Baseball Pac-12 Conference

Pac-12 Baseball Weekly Rundown - May 31, 2023

Schedule // Standings // Pac-12 Stats // Pac-12 Stats (PDF) // NCAA Statistics // 2023 NCAA Baseball Tournament Bracket

LEADING OFF: It's officially tourney time and five Pac-12 schools have earned a chance to play in regionals on the opening weekend of the NCAA postseason.

The 64-team field for the 2023 NCAA Division I Baseball Championship was announced Monday with regional play kicking off Friday, June 2 at 16 sites across the country. Pac-12 Regular-Season Champion and sixth-ranked Stanford was selected as the No. 8 overall national seed and will host on the first weekend for the sixth straight time, the longest active streak among all D1 programs. The Cardinal have reached the Men's College World Series each of the last two seasons.

2023 Pac-12 Tournament Champion Oregon captured the league's automatic bid and will be the No. 2 seed in the Nashville Regional. Three other Pac-12 squads earned at-large bids, with No. 17 Oregon State the 2-seed in the Baton Rouge Regional, Washington the 3-seed in the Stillwater Regional and Arizona a 3-seed in the Fayetteville Regional.

It's the second straight year the Pac-12 has sent five teams to the NCAA tournament, with the five in 2023 the fourth-most among all conferences. Each host site will feature four teams in a double elimination format, with each site winner advancing to the super regional round, set for June 9-11. Any of the top eight national seeds advancing after opening weekend will host again on the second weekend with additional super regional sites announced on Tuesday, June 6 at 7 a.m. PT. The Mens College World Series begins Friday, June 16, at Charles Schwab Field Omaha in Omaha, Nebraska.

Every game of regional play 112 games across the 16 regional sites will be simulcast on ESPN+ and showcased on Squeeze Play Presented by Capital One with extensive surrounding coverage of all the post-season action. Squeeze Play is home for around-the-clock multi-game coverage, weather updates, scores, highlights and more through the College Baseball Regionals. The platform will feature up to four live games simultaneously throughout the weekend.

The Pac-12 has won 29 NCAA Championships overall with Oregon State the league's most recent champion in 2018.

STANFORD REGIONAL: The Road to Omaha will stay on The Farm as Stanford (38-16) will host for the 21st time overall, earning top-8 national seed for a second consecutive year. Overall the Cardinal are making their 35th appearance in the NCAA Regional round and 38th postseason appearance overall, opening the weekend against 4-seed and Mountain West Champion San Jose State (22-28) Friday at 2 p.m. PT. Texas A&M (36-25) and Cal State Fullerton (31-22), the 2-seed and 3-seed, respectively, will meet Friday night at 7 p.m. with the winners of Friday's contests facing off in the winner's bracket Saturday.

  • The Cardinal are back-to-back Pac-12 Regular-Season Champions after running away with the title at 23-7 and finishing five games better than runner-up Oregon State. It is the largest margin of victory in the regular season standings since the Beavers won the league by six games in 2017. It's also the first time Stanford has captured consecutive titles since 2003-04 and first time a Pac-12 program has won it two years in a row since the Beavers in 2013-14.
  • Stanford ended the regular season winning 10 of its last 11, reached the Pac-12 Tournament Semifinals and was the tournament's No. 1 seed for a second straight year.
  • The Cardinal were stellar in close games during the regular season, going 17-4 in games decided by two runs or less.
  • Pac-12 Player of the Year, Cardinal junior Alberto Rios , ranks 19th in the nation in batting average (.403) heading into the regionals. Rios became the first Stanford player to earn the league's highest offensive honor since former standout and MLB star Jed Lowrie won the award in 2004. Cardinal ace and senior Quinn Mathews was the second straight Stanford hurler to pick up Pac-12 Pitcher of the Year honors and is third in the country with 124 strikeouts.

