Pac-12 Baseball Weekly Rundown - March 2, 2023

Schedule // Standings // Pac-12 Statistics // NCAA Statistics 

LEADING OFF: Week two of the regular season for Pac-12 baseball saw heavy rain on the West Coast wreak havoc on schedules, standout performances at home by conference squads and a trio of league teams play in SEC country.

After a 2-2 start to the season, No. 4 Stanford got back on track with a home sweep of Rice and a mid-week win over Pacific to move to 6-2 on the year, while No. 24 Oregon State went 3-0 at home against Coppin State and has now won six straight since dropping its season opener. No. 12 UCLA went 1-2 at No. 7 Vanderbilt, but notched a shutout in game two and pushed the perennial national power to a series rubber match, which the Bruins narrowly lost 2-1. Arizona State also traveled south, taking one of three at Mississippi State and USC, who was scheduled to host Auburn and had the series switched last minute due to weather, dropped two of three on the road. 

Non-conference action continues in week three beginning this afternoon in Eugene as Oregon hosts San Diego for a four-game set with series first pitch scheduled for 3:05 p.m. on Pac-12 Insider. No. 24 Oregon State hits the road for four games at Cal Poly beginning Thursday night at 6 p.m.

In all, six Pac-12 teams host weekend series with San Diego at Oregon, Cal State Bakersfield at No. 4 Stanford, Southern Indiana at Washington State, Northern Colorado at Washington, UC Irvine at Arizona State and North Dakota State at Arizona.

Joining the Beavers on the road is Utah, playing a three-game series UTSA, and California, who is competing at the Frisco Classic in Texas where they will face Power 5 squads Oklahoma, Ohio State and Mississippi State. The Frisco Classic will be available to watch through a paid stream presented by D1Baseball.

UCLA and USC will co-host the Southern California College Baseball Classic, with each team playing two games on its home field against Tulane and Sacramento State before ending the weekend with a head-to-head non-conference bout at the Bruins' Jackie Robinson Stadium on Sunday. 

Concluding week three will be 11 midweek games, highlighted by Arizona State's trip to No. 13 Oklahoma State for a two-game set, March 7 and 8 in Stillwater.

RANKINGS ROUNDUP:

• USA Today: #4 Stanford, #12 UCLA, #24 Oregon State, RV California, Arizona, Arizona State, Oregon
• D1Baseball: #2 Stanford, #17 UCLA
• Baseball America: #3 Stanford, #14 UCLA, #19 Oregon State
• Collegiate Baseball: #7 Stanford, #10 UCLA, #18 Oregon State
• NCBWA:  #4 Stanford, #13 UCLA, #26 Oregon State, RV Arizona, California, Oregon, Washington State
• Perfect Game:  #2 Stanford, #11 UCLA, #21 Oregon State

QUICK HITTERS:

• Washington State is atop the standings at 7-1 through the first two weeks, marking the second time in the last three seasons the Cougars have reached that mark to begin the year after going 9-1 to start 2021.
• Oregon State outscored Coppin State 46-6 in the three-game sweep in Corvallis last weekend. Highly touted freshman Gavin Turley has his college career off to a hot start. In all, Turley helped the Beavers go 4-0 in week two, hitting .533 with a pair of home runs, eight runs scored and eight runs batted in en route to earning Pac-12 Player of the Week. Fellow Beaver Trent Sellers struck out 12 in his first start for the Beavers to earn the Pitcher of the Week nod.
• Pitching has been No. 12 UCLA's strength so far in 2023, with its ERA (1.77) ranking fifth in the country, allowing two runs or fewer in six of eight games. The Bruins shut out No. 7 Vanderbilt in a 3-0 game-two win and then held the Commodores to two runs in the narrow 2-1 series-finale loss on Sunday.
• Utah's TJ Clarkson turned in an standout two-way perofmance in Monday's win over Texas A&M Corpus Christi, beginning the game as the designated hitter—then earned the win with 2.2 shutout innings of relief pitching—finishing with two home runs at the plate and five RBI as the Utes won the road to wrap of the weekend.
• Arizona won the series finale against West Virginia behind the bat of Mac Bingham, who blasted two home runs and drove in a career-high seven runs in the 15-5 Wildcat victory.
• Washington swept a 3-gamer at San Jose State, with all three wins coming by two runs or less as the Huskies moved to 5-2 on the year. AJ Guerrero was the hero of the weekend, throwing out the game-tying run at home plate to end game one 7-6 and blasted a three-run home run in the 3-2 win in game two to secure the series. Stu Flesland III delivered on the mound in game-three shutting out the Spartans with 10 strikeouts in six innings of work in the 2-0 finale win.
• Despite dropping the series at Mississippi State last weekend, Arizona State put up big numbers in the 13-4 series-opening win against the Bulldogs. USF transfer Luke Keaschall has proved to be an excellent addition, hitting his second leadoff home run of the year, while Wyatt Crenshaw is hitting .484 to lead all Pac-12 hitters.
• USC was originally scheduled to host the SEC's Auburn at home last weekend but rain forced the series to be moved to Alabama. The Trojans hung tough, battling the Tigers to a 12-12 tie in game three after travel arrangements stopped the game in the ninth inning. 
• While Cal had a pair of games postponed and canceled at last weekend's Cal Baseball Classic, the Bears have still had a strong start to the season at 6-1, which is tied for best record through seven games under sixth-year head coach Mike Neu.
• The Pac-12 has the fourth-best winning percentage among all conferences so far in 2023 with a 58-25-1 mark. The SEC is on top with a 95-25-1 record, followed by the ACC in second at 92-22 and the Sun Belt in third at 81-34.

