Regular season winding down for Pac-12 Baseball

DOWNLOAD COMPLETE RELEASE (PDF)

BY THE NUMBERS

8 - For the eighth-straight week Oregon State tops the national rankings in the USA Today poll, NCWBA poll, Collegiate Baseball poll, and the Baseball America poll.

1, 1,000 - Oregon State clinched the Pac-12 title on Friday after beating rival Oregon in the second game of their three-game series. OSU head coach Pat Casey also racked up his 1,000th career win.

12, 14 - For the twelfth-straight USA Today poll and fourteenth-straight NCBWA poll Oregon State and Arizona are ranked. The two teams have been ranked since the preseason poll for both polls.

6 - Six student-athletes appear on the College Baseball Foundation semifinalist lists. Two appear on the Brooks Wallace Award watch list and four appear on the Pitcher of the Year watch list.

5, 3 - Pac-12 teams lead in the nation in five statistic categories. All five are held by No. 1 Oregon State, inlcuding ERA (1.90), hits allowed per nine innings (6.31), shutouts (10), WHIP (0.99), and WL percentage (0.913). Three individual Pac-12 players also top the national statistics.

NOTES

WEEKLY RECAP: No. 1 Oregon State leads the nation for the eighth-straight week after going 3-0 against Oregon. The Beavs claimed the Pac-12 title on Friday after winning their second game of the three-game series. The win also was OSU’s head coach Pat Casey’s 1,000th career win. Collegiate Baseball has been releasing weekly rankings since 1959 and for the first time since it’s start, a team has topped the weekly ranking for ten-consecutive weeks and that team is Oregon State. Washington State beat UCLA, Washington beat Arizona State, No. 19 Arizona beat College of Charleston, and No. 10 Stanford beat California 2-1 for their three-game series’. Utah beat USC 3-0 in its three-game series. Arizona State beat Seattle and No. 1 Oregon State beat Portland on Tuesday to round out the games for the week.

PREVIEWING THE WEEK: Oregon hosts Loyola Marymount, No. 10 Stanford travels to Santa Clara, and USC hosts UC Santa Barbara on Wednesday. Arizona State hosts No. 19 Arizona, California hosts TCU, No. 1 Oregon State hosts Washington State, Mo. 10 Stanford hosts Washington, UCLA hosts Utah, and USC hosts Oregon for the three-game series of the week. UCLA travels to UC Irvine on Tuesday.

NUMBERS GAME: No. 1 Oregon State currently leads the nation in five statistics categories: ERA (1.90), hits allowed per nine innings (6.31), shutouts (10), WHIP (0.99), and WL percentage (0.913). No. 1 Oregon State is also fifth in strikeout-to-walk ratio (3.19) and seventh in walks allowed per nine innings (2.59). No. 19 Arizona is 10th in doubles per game (2.26) and ninth in scoring (8.0). Washington is sixth in fielding percentage (0.983). UCLA is tenth in sacrifice flies (30). Oregon is seventh in shutouts (7), second in strikeout-to-walk ratio (3.40), and eighth in walks allowed per nine innings (2.59). Arizona State is 10th in triples (21). 

INDIVIDUAL NATIONAL STATS LEADERS: Arizona’s JJ Matijevic is seventh in batting average (0.402), second in doubles (25), first in doubles per game (0.50), fourth in hits (82), sixth in hits per game (1.64), and twelfth in total bases (137). Arizona’s Jared Oliva is eighth in doubles (22) and fourteenth in doubles per game (0.44). Oregon State’s Luke Heimlich is first in earned run average (ERA) (0.76), ninth in hits allowed per nine innings (5.34), and fifth in WHIP (0.81). Oregon State’s Jake Thompson is third in ERA (1.11) and 10th in hits allowed per nine innings (5.36). UCLA’s Griffin Canning and Arizona State’s Eli Lingos are tied for fourth in games started (14). UCLA’s Justin Hooper is 10th in hit batters (15). Arizona’s Alfonso Rivas is 11th in on base percentage (0.491). UCLA’s Scott Burke is fourth in pitching appearances (31). UCLA’s Sean Bouchard is 14th in sacrifice flies (7). Stanford’s Colton Hock is fourth (14) and Oregon’s Kenyon Yovan is seventh (13) in saves. Oregon’s David Peterson is fourth in strikeout-to-walk ratio (10.17), fourth in strikeouts (122), and sixth in strikeouts per nine innings (12.72). UCLA’s Canning is sixth (114) and Oregon State’s Heimlich is ninth (106) in strikeouts. Arizona State’s Gage Canning is fourth in triples (7) and fourth in triples per game (0.14). Oregon State’s Thompson is first in victories (11) and Oregon’s Peterson is third (10). 

COLLEGE BASEBALL FOUNDATION SEMIFINALISTS: Six Pac-12 baseball players appear on the Brooks Wallace Award and National Pitcher of the Year semifinalist lists. Stanford’s Nico Hoerner and Oregon State’s Nick Madrigal appear on the Brooks Wallace Award semifinalist list. Arizona’s JC Cloney, Oregon State’s Luke Heimlich and Jake Thompson, and Oregon’s David Peterson appear on the National Pitcher of the Year semifinalist list.

STOPPER OF THE YEAR: The Pac-12 has four student-athletes from four different universities on the NCBWA Midseason Stopper of the Year Preseason Watch List, the second most among all conferences: Stanford’s Colton Hock, California’s Erik Martinez, Oregon State’s Jake Mulholland, and Oregon’s Kenyon Yovan. 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 13th straight year in 2017. 

GOLDEN SPIKES: The 40 man USA Baseball Golden Spikes Award Midseason Watch List features five Pac-12 student-athletes, two from Oregon State, and one from UCLA, Arizona, and Oregon: Oregon State’s junior pitcher Luke Heimlich and sophomore infielder Nick Madrigal, UCLA’s junior pitcher Griffin Canning, Arizona’s junior infielder J.J. Matijevic, and Oregon’s junior pitcher David Peterson.

The USA Baseball Golden Spikes Award Preseason Watch List features 50 amateurs, seven of which are student-athletes from four different Pac-12 teams. With seven, the Pac-12 has the third-most representatives among all conferences. Stanford leads the way for most representatives by one team, with three Cardinal student-athletes featured, tying Florida and TCU. 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. 

ALL AMERICANS: The Pac-12 had eight different student-athletes from four different Pac-12 teams featured on Baseball America, NCBWA, and Collegiate Baseball preseason All-America teams.

DRAFT: Every Pac-12 school had at least one student-athlete drafted in the 2016 MLB Draft: Arizona (7), Arizona State (5), California (7), Oregon (5), Oregon State (5), Stanford (4), UCLA (5), USC (12), Utah (1), Washington (3) and Washington State (3). ASU leads all NCAA schools with 414 total MLB draft picks, and at least one Sun Devil has been drafted every year since the draft’s inception in 1965.

FAMILIAR FACES IN THE DUGOUT: After welcoming three new coaches last season, all 11 coaches return for the 2017 season. Second year Arizona head coach Jay Johnson looks to match or beat his performance last season. The Wildcats made it all the way to Game 3 of the NCAA College World Series before falling to Coastal Carolina. Three other Pac-12 teams also made it to the postseason- Arizona State, Utah, and Washington.