NASHVILLE REGIONAL: Oregon (37-20) put some late-season struggles behind them and surged all the way to a Pac-12 Tournament title last weekend in Scottsdale to secure its berth in the NCAA postseason. It took two come-from-behind efforts against California and Stanford in pool play to advance to the semifinals, where the Ducks took care of Washington and then won a thriller over Arizona in the title game. Hitting the road for regionals for a second straight year, Oregon will be the 2-seed and take on 3-seed Xavier (37-23) on Friday at 10 a.m. PT at Hawkins Field. Site host and No. 6 overall seed Vanderbilt (41-18) will face 4-seed Eastern Illinois (38-19) in the nightcap at 5 p.m. PT. All four teams in Nashville Regional won their conference tournaments, while Vanderbilt, Xavier and Oregon find themselves in Nashville on opening weekend just like they did in 2014.

  • The Ducks are playing in their third consecutive NCAA regionals and are making their 10th appearance overall. They enter the weekend on a six-game winning streak as they look to advance to Super Regionals for the first time since 2012. The Ducks previously had an 11-game winning streak from March 19 - April 7, the longest such streak in Oregon baseball history since the 1964 team won 12 straight.
  • The Ducks have hit a program-record 89 home runs in 2019, breaking the old mark of 75 that was set just last year.
  • Injuries on Oregon's pitching staff this year has meant 10 different freshman seeing time on the mound in 2023, including freshmen getting starts in 12 of the last 15 games and all six during the win streak. Grayson Grinsell and Turner Spoljaric were key in the tournament title run, with Spoljaric starting the championship game against Arizona and allowing just two earned runs over six innings to one of the top offenses in the country. Overall, Oregon's bullpen seems to be clicking on all cylinders as of late as it allowed just three runs in 24.1 innings of work (1.11 ERA) in the Pac-12 Tournament.
  • Freshman Drew Smith enters regionals with a school-record 19-game hitting streak, breaking the record previously held by Spencer Steer.

BATON ROUGE REGIONAL: Oregon State (39-18) is no stranger to the NCAA tournament having played in each of the last six tournaments and missing only one since 2009 - a stretch that includes a Men's College World Series title in 2018. The Beavers will be on the road on opening weekend for just the second time in the last six years, where they will be the 2-seed in the Baton Rouge Regional taking on 3-seed Sam Houston State (38-23) on Friday at 5 p.m. PT. No. 5 overall seed and host LSU (43-15) and Tulane (19-40) round out the four-team bracket in Louisiana.

  • OSU is making its 22nd overall postseason appearance and will be eyeing its first trip to Omaha since its 2018 national title run. The six consecutive regional appearances is the second-most in program history behind the seven straight from 2009-15.
  • Oregon State finished as the regular-season runner-ups for a second consecutive year, closing out the slate winning eight of its last nine series and 27 of its last 37 games.
  • Sophomore standout second baseman Travis Bazzana has been a leading force for the offense in 2023, with his 75 runs scored and his 36 stolen bases ranking seventh and 10th in the country, respectively. The 36 swipes are the most by a Pac-12 player since Arizona State's Drew Maggi had 36 in 2010.

STILLWATER REGIONAL: Washington (34-18), under first-year head coach Jason Kelly , makes its return to the NCAA postseason for the first time since the program's first-ever trip the Men's College World Series in 2018. After the Huskies were picked to finish seventh in the preseason coaches poll, UW finished third in league standings, its highest finish since 2016, and reached the Pac-12 Tournament Semifinals after going 0-2 in the inaugural event last spring. Washington will be the 3-seed in the Stillwater Regional, meeting 2-seed Dallas Baptist Friday at 10 a.m. PT at O'Brate Stadium. Oklahoma State (41-18), the No. 11 national seed, hosts Summit League Champions Oral Roberts (46-11) in Friday's second game of the day at 4 p.m. PT.

