Pac-12 baseball hits midseason mark with four ranked squads

COMPLETE RELEASE

PREVIEWING THE WEEK:
Pac-12 baseball claims four teams in the top 10 in the USA Today coaches poll, including No. 1 UCLA. The Bruins are the unanimous No. 1 team in the country across five national rankings. They face a tough non-conference home series against No. 11 East Carolina this week. Also of note is a top-10 league battle between No. 3 Oregon State and No. 9 Arizona State and Pac-12 Network’s “Game of the Week” as No. 5 Stanford hosts Washington.  

The anticipated three-game weekend tilt between Oregon State’s tough pitching staff and Arizona State’s productive offense will be streamed via the Pac-12 Now app, Pac-12 Plus and Pac-12.com/now. The Beavers own the fifth-best ERA in the nation at 2.78 and the fourth-best WHIP at 1.08. The Sun Devils have some of the hottest bats in the country, ranking second in runs (297), third in batting average (.329) and fifth in both home runs (50) and on-base percentage (.423).  Leading ASU’s offense has been Hunter Bishop who leads the nation in home runs per game (0.52, 16 overall) and slugging percentage (.942). OSU has a star hitter of its own in catcher Adley Rutschman who leads the country in on-base percentage (.580) and claims the best batting average in the Conference (.426).

All three games of the weekend series between the Cardinal and Huskies is set to broadcast on Pac-12 Networks. UW’s rising star catcher Nick Kahle will be put to the test against Stanford’s solid defensive front. Kahle, a recent nominee for the Buster Posey Catcher of the Year Award watch list, has stepped up his game in Pac-12 play, hitting an impressive .500 through 12 Conference games, the best average in the league. He also claims the second-best on-base percentage in the country at .561. Stanford’s defense, which owns the seventh-best ERA nationally (2.84) and best fielding percentage in the league (.980), looks to slow Kahle down in this critical matchup.

GOLDEN SPIKES:
Eight Pac-12 student-athletes were named to the Golden Spikes Award midseason watch list, including last year’s winner, Cal’s Andrew Vaughn. He is just one of four Golden Spikes Award recipients all-time to return to school after winning the award. Arizona State’s Hunter Bishop, Alec Marsh and Spencer Torkelson, Washington’s Josh Burgmann and Nick Kahle and Oregon State’s Brandon Eisert and Adley Rutschman also earned the nod. ASU’s three candidates on the midseason watch list is the most of any team in the country. The Pac-12 is home to eight Golden Spikes Award winners after Vaughn claimed the award last season, tying the ACC and SEC for most of any conference. The 42nd Golden Spikes Award will be presented on June 14, 2019.

WEEKLY RECAP:
UCLA claimed the series over Stanford in the first 1-vs-2 tilt in the Pac-12 since 1988. Stanford took the first game in a 3-2 thriller after Will Matthiessen hit a walk-off single in the bottom of the ninth. UCLA responded by posting double-digit runs in back-to-back games against a Stanford staff that entered the weekend with the best ERA in the country. The Bruins' 23 runs were the most for a series at Stanford since the 2007 season (34). At 24-6, UCLA is off to its second-best 30-game start of the John Savage era (since 2005), trailing only the 2010 club that went 26-4 out of the gate.

Arizona earned its first Pac-12 sweep of the season at home against Washington. Over the course of the three-game series with the Huskies, first baseman Matthew Dyer went 9-for-14 with seven runs scored, two doubles, one triple, and one RBI while raising his season batting average to a team-best mark of .396.

MIDSEASON AWARDS WATCH: 
Halfway through the 2019 season, Pac-12 baseball’s dominance is being recognized nationwide. D1Baseball announced its midseason awards and honored Arizona State’s Hunter Bishop as the midseason top player and Tracy Smith as the midseason co-top coach of the year. Four from the Pac-12 were also named midseason All-Americans.

