LEADING OFF:  Oregon enters the fourth week of conference play on top of the standings and back in the top 25.  The No. 22 Ducks travel down to Los Angeles this weekend to battle UCLA, having not beaten the Bruins at Jackie Robinson Stadium since 2014.  It will be an interesting clash in styles as Oregon is 17^th in the country with 8.9 runs per game while UCLA has the fourth best ERA in Division 1 at 2.48.

Meanwhile the highest ranked Pac-12 team remains No. 4 Oregon State, who enter the weekend one game behind the Ducks in the standings.  The Beavers face-off with the coaches’ preseason pick to win the conference, Stanford.  These two squads have split their all-time 96 meetings but the Cardinal have not won a series in Corvallis since 2010.

No. 15 Arizona is tied with Oregon for second in the conference at 6-3.  The Wildcats visit Washington this weekend for the first time since the Huskies swept them in 2018.  The home team has won the last 12 games in this rivalry.  Arizona leads the country with 18 triples this season, twice as many as any other Pac-12 school.

After opening the season by taking three of four in the MLB Tournament in Scottsdale, California returns to the Grand Canyon State for a three-game series with Arizona State.  All-American Dylan Beavers homered in each of the Bears three games last weekend and leads the conference with 10 on the season.  The Sun Devils won two of three in Berkeley last season but the Bears won the last series in Phoenix, taking two of three to end the 2018 regular season.

Utah returns to Pac-12 play after hosting Mercer last weekend, putting up 25 runs in the Saturday game, their most since 2010.  The Utes are looking for their first conference road win of the season but were 8-1-1 in true road games during the non-conference.  Washington State will be playing just their second home series of the season and are looking to take a home series from the Utes for the first time since 2014.  In fact, the road team has won five of the last six series in this matchup.

And USC looks to get back on the diamond this weekend with a non-conference series against San Jose State.  The Trojans had their mid-week game with Seattle on Wednesday canceled due to health and safety protocols within the Seattle program.

Rankings Roundup

• USA Today Coaches:  #4 Oregon State, #15 Arizona, #22 Oregon
• Baseball America:  #2 Oregon State, #12 Arizona, #20 Oregon, #24 Stanford
• D1Baseball:  #3 Oregon State, #15 Arizona, #21 Oregon
• Collegiate Baseball:  #8 Oregon State, #11 Oregon, #19 Arizona, #25 UCLA
• NCBWA:  #4 Oregon State, #14 Arizona, #20 Stanford, #25 Oregon
• Perfect Game:  #5 Oregon State, #16 Oregon, #24 Arizona

RPI UPDATE:  Entering Thursday, the Pac-12 had nine teams in the Top 85 in Adjusted RPI, one of only three conferences that can say that (ACC, SEC).  Oregon leads the way for the Pac-12 at No. 3, thanks to having the third hardest schedule in college baseball so far this season. 

UCLA has the fifth highest adjusted RPI (No. 52) but leads the conference in wins against Top 50 opponents, going 8-3 in those games.

MILESTONE MOMENT:  Coach Lindsay Meggs earned his 300^th win at Washington on Sunday with an 6-4 win over Arizona State in 11 innings.  Meggs becomes just the third coach to win 300 games for the Huskies, joining his two direct predecessors in Ken Knutson (584) and Bob MacDonald (423)

Last week, John Savage picked up his 600^th win at UCLA, becoming the third Bruins skipper to reach that milestone.  Savage has the second most wins among active Pac-12 coaches behind Stanford’s David Esquer who has 672 between his time with the Cardinal and at Cal.  Esquer needs three more wins to reach 150 at Stanford alone.

POWER PLAYERS:  Reaching roughly one-third of the way through the season, D1Baseball this week named their Position Power Rankings with the Top 30 at each infield position and their Top 100 in the outfield and among starting pitchers.  The following Pac-12 players made the lists:

• Catcher:  #1 Daniel Susac (Arizona)
• First Base:  #22 Carter Graham (Stanford)
• Second Base:  #6 Travis  Bazzana (Oregon State)
• Shortstop:  #21 Josh Kasevich (Oregon)
• Third Base:  #13 Ethan Long (Arizona State)
• Outfield:  #4 Jacob Melton (Oregon State), #17 Justin Boyd (Oregon State), #18 Dylan Beavers (California), #26 Colby Shade (Oregon), #28 Brock Jones (Stanford), #51 Tanner Smith (Oregon), #64 Tanner O’Tremba (Arizona), #80 Chase Davis (Arizona), #98 Joe Lampe (Arizona State)
• Starting Pitchers: #13 Cooper Hjerpe (Oregon State), #19 TJ Nichols (Arizona), #20 Thatcher Hurd (UCLA), #36 Jake Brooks (UCLA), #44 Josh White (California), #63 Quinn Mathews (Stanford), #81 Max Rajcic (UCLA), #100 Garrett Irvin (Arizona)