  • The Huskies are making their 12th overall NCAA appearance with every player on the roster playing in their first NCAA postseason.
  • Kelly has done a masterful job in his debut season in Seattle with the Huskies' 34 wins the second-most by a first-year head coach in program history.
  • UW won 12 of its final 15 regular season games entering the Pac-12 tournament, which included a sweep over USC and its first sweep over Oregon since 2009.
  • Washington will rely heavily on the arm of Stu Flesand III , the All-Pac-12 ace who pitched particularly well over the final month of the season, going 3-1 with a 2.55 ERA and 18 strikeouts in 24.2 innings of work in May.
  • Husky slugger Will Simpson packs a serious punch with his 18 dingers ranking tied for third in the Pac-12 in 2023.

FAYETTEVILLE REGIONAL: Arizona (33-24) picked the right time to get a hot and played their way into the 2023 bracket over the final three weeks. The Wildcats, who at one point were on the verge of missing the Pac-12 Tournament entirely, won three of their last four regular season games to earn the No. 8 seed in Scottsdale then rode that momentum all the way to the Pac-12 tournament title game, coming up just short in a 5-4 loss to Oregon. The run impressed the committee enough to include Arizona as one of the last four teams to receive an at-large berth and the Wildcats will hope to be last year's Ole Miss and continue that ride all the way to the MCWS title. It all starts Friday at 6 p.m. against TCU (37-22), another squad surging as of late as the Horned Frogs won the Big 12 Tournament title last weekend, with the game airing live on ESPNU. Arkansas, the No. 3 overall national seed, takes on Santa Clara (35-18) in the other opening-round game in Fayetteville.

  • Arizona is making its 42nd NCAA appearance in program history, the sixth-most appearances in the nation, while it will be the Wildcats' third straight regional, marking the first time they have appeared in three consecutive NCAA postseasons since 2010-12.
  • The Wildcats have won seven of their last 10 games and enter the weekend with a roster that features seven position players and eight pitchers who have combined to make 79 appearances with 174 at-bats and 38.2 innings in the NCAA Tournament.
  • Arizona's offense is one of the best in the country in 2023, ranking in the top-15 in the country in batting average (.320, 9th), doubles (149, 2nd), hits (670, 5th), runs (492, 15th) and scoring (8.6, 12th) entering the tournament.
  • All-Pac-12 outfielder and the Pac-12 Tournament's Most Outstanding Player Chase Davis enters the Fayetteville Regional with 21 home runs on the year and 39 for his career. He is currently third on the Arizona career HR leaderboard and four shy of second place, while his 21 homers this year are the third-most in a single season in program history.

NCAA REGIONALS SCHEDULE ( Full Schedule )

Friday, June 2
Washington vs. Dallas Baptist (Stillwater Regional) ESPN+ 10:00 a.m. PT
Xavier vs. Oregon (Nashville Regional) ESPN+ 10:00 a.m. PT
San Jose State at No. 6 Stanford (Stanford Regional) ESPN+ 2:00 p.m. PT
Sam Houston State vs. No. 17 Oregon State (Baton Rouge Regional) ESPN+ 5:00 p.m. PT
Arizona vs. TCU (Fayetteville Regional) ESPNU 6:00 p.m. PT
Saturday, June 3
Washington vs. Oklahoma State/Oral Roberts (Stillwater Regional) ESPN+ TBD
Oregon vs. Vanderbilt/Eastern Illinois (Nashville Regional) ESPN+ TBD
No. 6 Stanford vs. Texas A&M/Cal State Fullerton (Stanford Regional) ESPN+ TBD
No. 17 Oregon State vs. LSU/Tulane (Baton Rouge Regional) ESPN+ TBD
Arizona vs. Arkansas/Santa Clara (Fayetteville Regional) ESPN+ TBD

RANKINGS ROUNDUP:

2023 PAC-12 TOURNAMENT: After the inaugural tournament in 2022 went chalk with 1-seed Stanford and 2-seed Oregon State in the title game, the 2023 Pac-12 Baseball Tournament was anything but with 8-seed Arizona and 6-seed Oregon the last two standing. In a thrilling battle, the Ducks edged out the Wildcats 5-4 in front of a crowd of over 4,000 at Scottsdale Stadium to earn the Pac-12 Tournament title and the league's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.