STAT LINES:

• NCAA Top-10 Team Rankings: Batting Avg. - Oregon State (8th, .354); Runs - Washington State (13th, 84), Oregon State (19th, 81); Doubles - Arizona (4th, 26); On-base percentage (4th, .484); ERA - UCLA (5th, 1.77); Cal (15th, 2.76), Shutouts - Oregon State, UCLA ( 3rd, 2); Strikeouts-Per-9 Innings - Stanford (8th, 12.7), UCLA (11th, 12.5); Fielding percentage - UCLA (9th, .991; Double plays - Arizona, Oregon State (10th, 9). 
• NCAA Top-10 Individual Rankings: Batting Avg. - Owen Cobb, STAN (26th, .500); Doubles - Travis Bazzana, OSU (13th, 5), Oregon State (19th, 81); Doubles - Arizona (4th, 26); On-base percentage (4th, .484); ERA - Ian May, Cal; Alonzo Tredwell, UCLA; Josh Emanuels, WASH (T1st, 0.00); Hits - Owen Cobb, STAN (22nd, 15); RBI - Jonah Advincula, WSU; Jacob McKeon, WSU (17th, 15); Strikeouts - Caden Kaelber, WSU, Trent Sellers, OSU (7th, 19). 

CARDINAL PICKED TO REPEAT: For a second consecutive year the Pac-12 coaches took defending champion Stanford atop their preseason poll with the Cardinal receiving nine first-place votes for a total of 99 points.

UCLA collected the other two first-place votes to come in second with 90 points and Oregon State was in third with 77 points. Arizona (74 points) and Oregon (68 points) rounded out the top five in fourth and fifth, respectively. 

INAUGURAL PRESEASON ALL-CONFERENCE TEAM: For the first time in Pac-12 history, the conference announced a Preseason All-Pac-12 Team, voted on by the league’s coaches. 

Stanford led the way with eight selections. Preseason All-Americans Braden Montgomery (UTL), Ryan Bruno (LHP), Carter Graham (INF), Quinn Mathews (LHP) and Tommy Troy (INF) earned the honor along with Cardinal infielder Drew Bowser, outfielder Eddie Park and pitcher Joey Dixon.

The 32-person team also includes preseason All-Americans Travis Bazzana (INF) and Ben Ferrer (RHP) from Oregon State, Chase Davis (OF) from Arizona and pitcher Alonzo Tredwell of UCLA. 

Tredwell and UCLA teammate Cody Schrier (INF), both 2022 Freshman All-Americans, were two of six Bruins selected, which was second-most behind Stanford. 

NATIONAL AWARDS PRESEASON WATCH LISTS

GOLDEN SPIKES

• Chase Davis; OF; Arizona
• Quinn Mathews; LHP; Stanford
• Braden Montgomery; OF/RHP
• Cody Schrier; INF; UCLA
• Tommy Troy; INF/OF; Stanford

BOBBY BRAGAN COLLEGIATE SLUGGER AWARD

• Drew Cowley, INF, Oregon
• Chase Davis, OF, Arizona
• Carter Graham, INF, Stanford
• Jacob McKeon, OF, Washington State
• Tanner Smith, OF, Oregon
• Jacob Walsh, INF, Oregon

PRESEASON ALL-AMERICAN TEAMS

• D1 Baseball - First Team: RP Ryan Bruno (Stanford), 2B Tommy Troy (Stanford).
• Baseball America - First Team: 2B Tommy Troy (Stanford)
• Collegiate Baseball - First Team: INF Carter Graham (Stanford), SP Quinn Matthews (Stanford)
• NCBWA - First Team: INF Carter Graham (Stanford)
• Perfect Game - First Team: 2B Tommy Troy (Stanford), SP Quinn Matthews (Stanford)

AMERICAN MADE: Two Pac-12 players were part of the 26-man roster for the 2022 Collegiate National Team that represented Team USA and finished in third place at Honkbalweek Haarlem last July at  Pim Mulier Stadium in Haarlem, Netherlands. The final squad was named after completing the 2022 Collegiate National Team Training Camp, a five-game intrasquad series played throughout North Carolina. The roster included RP Ryan Bruno (Stanford) and RP Ross Dunn (Arizona State). 

2023 PAC-12 BASEBALL TOURNAMENT: After an exciting inaugural event last May, the Pac-12 Baseball Tournament returns to Scottsdale Stadium May 23-27, 2023 for year two at the Spring Training home of the San Francisco Giants. The tournament will look different in 2023 after the Pac-12 coaches approved format changes during the offseason.

Switching from a double-elimination format to pool play, the top nine teams in the Conference standings will earn berths to the tournament. The teams will be split into three pools based on their regular season finish with the top team from each pool advancing to the semifinals. The fourth semifinal spot will be determined by the top record of the non-advancing teams, with any tiebreakers going to the higher seed.  

The champion will receive the Conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. The Pac-12’s current agreement with the City of Scottsdale runs through 2024.

ON DECK (Full Schedule) 

• (1) - Frisco Classic - Frisco, Texas
• (2) - Southern California College Baseball Classic - Los Angeles, Calif.
• * Non-conference game, does not count toward Pac-12 standings

CONFERENCE STANDINGS (Expanded Standings) 

PAC-12 BASEBALL WEEKLY AWARDS