Pac-12 Baseball Weekly Rundown - March 9, 2023

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LEADING OFF: With the first three weeks of the 2023 season in the books, Pac-12 baseball turns its attention to the opening weekend of conference play. 

The slate is highlighted by Washington State's visit to Corvallis to take on No. 22 Oregon State, with the Cougars in first place at 11-1 and the Beavers tied for second at 10-2. First pitch of the series at Goss Stadium is set for 5:30 p.m. PT on Friday, March 10 live on Pac-12 Insider. OSU has won five straight series against Washington State and the Cougars are looking for their first series win in Corvallis since 2009.

No. 12 UCLA's series at Oregon will also be intriguing as the Ducks started the season ranked but fell out of the polls after suffering a sweep at the hands of UC Santa Barbara. The Bruins' pitching staff boasts a nation-best ERA of 1.78, which could be a tough assignment for an Oregon offense that is still finding its footing early in the season.

The other league matchups on opening weekend include No. 3 Stanford at USC, California at Arizona and Utah at Washington. Arizona State will host UC Davis for three at Phoenix Municipal Stadium on its league bye week.

RANKINGS ROUNDUP:

• USA Today: #3 Stanford, #12 UCLA, #22 Oregon State, RV Washington, Oregon, California
• D1Baseball: #2 Stanford, #16 UCLA, #25 Oregon State
• Baseball America: #3 Stanford, #13 UCLA, #15 Oregon State
• Collegiate Baseball: #5 Stanford, #10 UCLA, #15 Oregon State
• NCBWA:  #3 Stanford, #12 UCLA, #24 Oregon State, RV Arizona, Arizona State, California, Oregon, Washington, Washington State
• Perfect Game:  #2 Stanford, #11 UCLA, #21 Oregon State

QUICK HITTERS:

• The Pac-12 has the fourth-best winning percentage among all conferences so far in 2023 with a 92-38-1 mark. The SEC is on top with a 152-33-1 record, followed by the ACC in second at 137-38 and the Sun Belt in third at 113-60.
• The Pac-12 also has the fourth-best batting average (.285) of any conference thus far, sitting behind the SEC (.316), ACC (.307) and Sun Belt (.293). 
• 10 of 11 league teams are at .500 or better through three weeks, while eight of 11 have winning percentages of .727 or better.
• UCLA currently has the top ERA in the country at 1.78 with Wake Forest the next closest at 1.98.
• Washington State is on top of the standings at 11-1 after three weeks of non-conference play. The Cougars have won seven straight and are off to their best start since the 1980 team began the season 18-0.
• Washington pitcher Kiefer Lord became the first Husky pitcher to earn the Pac-12 Pitcher of the Week award in four years, then earned Perfect Game’s National Pitcher of the Week nod to become the first UW hurler to pick up the honor since Joe DeMers in 2018. Pitching in his first game at Husky Ballpark, the Carleton College transfer retired all 18 batters he faced in six perfect frames Saturday against Northern Colorado.
• Since starting 1-2 the Huskies have a league-high nine-game winning streak heading into their league-opening series at home against Utah.
• Stanford junior catcher Albert Rios set a Cardinal record and matched the Pac-12 record with 11 RBIs in a 24-9 Stanford victory over CSU Bakersfield last Sunday. The 11 RBIs matched the previous Pac-12 record of 11 set by UCLA's Bill Scott vs. Washington in a game that started on March 29, 1999 and was completed on March 30, 1999 due to rain. 
• Oregon State head coach Mitch Canham picked up his 100th career victory on Tuesday, March 7 as the Beavers beat San Diego 9-4 in Corvallis. 
• OSU has hit at least one home run in 10 if its first 12 games this season, including two or more homers in six of 12. 
• Oregon transfer Rikuu Nishida has made his presence felt on the base paths in his first few weeks as a Duck. The Osaka, Japan native, who spent two seasons at Mount Hood Community College, has started 11 games this season and has already swiped seven bags, including two in two separate games.
• Since dropping the first two games of the series to West Virginia, Arizona has won six straight behind a red-hot offense that has averaged 11.5 runs per game over the last six contests. The Wildcats have been led by the trio of Cameron LaLiberte, Mac Bingham, and Chase Davis who lead the Pac-12 in batting average, RBI, and home runs, respectively.
• At 8-3 overall, California is off to its best start through 10 games in six seasons under head coach Mike Neu. 
• Former USC great Randy Johnson will throw out the first pitch before Friday's Pac-12 opener at Dedeaux Field against No. 2 Stanford. Johnson played three seasons at USC (1983-85) before going on to have a legendary MLB career that included five Cy Young Awards, 10 All-Star games, a World Series MVP and induction into the MLB Hall of Fame.
• Utah's TJ Clarkson became the first Ute to earn a Pac-12 Player of the Week award since Chandler Anderson picked up the honor on May 15, 2017. Clarkson hit .500 and blasted home runs for four of his seven hits over four games, driving in nine with five runs scored. Clarkson also pitched 2.2 scoreless frames in relief in Utah's win over Texas A&M Corpus Christi.

NATIONAL AWARDS:

• Collegiate Baseball National Players of the Week
  • Feb. 20 - C Josiah Cromwick, Oregon
  • Feb. 27 - RHP Trent Sellers, Oregon State
  • Mar. 6 - 1B/OF/C Kiko Romero, Arizona
• Perfect Game National Players of the Week
  • Mar. 7 - RHP Kiefer Lord, Washington - National Pitcher of the Week

STAT LINES:

• NCAA Top-10 Team Rankings: Batting Avg. - Oregon State (22nd, .321); Runs per game - Washington State (20th, 9.8), Stanford (22nd, 9.7). Doubles - Arizona (10th, 35); On-base percentage Washington State (20th, .439); Home runs - Stanford (26th, 22); Sacrifice Flys - Washington State, Oregon State (8th, 10); ERA - UCLA (1st, 1.78); Cal (15th, 2.76), Shutouts - Oregon State, UCLA, Washington, Washington State ( 9th, 2); Strikeouts-Per-9 Innings - Washington State (13th, 11.9), Stanford (15th, 11.8) UCLA (19th, 11.5); Fielding percentage - Washington (4th, .988); Double plays - Arizona State (9th, 13). 
• NCAA Top-10 Individual Rankings: Batting Avg. - Micah McDowell, OSU (61st, .444); Doubles - Travis Bazzana, OSU (9th, 7), Oregon State (19th, 81); Doubles - Arizona (4th, 26); On-base percentage Braden Montgomery, STAN (11th, .600); Runs - Braden Montgomery, STAN (25th, 19); ERA - Ian May, Cal (T1st, 0.00); Home runs - Chase Davis, ARIZ (23rd, 6); Strikeouts - Caden Kaelber, WSU (9th, 27); Kiefer Lord, WASH, Trent Sellers, OSU, Alonzo Tredwell, UCLA (T15th, 26). 

WE'RE GOING STREAKING:

• Several teams enter Pac-12 play this weekend on multi-game winnings streaks with Washington leading the way at nine games; followed by Washington State at seven, Arizona at six, UCLA at five straight and Oregon at four.
• Multiple Pac-12 hitters also have streaks at the plate, led by Oregon State sophomore and Preseason All-American Travis Bazzana, who has an 11-game hitting streak heading into the series with Washington State. Fellow Beaver, freshman Gavin Turley has a 10-game streak, followed by another standout freshman, Utah's Cameron Gurney, and Washington State junior Jonah Advincula, who are both riding nine-game streaks.

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) 

CONFERENCE STANDINGS (Expanded Standings) 

PAC-12 BASEBALL WEEKLY AWARDS