heartbreaker in the opening game of the Nashville Regional, falling 3-2 in 14 innings to UC Santa Barbara. Against the host Vanderbilt in game two, the Huskies made a furious comeback and knocked out the Commodores with a 9-8 win. On June 5, Xavier beat Washington, 7-5.

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. 34 in the country with 614 hits on the year. It is also tied for No. 17in the country in drawing walks at 290 and it is also tied for third in the country in sacrifice bunts with 77 on the year. Washington tops the league with 84 sacrifice bunts and is second in the nation ... Five Pac-12 teams rank in the top 40 in the nation in WHIP with Arizona leading the way at No. 12 (1.21), Oregon State is No. 19 (1.23), Stanford is 31st (1.26), Washington is No. 37 (1.29) and Oregon is 38th (1.29) (WHIP is calculated by adding the number of walks and hits allowed and dividing this sum by the number of innings pitched).

Zach Gibbons and Cody Ramer of Arizona are tied for the lead-league in hits with 90 on the season while Gibbons is second in batting average at 0.380, the No. 34 mark in the country ... David Greer of Arizona State is tied for 13th 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 14th at 0.94 ... Rallings is also tied for third in the nation in saves with 16.

IN THE RANKINGS: In the latest NCBWA Top 30, Arizona is ranked at No. 14 to represent the Pac-12.

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.

CONFERENCE OF CHAMPIONS: The Pac-12 has now won 488 national titles all-time, by far the most of any conference in the country and 10 this year.  No other conference in the country has more than five this year up to this point. The Conference has claimed titles in men’s soccer (Stanford), men’s and women’s water polo (UCLA - men, USC - women), men’s and women’s indoor track and field (Oregon both), beach volleyball (USC), women’s tennis (Stanford), men’s and women’s golf (Oregon - men, Washington - women) and women’s rowing (California).

Pac-12 Yearly Honors

Pac-12 Player of the Year
Brett Cumberland, C, CAL

Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year
Logan Ice, C, OSU

Pac-12 Freshman of the Year
Nick Madrigal, 2B, OSU

Pac-12 Pitcher of the Year
Troy Rallings, RP, WASH

Pac-12 Coach of the Year
Bill Kinneberg, UTAH

Pac-12 Batting Champion
David Oppenheim, DH, USC

Pac-12 Players of the Week

PAC-12 IN THE MAJORS: At the start of the Major League Baseball season, 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

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/RHP

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/RHP
Colby Woodmansee, ASU, SS

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

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
Kevin Ginkel, ARIZ, RHP - May 2
Cole Irvin, ORE, LHP - May 2

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

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

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

NCBWA Stopper of the Year Finalist
Troy Rallings, WASH

USA Baseball Golden Spikes Semifinalists
Brett Cumberland, CAL
Troy Rallings, WASH

Louisville Slugger All-Americans
First Team
Troy Rallings, WASH, RP

Second Team
Seth Martinez, ASU, SP
Nathan Bannister, ARIZ, SP
Bryce Fehmel, OSU, SP

Third Team
Stephen Nogosek, ORE, RP
Brett Cumberland, CAL, C
David Greer, ASU, 1B
Colby Woodmansee, ASU, SS

Freshman
Tristan Beck, STAN, SP
Kyle Molnar, UCLA, SP
Bryce Fehmel, OSU, RP*
Nick Madrigal, OSU, 2B
DaShawn Keirsey, UTAH, OF

* - Freshman Relief Pitcher of The Year

Baseball America All-Americans
First Team
Troy Rallings, WASH, RP

Third Team
David Oppenheim, USC, OF
Brett Cumberland, CAL, DH