Pac-12 Baseball Weekly Rundown - March 16, 2023

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LEADING OFF: The first weekend of Pac-12 play brought some unexpected results with Washington State taking two of three at Oregon State to win its first series in Corvallis since 2009 and Stanford dropping two of three in LA in USC's first series win over the Cardinal since 2015.

Arizona, meanwhile, stayed hot, recording the only league sweep of the weekend against California, while Washington went 2-1 against Utah in the Huskies' Pac-12 home opener to give first-year head coach Jason Kelly his first conference series win and improve to 12-3 overall, UW's best start through 15 games since 1994.

Week two of the league slate offers more intrigue, highlighted by Arizona's visit to No. 12 UCLA where the Wildcats will put their conference-high nine-game winning streak on the line against the Bruins, who won their series at Oregon after dropping the opener. Oregon State travels to No. 9 Stanford in what is suddenly a much bigger early season matchup as both squads look to avoid losing two straight Pac-12 series. 

Washington State will look for a sweep of the Oregon schools as the Cougars host the Ducks over the weekend in Pullman. Other league series include Arizona State at Utah in the Sun Devils' conference opener and USC at California. Washington, on its league bye, will host Rhode Island for a three-game set at Husky Ballpark.

The week will conclude with six non-conference tilts on Tuesday, March 21 and three on Wednesday, March 22.

RANKINGS ROUNDUP:

• USA Today: #9 Stanford, #12 UCLA, RV Oregon State, Arizona, Washington, Washington State
• D1Baseball: #9 Stanford, #13 UCLA
• Baseball America: #10 Stanford, #12 UCLA, #22 Oregon State
• Collegiate Baseball: #9 UCLA, #19 Stanford, #20 Washington State, #21 Arizona, #23 Oregon State.
• NCBWA:  #10 Stanford, #11 UCLA, #26 Oregon State, RV Arizona, Arizona State, Washington, Washington State
• Perfect Game:  #7 Stanford, #10 UCLA, RV: Arizona, Washington State

QUICK HITTERS:

• The Pac-12 has the fourth-best non-conference winning percentage among all conferences so far in 2023 with a 95-38-1 mark. The SEC is on top with a 187-40-1 record, followed by the ACC in second at 143-38 and the Sun Belt in third at 129-81.
• 10 of 11 league teams are at .500 or better through the first month of the season, while seven of 11 have winning percentages of .600 or better.
• UCLA currently has the third-best ERA in the country at 2.32 behind Tennessee (2.05) and LSU (2.27).
• Washington State is 13-3 to start the season and can thanks a bullpen that's been solid through the first month of the season. In the series-clinching 2-1 win over the Beavers, reliever Connor Wilford was clutch, retiring all nine batters he faced to earn the victory. In two total relief appearances on the weekend, Wilford didn't allow runs in 7.0 innings pitched and struck out nine. He was named one of Collegiate Baseball's National Players of the week.
• In its Pac-12 opening win over Utah, Washington allowed eight total runs during the series, with the Huskies 2.33 team ERA in league action leading the Pac-12. Freshman Sam DeCarlo lifted the Dawgs to a 4-3 series-clinching win on Sunday with a walk off home run, the first walk off homer of his baseball career.
• The Wildcats' sweep of California was powered by first baseman Kiko Romero, who hit .647 (11-for-17) with eight runs, five extra base-hits, 10 RBI and a 2.003 OPS last week, earning him his first career Pac-12 Player of the Week award.
• USC's first-year head coach Andy Stankiewicz picked up his first signature series win against then-No. 3 Stanford at home last weekend, their first over the Cardinal in eight years. The Trojans pitchers were dominant in the rubber match, holding the potent Stanford offense to one run on three hits.
• Arizona State was on its conference bye week and swept UC Davis at home over the weekend, then beat Utah Tech 9-1 in a midweek matchup for a four-game winning streak heading into their conference opener at 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 on Sunday, March 5. 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. 

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
  • Mar. 13 - RHP Connor Wilford, Washington State
• 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. - Arizona (29th, .314); Doubles - Arizona (4th, 47); Triples - USC (6th, 10); Home runs - Stanford (34th, 25); Sacrifice Flys - Washington State (10th, 13); ERA - UCLA (3rd, 2.32); Cal (15th, 2.76), Shutouts - UCLA (5th, 3); Strikeouts-Per-9 Innings - Washington State (14th, 11.6), Stanford (15th, 11.8) UCLA (19th, 11.5); Fielding percentage - Washington (12th, .985); Double plays - Arizona State (8th, 17); Arizona (12th, 16). 
• NCAA Top-10 Individual Rankings: Batting Avg. - Doubles - Luke Hill, ASU (17th, 8); On-base percentage - Braden Montgomery, STAN (29th, .562); Home runs - Chase Davis, ARIZ (23rd, 6); ERA - Ian May, Cal (T1st, 0.00); Saves - Chase Grillo, Washington State (3rd, 5); Strikeouts - Caden Kaelber, WSU; Trent Sellers, OSU (11th, 35).

WE'RE GOING STREAKING:

• Five teams entered the first weekend of conference play last weekend on multi-game winning streaks, but only Arizona survived thanks to their weekend sweep of Cal. The Wildcats take a nine-game streak into their big series at No. 12 UCLA this weekend.
• Multiple Pac-12 hitter have streaks on the line at the plate heading into the second weekend of conference play. Washington State's Sam Brown has a league-high 13-game streak; Arizona State's Ryan Campos is second with a 10-game streak, while shortstop Luke Hill is at seven; Arizona's Kiko Romero is on a nine-gamer and teammate Chase Davis is on a seven-game streak; Oregon's Jacob Walsh has an eight-game streak going; Washington's AJ Guerrero is at eight games and teammate Cam Clayton is at six.

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. 

FRESH (AND FAMILIAR) FACES:  The Pac-12 has a pair of new head coaches in 2023 - Washington’s Jason Kelly and USC’s Andy Stankiewicz - but neither are new to the West. 

Kelly in particular is no stranger to the Pac-12, returning to Washington to begin his head coaching career after previously spending seven years as the Huskies pitching coach from 2013-19 under Lindsay Meggs, who announced his retirement following the 2022 season. Kelly was a key part of UW’s first-ever trip to the Men’s College World Series in 2018 before stints as the pitching coach at Arizona State and last season as LSU. Kelly was also previously honored as the 2018 D1Baseball National Assistant Coach of the Year.

Stankiewicz, a former Major League Baseball player, came to USC last summer after a highly successful 11-year run at Grand Canyon in which he won five regular season Western Athletic Conference titles and was named the WAC Coach of the Year four times. Over the last two seasons, Stankiewicz guided Grand Canyon to its first ever NCAA Division I postseason appearance in 2021 then led the program to its first ever at-large bid this past season

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