PAC-12 POSTSEASON AWARDS: Stanford nearly swept the Pac-12 baseball postseason awards for a second straight year. Cardinal outfielder Alberto Rios was tabbed the Pac-12 Player of the Year, Stanford ace Quinn Mathews was named the Pitcher of the Year, catcher Malcolm Moore was honored as the league's Freshman of the Year and Stanford skipper David Esquer collected his second consecutive Coach of the Year honors. Stanford third baseman Tommy Troy also earned the 2023 Batting title by way of his regular-season .403 average. Arizona's Nik McClaughry was the only non-Cardinal to win an individual honor as he was named the Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year. McCalughry and eight others were named to the All-Defensive Team, while 32 total earned All-Pac-12 honors.

NON-CONFERENCE WRAP:

  • The Pac-12, SEC and ACC were the only conferences with every program having a winning record in non-conference play during the regular season. Overall, the Pac-12 had the third-best non-conference winning percentage among all conferences in the 2023 regular season with a 170-70-1 mark. The SEC is on top with a 276-63-1 record, followed by the ACC in second at 262-77.
  • 9 of 11 league teams finished the regular season at .500 or better with one week remaining in the regular season, while six teams (Stanford, ASU, Oregon, Oregon State, Washington and USC) were .500 or better in league play.
  • During the regular season, the Pac-12 went 103-42 (.710) against teams from the other four D1 conferences in the West Region (Big West, Mountain West, WAC, WCC).

QUICK HITTERS:

  • Pac-12 Pitcher of the Year Quinn Matthews notched at least 10 strikeouts in six consecutive outings from March 31 - May 5.
  • Stanford's Alberto Rios was the only Pac-12 hitter to earn Pac-12 Player of the Week honors twice in 2023. He did it in consecutive weeks (May 8 & May 15), becoming the first Cardinal to accomplish the feat since 2017.
  • On April 17, the Pac-12 swept D1 Baseball's and the NCBWA's National Player and Pitcher of the Week awards. California's Kade Kretzschmar , the 2022 Ivy League Player of the Year and graduate transfer from Dartmou t h, had a monster week for the Bears from April 10-16, hitting 15-for-21 (.714) with a pair of home runs, three doubles, 10 RBI, six runs scored, two walks and a stolen base to help Cal go 4-1 and take two of three at Utah. Oregon's Jace Stoffal dominated Stanford, allowing three hits and just four baserunners in a complete-game shutout in a 4-0 series-opening win.
  • Washington 's Kiefer Lord earned his second Pac-12 Pitcher of the Week honor on April 24, becoming the first UW pitcher to earn it more than once during the same season since Husky legend Tim Lincecum won it five times in 2006.
  • Oregon's Stoffal collected three Pitcher of the Week honors in 2023, becoming the third Oregon pitcher to earn the honor three times in the same season (2021 - Robert Ahlstrom; 2017 - David Peterson).
  • Overall, the Ducks had seven weekly award winners, the most of any team in the league in 2023.
  • Stanford 's 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.

NATIONAL AWARDS:

