Stanford Tops Pac-12 Baseball and National Rankings

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WEEKLY RECAP: The Pac-12 ties for the most teams ranked in the top 10 of the USA Today Coaches Poll with No. 2 STANFORD, No. 6 OREGON STATE and No. 9 UCLA. The Cardinal has remained in the second spot for fourth straight week after collecting four win last week.

Stanford swept Arizona (8-2, 8-7, 7-2) and picked up one non-conference win against Pacific (4-1) on Tuesday to improve to 31-5 overall for an .861 winning percentage, which ranks second nationally. Oregon State swept the Civil War series against OREGON (5-2, 2-1, 12-5) for the second consecutive season. The Beavers trail the Cardinal in third with a .833 win percentage. Pitcher Luke Heimlich struck out 12 batters in the opening game to become the new career strikeout record holder in program history with 305 and earned his national-leading ninth win of the season.

UCLA won four games last week and 10 of the last 13 to break into the top 10. The Bruins took all three games against USC (16-1, 19-2, 7-3) and now rank 15th in scoring in the country at 7.4 runs per game. Ryan Garcia threw six scoreless innings posting his fourth win of the season and the Bruins drove home five runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to finish off the series.

CALIFORNIA took the first two games against WASHINGTON by scores of 11-4 and 5-2, while the Huskies won the series finale 4-3 in 10 innings. Cal first baseman Andrew Vaughn picked up his third Pac-12 Player of the Week honor going 11-of-17 at bat with a .684 on base percentage to lead the Golden Bears to a 2-2 week, coming up short against Sacramento State (4-1) on Tuesday.

ARIZONA STATE freshman Spencer Torkelson went 3-3 and drove in four RBIs in the Sun Devils’ 13-8 series-clinching victory against UTAH on Sunday. Torkelson, who broke Barry Bonds freshman record of 14 now becomes the 12th player in program history to hit 20 homers in a single season.

NUMBERS GAME: Oregon State ranks in the top-10 of seven statistical categories and leads the Conference in batting average (.311), slugging percentage (.486), and RBIs (244). UCLA’s impressive offense now tops the league in on base percentage (.410), runs scored (268) and doubles (85), while Cal continues to lead with the most hits (401), total bases (607) and homeruns (43).

STARS DELIVERING:Two Pac-12 athletes earned national recognition for their individual performance collecting Collegiate Baseball National Player of the Week honors. Luke Heimlich of Oregon State struck out 12 Oregon batters over 7 1/3 innings on Thursday to record the most career strikeouts (305) in program history. California’s Andrew Vaughn went 11-for-17 with three home runs, three doubles, seven RBI and six runs scored last week. Vaughn leads the country with a .561 on-base percentage, while also ranking second in slugging percentage (.899), fifth in batting average (.428) and second in homeruns (18).

SENIOR CLASS AWARD: Oregon’s second baseman Kyle Kasser is one of 10 finalists for the 2018 Senior CLASS Award. An honor that is given annually to a Division I senior student-athlete in baseball who has notable achievements in four areas of excellence: community, classroom, character and competition. Kasser boasts a 3.17 GPA in economics and participates in the community as a three-year member and past co-director of the Student Athlete Advisory Council (SAAC). Kasser was a 2017 first-team All-Pac-12 Conference selection after hitting .381 in league games for the third highest in the Conference.

GOLDEN SPIKES: USA Baseball released the Golden Spikes Award midseason watch list that narrows down the top 40 amateur baseball players in the country. Seven Pac-12 players made the cut, which, ties for the second-most of any conference. Arizona State and Oregon are 2-of-4 schools that had two players selected to the list (Kentucky, NC State), while Sun Devils’ infielder Torkelson is the only freshman featured on the list.

Now in its 40th year recognizing the top amateur baseball player in the country, seven former Pac-12 baseball players have won the award, most recently awarded to UCLA pitcher Trevor Bauer in 2011. The 41st Golden Spikes Award semifinalists will be announced on May 21, followed by the finalists on June 22 and the winner will be crowed on June 28 at the College Baseball World Series.

USA Baseball Golden Spikes Midseason Watch List
Kris Bubic, STAN, LHP
Gage Canning, ASU, OF
Joe DeMers, WASH, RHP
Trevor Larnach, OSU, OF
Adley Rutschman, ASU, C/IF
Spencer Torkelson, ASU, IF
Andrew Vaughn, CAL, IF

USA Baseball Golden Spikes Watch Preseason List
Kris Bubic, STAN, SP
Tanner Dodson, CAL, UTL
Nico Hoerner, STAN, SS
Nick Madrigal, OSU, 2B
Alfonso Rivas, ARIZ, 1B
Andrew Vaughn, CAL, 1B

ALL AMERICANS: The Pac-12 had 11 different student-athletes from six different Pac-12 teams featured on Baseball America, NCBWA, and Collegiate Baseball preseason All-America teams.

STOPPER OF THE YEAR: The Pac-12 has four student-athletes on the NCBWA Stopper of the Year Preseason Watch List. Arizona State’s Connor Higgins, 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 14th straight year at the College World Series on Saturday, June 16, 2018.

NCBWA Stopper of the Year Watch List
Connor Higgins, ASU, LHP
Erik Martinez, CAL, P
Jake Mulholland, OSU, LHP
Kenyon Yovan, ORE, RHP

ALL AMERICANS: The Pac-12 had 11 different student-athletes from six different Pac-12 teams featured on Baseball America, NCBWA, and Collegiate Baseball preseason All-America teams.

STOPPER OF THE YEAR: The Pac-12 has four student-athletes on the NCBWA Stopper of the Year Preseason Watch List. Arizona State’s Connor Higgins, 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 14th straight year at the College World Series on Saturday, June 16, 2018.

NCBWA Stopper of the Year Watch List
Connor Higgins, ASU, LHP
Erik Martinez, CAL, P
Jake Mulholland, OSU, LHP
Kenyon Yovan, ORE, RHP

CONFERENCE STANDINGS (Expanded Standings)

UPCOMING SCHEDULE

2018 PAC-12 PLAYER AND PITCHER OF THE WEEK