Perfect Game also chose Bishop as its midseason Player of the Year, as he is batting .396 with 16 home runs and a .932 slugging percentage. UCLA skipper John Savage was named the midseason coach of the year and Arizona State was tabbed the team of the year. Five Pac-12 student-athletes were named midseason first team All-Americans by Perfect Game, the most of any conference on the first team. Bishop, OSU’s Adley Rutschman and Brandon Eisert, Cal’s Andrew Vaughn and ASU’s Alec Marsh all earned the nod.

Rutschman was also named to the Buster Posey National Collegiate Catcher of the Year Award watch list, along with four other league catchers. Seventy-nine catchers were nominated for the 2019 Buster Posey Award by their coaches, given annually to the top Division I collegiate catcher. The winner will be announced on June 27, 2019.

SENIOR CLASS CANDIDATE:
OSU’s right-handed pitcher Bryce Fehmel has been named one of 10 finalists for the 2019 Senior CLASS Award. The award is honored to an NCAA Division I senior that has notable achievements in four areas of excellence: community, classroom, character and competition. Fehmel is a marketing major who comes into this weekend’s series with Arizona State at 31 career wins, which ranks third all-time at Oregon State. He is 5-0 with a 3.20 ERA this season. The 2019 winner will be announced at the College World Series.

IN THE RANKINGS:
Four Pac-12 teams are ranked in the top 10 in the latest USA Today Coaches poll, including UCLA at No. 1 for the fourth-straight week. A Pac-12 squad has claimed the No. 1 ranking in five of seven weeks this season. Oregon State moves up to No. 3, Stanford is No. 5 and Arizona State is No. 9.

For the first time this season, the Bruins have been named the unanimous No. 1 team in the nation by five national rankings. Additionally, UCLA, Stanford, OSU and ASU rank in the top 15 in all five polls.

Ten of 11 Pac-12 programs rank in the top 105 in the NCAA RPI rankings, including three in the top 10. UCLA tops the RPI list, with Oregon State at third, followed by Stanford at seventh.

BY THE NUMBERS:
Pac-12 pitchers have brought the heat this season as three rank in the top 10 in ERA, tied for the most teams of any other conference to rank in the top 10 in that category. UCLA has the third-best ERA in the nation at 2.57. OSU’s pitching staff has an ERA of 2.78, which is good for fifth-best and Stanford is seventh-best at 2.84.

There’s no doubt the Arizona schools have had some of the hottest bats in the nation midway through the season. Arizona State is averaging 9.6 runs per game and Arizona is right behind averaging 9.5 per game, good for third and fourth-best in the country, respectively. All of those runs have come from such high slugging percentages, as the Sun Devils rank second at .541 and Arizona ranks fifth at .505. The Wildcats have been particularly speedy on the base paths and have the most triples this year with 20.

The league’s top hitters have found ways to get on base this year at exceptionally high rates. Five student-athletes rank among the nation’s top 25 in on-base percentage. OSU’s Adley Rutschman has the best OBP (.580) and Washington’s Nick Kahle is right behind with the second-best average at .561. ASU’s Hunter Bishop ranks eighth (.535), Cal’s Andrew Vaughn is 17th at .519 and Jack Stronach of UCLA rounds out the top 25 with an average of .511.

STAR POWER:
OSU’s Adley Rutschman, one of the nation’s top prospects, earned his second Pac-12 Player of the Week honor this season after helping the Beavers to a 4-1 record last week. He went 9-for-19 (4.74) with three homers, a double, seven RBI and three walks. Collegiate Baseball’s Projected Player of the Year was named to both Perfect Game and D1Baseball’s midseason All-American team and was tabbed a candidate for the Buster Posey National Collegiate Catcher of the Year Award watch list.

Stanford’s right-handed pitcher Brendan Beck earned his first-career weekly honor after shutting down No. 1 UCLA for seven innings. In seven starts, Beck carries a 2.05 earned-run average and has tossed 6.0-or-more innings in five of those starts.