Collegiate Baseball National Players of the Week

• March 21- LHP Cooper Hjerpe (OSU)
• March 14- OF Jacob Melton (OSU), C Daniel Susac (Arizona), LHP Adam Tulloch (Arizona St)
• March 7 – 1B/LHP TJ Clarkson (Utah), RHP Thatcher Hurd (UCLA)
• February 28- RHP Matthew Sox (Utah)
• February 21- RHP Josh White (California)

Golden Spikes Performance of the Week

• February 28 – LHP Quinn Mathews (Stanford), RHP Matthew Sox (Utah)

Dick Howser Trophy Player of the Week

• March 15- C Daniel Susac (Arizona)

Dick Howser Trophy Pitcher of the Week

• March 8 – RHP Thatcher Hurd (UCLA) – Co-winner

Perfect Game/Rawlings Pitcher of the Week

• March 8 – RHP Thatcher Hurd (UCLA)

College Baseball Foundation Pitcher of the Week

• March 1- Quinn Mathews (Stanford)

College Baseball Foundation Shortstop of the Week

• March 1 – Nik McClaughry (Arizona)

COACHES CHOOSE CARDINAL:  The Pac-12 coaches took Stanford atop their preseason poll with the Cardinal receiving eight first-place votes for a total of 98 out of a possible 100 points.

Oregon State was second with 84 points and one first-place vote, Arizona was third with 77 points and UCLA with two first-place votes had the fourth-most points with 75.

NATIONAL AWARDS WATCH LISTS

GOLDEN SPIKES

• OF Dylan Beavers, California
• OF Brock Jones, Stanford
• IF Ethan Long, Arizona State
• IF Sean McLain, Arizona State
• RHP Max Rajcic, UCLA
• C Daniel Susac, Arizona
• RHP Josh White, California

BUSTER POSEY (Collegiate Catcher of the Year)

• Cole Elvis, California
• Garret Guillemette, USC
• Kody Huff, Stanford
• Daniel Susac, Arizona

BOBBY BRAGAN COLLEGIATE SLUGGER AWARD

• OF Dylan Beavers, California
• C Cole Elvis, California
• OF Brock Jones, Stanford
• IF John Kasevich, Oregon
• OF Tanner Smith, Oregon
• C Daniel Susac, Arizona

NCBWA STOPPER OF THE YEAR

• Holden Christian, Arizona
• Stone Churby, Oregon
• Aaron Roberts, California
• Kolby Somers, Oregon
• Mitchell Verburg, Oregon State

SENIOR CLASS AWARD

• INF Sam Novitske, Oregon
• INF Jack Smith, Washington State
• OF Tanner Smith, Oregon
• LHP Kolby Somers, Oregon
• RHP Mitchell Verburg, Oregon State
• RHP Alex Williams, Stanford

PRESEASON ALL-AMERICAN TEAMS

AMERICAN MADE:  Seven Pac-12 players were part of the 45-man roster for the 2021 Collegiate National Team.  Normally this would include exhibitions against international opponents but instead played an 11-game intrasquad series last summer at Appalachian League ballparks.  The roster included OF Dylan Beavers (CALIFORNIA), OF Brock Jones (STANFORD), OF/1B Ethan Long (ARIZONA STATE), INF/OF Sean McLain (ARIZONA STATE), C Daniel Susac (ARIZONA) and RHP Josh White (CALIFORNIA).

NEXT GENERATION:  The Class of 2021 recruits will get their first taste of Pac-12 play this season and it was a strong class across the board for the conference.  

Baseball America ranked UCLA’s class number one in the country for the first time in their 22 years for rankings.  The class is highlighted by a pair of Top 100 pitchers in RHP Thatcher Hurd (#44) and LHP Gage Jump (#57) along with Top 100 outfielder Malakhi Knight (#72).

Three other schools made their Top 25 with Oregon State (#6), USC (#17), and Washington (#24).

ALUMNI TOP PROSPECT LISTS:  In the latest lists by MLB Pipeline, Baseball America and The Athletic’s Keith Law, former Oregon State catcher Adley Rutschman is considered the top prospect in Major League Baseball.  The #1 pick in the 2019 draft by the Baltimore Orioles hit a combined 23 homers over 123 games between their AA (Bowie) and AAA (Norfolk) affiliates.

Former Sun Devil Spencer Torkelson, the #1 pick in the 2020 draft by the Detroit Tigers comes in #4 on all three lists.  Torkelson hit 30 home runs over three different minor league levels.

INAUGURAL PAC-12 TOURNAMENT:  The inaugural Pac-12 Baseball Tournament is scheduled for May 25-29, 2022 at Scottsdale Stadium.  The double-elimination tournament will be spread over five days at the Spring Training home of the San Francisco Giants.

The top eight teams in the Conference standings at the conclusion of the regular season will earn berths in the Pac-12 Baseball Tournament, from which the champion will receive the Conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. The Pac-12’s initial agreement with the City of Scottsdale runs through 2024.

ON DECK (Full Schedule) 

CONFERENCE STANDINGS (Expanded Standings) 

PAC-12 BASEBALL WEEKLY AWARDS