Roundup: Former Cal baseball stars in big roles in MLB playoffs

With the MLB Playoffs getting underway Tuesday, let’s take a look at former Cal baseball stars participating in the MLB postseason – Marcus Semien and Mark Canha will try to help the Oakland A’s take down the New York Yankees in the American League Wild Card game (under the managing eye of former Bear Bob Melvin), while Chicago Cubs reliever Brandon Morrow will try to help the Cubbies get past the Colorado Rockies in the National League Wild Card game.

Former Wildcat Deandre Ayton had a stellar NBA preseason debut, going for 24 points, nine rebounds and three blocks for the Phoenix Suns in a 106-102 loss to the Sacramento Kings (ESPN).

UCLA will induct its new athletic Hall of Fame Class on Friday, and the group will be honored at halftime of the UCLA-Washington football game on Saturday. The eight-person class consists of Nikki Blue (women’s basketball), Kevin Chappell (men’s golf), Lynn “Buck” Compton (baseball/football), Larry Farmer (men’s basketball), Amanda Freed (softball), Jenny Johnson Jordan (women’s volleyball), Eric Lindroth (men’s water polo) and Stella Sampras Webster (women’s tennis).

Oregon safety Ugochukwu Amadi was named Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week after picking off two passes and registering seven tackles in the Ducks’ 42-24 win at Cal on Saturday.

Stanford women’s volleyball libero Morgan Hentz and middle blocker Holly Campbell were named Pac-12 Defensive Player and Freshman of the Week, respectively. The two helped the second-ranked Cardinal post a pair of 3-0 victories over then-No. 18 UCLA and then-No. 13 USC. The Cardinal is the real deal yet again.

Utah football coach Kyle Whittingham said that the Utes’ defensive struggles in the first half against Washington State was a result of Utah “trying to get cute,” per Kurt Kragthorpe. Things got a lot better defensively in the second half of the Utes’ 28-24 loss in Pullman.

Washington football is preparing for a tough October schedule that features back-to-back road games at UCLA and Oregon, with Oregon coming off a bye week. Adam Jude is quick to remind us that the Huskies also have to play No. 21 Colorado at home and 3-1 Cal on the road. And oh yeah, they open up November against No. 14 Stanford.

What does the upcoming Red River Shootout between Texas and Oklahoma have anything do with the us Pac-12ers? Well Washington State coach Mike Leach told reporters about the time he fooled Texas with a fake call sheet during the 1999 Texas-Oklahoma game when Leach was the offensive coordinator for the Sooners, so you should probably click on the Theo Lawson-written link to get the story.

David Borges of the New Haven Register whips up this feature story on Arizona State men’s basketball coach Bobby Hurley and his brother, Dan, who is the new head coach at UConn. He was previously head coach at Wagner and Rhode Island before taking over the Huskies.

Brian Howell tells us that Tim Lynott is working to get his starting spot back on the offensive line. The junior right guard had started 27 of the previous 29 games before coming off the bench in the win over UCLA.

After watching the Beavs lose 52-24 at Arizona State, Ken Goe believes that Oregon State’s defensive issues are going to give the team a lot of problems overall in the Pac-12.

We have our first Pac-12 Networks men’s water polo broadcast of the season coming up on Saturday (USC-Stanford at 2 p.m. on Pac-12 Bay Area and Pac-12 Los Angeles, your favorite broadcaster/roundup curator on the call), so you should know that USC’s Hannes Daube was named MPSF Newcomer of the Week after scoring four goals in the top-ranked Trojans’ 16-2 win over UC Santa Barbara.