PRESEASON NODS:
The Pac-12 has 20 total preseason All-America selections from seven different schools. Six student-athletes were named to all five preseason All-America lists and 2018 Golden Spikes Award winner Cal’s Andrew Vaughn, 2018 CWS Most Outstanding Player OSU’s Adley Rutschman and All-Pac-12 selection UCLA’s Chase Strumpf were named to the first team by five national outlets. Rutschman was also tabbed the Projected Player of the Year by Collegiate Baseball. Baseball America highlighted several league student-athletes as All-American Best Tools with Vaughn earning best hitter, Arizona State’s Spencer Torkelson selected as the best power hitter and Rutschman tabbed as the best defensive catcher.

STOPPER OF THE YEAR:
The Pac-12 has seven student-athletes from five different Pac-12 schools on the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) Stopper of the Year Preseason Watch List, the second-most selections of any conference. Stanford’s Jack Little is featured on the list after being named a finalist for the 2018 season. The NCBWA presents the Stopper of the Year Award to the top relief pitcher in Division I baseball for the 15th straight year at the College World Series on Saturday, June 15. 2019.

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2019 PAC-12 BASEBALL PLAYERS OF THE WEEK

Week of	Player	Pitcher
Feb. 19	Spencer Torkelson, Arizona State	Bryce Fehmel, Oregon State
Feb. 26	Andrew Vaughn, California	Brandon White, Washington State
March 5	Braiden Ward, Washington	Josh Burgmann, Washington
March 12	Hunter Bishop, Arizona State	Erik Miller, Stanford
March 19	Adley Rutschman, Oregon State	Zach Pettway, UCLA
March 25	Hunter Bishop, Arizona State	Ryan Garcia, UCLA
April 1	Hunter Bishop, Arizona State	Brandon Eisert, Oregon State
April 8	Adley Rutschman, Oregon State	Brendan Beck, Stanford

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NATIONAL HONORS 

USA Baseball Golden Spikes Award Midseason Watch List
Hunter Bishop, Jr., ASU
Josh Burgmann, RS So., WASH
Brandon Eisert, Jr., OSU
Nick Kahle, Jr., WASH
Alec Marsh, Jr., ASU
Adley Rutschman, Jr., OSU
Spencer Torkelson, So., ASU
Andrew Vaughn, Jr., CAL

D1Baseball.com Midseason Top Player
Hunter Bishop, OF, ASU

D1Baseball.com Midseason Co-Top Coach
Tracy Smith, ASU

D1Baseball.com Midseason All-Americans
Adley Rutschman, C, OSU
Andrew Vaughn, 1B, CAL
Hunter Bishop, OF, ASU
Brandon Eisert, RP, OSU

Perfect Game/Rawlings Player of the Week
March 5 - Andrew Vaughn, IF, CAL

Midseason Perfect Game/Rawlings Player of the Year
Hunter Bishop, OF, ASU

Midseason Perfect Game/Rawlings Coach of the Year
John Savage, UCLA

Midseason Perfect Game/Rawlings Team of the Year
Arizona State

Midseason Perfect Game/Rawlings College Baseball All-American Teams
First Team
Adley Rutschman, C, OSU
Andrew Vaughn, 1B, CAL
Hunter Bishop, OF, ASU
Alec Marsh, SP, ASU
Brandon Eisert, RP, OSU

Buster Posey National Collegiate Catcher of the Year Award Watch List
Matthew Dyer, Jr., ARIZ
Maverick Handley, Jr., STAN
Nick Kahle, Jr., WASH
Korey Lee, Jr., CAL
Adley Rutschman, Jr., OSU

Senior CLASS Award Finalist
Bryce Fehmel, P, OSU

College Sports Madness National Baseball Players of the Week:
Feb. 18 - Ryan Holgate, OF, ARIZ (Field Player)

USA Baseball Golden Spikes Award Preseason Watch List:
Kevin Abel, RHP, OSU
Jack Little, RHP, STAB
Nick Quintana, IF, ARIZ
Adley Rutschman, C, OSU
Kyle Stowers, OF, STAN
Chase Strumpf, IF, UCLA
Michael Toglia, IF, UCLA
Spencer Torkelson, IF, ASU
Andrew Vaughn, IF, CAL
Kenyon Yovan, RHP, ORE

NCBWA Stopper of the Year Preseason Watch List: 
Brandon Eisert, Jr., OSU
Jack Little, Jr., STAN
Connor Lunn, Jr., USC
Jake Mulholland, Jr., OSU
Ryne Nelson, Jr., ORE
Jacob Palisch, So., STAN
Holden Powell, So., UCLA

Collegiate Baseball Preseason All-Americans:
First Team 
Kevin Abel, RHP, OSU
Jack Little, RHP, STAN
Adley Rutschman, C, OSU
Andrew Vaughn, 1B, CAL
Spencer Torkelson, 1B, ASU
Chase Strumpf, 2B, UCLA
Second Team
Bryce Fehmel, RHP, OSU
Kenyon Yovan, RHP, ORE
Jeremy Ydens, OF, UCLA
Third Team
Brendan Beck, RHP, STAN
Jake Mulholland, LHP, OSU
Nic Kahle, C, WASH
Michael Toglia, 1B, UCLA
Nick Quintana, 3B, ARIZ

Collegiate Baseball Projected  Player of the Year:
Adley Rutschman, C, OSU

D1Baseball.com Preseason All-Americans:
First Team
Adley Rutschman, C, OSU
Andrew Vaughn, 1B, CAL
Chase Strumpf, 2B, UCLA
Spencer Torkelson, DH, ASU
Kevin Abel, SP, OSU
Jack Little, RP, STAN
Second Team
Michael Toglia, 1B, UCLA
Cameron Cannon, 2B, ARIZ
Kenyon Yovan, SP, ORE
Third Team
Nick Quintana, 3B, ARIZ
Brandon Eisert, RP, OSU

Perfect Game Preseason All-Americans:
First Team
Adley Rutschman, C, OSU
Andrew Vaughn, 1B, CAL
Chase Strumpf, 2B, UCLA
Spencer Torkelson, 1B, ASU
Kevin Abel, SP, OSU
Jack Little, RP, STAN
Second Team
Bryce Fehmel, SP, OSU
Third Team 
Michael Toglia, 1B, UCLA
Nick Quintana, 3B, ARIZ
Jake Mulholland, RP, OSU 

Baseball America Preseason All-Americans:
First Team
Adley Rutschman, C, OSU
Andrew Vaughn, 1B, CAL
Chase Strumpf, 2B, UCLA
Kyle Stowers, OF, STAN
Second Team
Spencer Torkelson, 1B, ASU
Erik Miller, SP, STAN
Jack Little, RP, STAN
Third Team
Nick Quintana, 3B, ARIZ
Ryne Nelson, SP, ORE

Baseball America Preseason All-American Best Tools:
Best Hitter
Andrew Vaughn, 1B, CAL
Best Power
Spencer Torkelson, 1B, ASU
Best Defensive Catcher
Adley Rutschman, C, OSU

NCBWA Preseason All-Americans:
First Team 
Adley Rutschman, C, OSU
Andrew Vaughn, 1B, CAL
Chase Strumpf, 2B, UCLA
Spencer Torkelson, 1B, ASU
Kevin Abel, SP, OSU
Bryce Fehmel, SP, OSU
Jack Little, RP, STAN
Jake Mulholland, RP, OSU
Second Team
Nick Quintana, 3B, ARIZ
Joe Wainhouse, DH, WASH
Third Team
Michael Toglia, 1B, UCLA
Kenyon Yovan, UT, ORE
Brendan Beck, SP, STAN
Brandon Eisert, RP, OSU