  • D1Baseball National Players of the Week
    • April. 17 -
      • Pitcher of the Week - RHP Jace Stoffal, Oregon
      • Player of the Week - OF Kade Kretzschmar, California
    • May. 15 -
      • Player of the Week - 1B Carter Graham, Stanford
  • NCBWA Dick Howser Trophy National Players of the Week
    • April. 18 -
      • Co-Pitcher of the Week - RHP Jace Stoffal, Oregon
      • Player of the Week - OF Kade Kretzschmar, California
  • NCBWA Dick Howser Trophy National Players of the Month
    • April - Hitter of the Month - OF Kade Kretzschmar, California
  • 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
    • Mar. 20 - RHP Dakota Hawkins, Washington State; 2B Luke Keaschall, Arizona State
    • Mar. 27 - OF Tanner Smith, Oregon
    • April 17 - INF/C Sabin Ceballos, Oregon
    • April 24 - RHP Kiefer Lord, Washington
    • May 1 - SS Drew Cowley, Oregon
    • May 8 - RHP Dakota Hawkins, Washington State
    • May 15 - OF Alberto Rios, Stanford; INF Travis Bazzana, Oregon State
  • Perfect Game National Players of the Week
    • Mar. 7 - RHP Kiefer Lord, Washington - National Pitcher of the Week
    • May 8 - INF Tommy Troy, Stanford - National Player of the Week
  • College Baseball Hall of Fame - Shortstop of the Week
    • April 4 - SS Drew Cowley, Oregon
  • USA Golden Spikes Performance of the Week
    • May 3 - OF Emilio Corona, Arizona

STAT LINES:

  • NCAA Top Team Rankings: Batting Avg. - Arizona (9th, .320); Hits - Arizona (5th, 670); Doubles - Arizona (3rd, 130); Triples - Arizona (2nd, 29); Home runs - Stanford (17th, 102); Scoring - Arizona (12th, 8.6); Slugging percentage - Arizona (7th, .552); Sacrifice Flys - Arizona (6th, 38); ERA - USC (29th, 4.39); Shutouts - Oregon, UCLA, USC, Washington (T31st, 4); Strikeout-to-Walk Ratio - UCLA (7th, 2.93); Strikeouts-Per-9 Innings - Stanford (13th, 10.5); Walks Allowed Per Nine Innings - UCLA (12th, 3.30); Fielding percentage - Oregon State (9th, .981); Double plays - Utah (32nd, 47).
  • NCAA Top Individual Rankings: Batting Avg. - Alberto Rios, Stanford (19th, .403); Doubles - Luke Keaschall, ASU (4th, 25); Triples - Austin Overn, USC (1st, 14); Hits - Mac Bingham, Arizona (17th, 90); Runs - Travis Bazzana, Oregon State; (7th, 75); RBI - Kiko Romero, Arizona (4th, 86); Home Runs - Chase Davis, Arizona (25th, 21); Sacrifice Flys - Sam Brown, WSU; Kiko Romero (6th, 8); Sacrifice Bunts - Carson Wells, USC; Bruer Webster, Utah (2nd, 13); On-base percentage - Travis Bazzana (16th, .512); Slugging percentage - Chase Davis (19th, .757); Toughest to Strikeout - Jayden Kiernan, Utah (27th, 11.5); Stolen Bases - Travis Bazzana, Oregon State (10th, 36); ERA - Jace Stoffal, Oregon (36th, 2.83); Saves - Ryan Brown, Oregon State (19th, 10); Strikeouts - Quinn Matthews, Stanford (3rd, 124).

GOLDEN SPIKES SEMIFINALISTS:

  • Chase Davis, OF, Jr., Arizona
  • Quinn Mathews, LHP, Sr., Stanford
  • Alberto Rios, OF, Jr., Stanford

2023 DICK HOWSER TROPHY SEMIFINALISTS:

  • Ryan Campos, C, So., Arizona State
  • Chase Davis, OF, Jr., Arizona
  • Luke Keaschall, 2B, Sr., Arizona State
  • Braden Montgomery, OF/UTL, So., Stanford
  • Alberto Rios, OF, Jr., Stanford
  • Kiko Romero, 1B, Jr., Arizona

BROOKS WALLACE AWARD SEMIFINALISTS :

  • Drew Cowley, Sr., Oregon
  • Nik McClaughry, Sr., Arizona

2023 NCBWA STOPPER OF THE YEAR MIDSEASON WATCH LIST:

  • Micah Ashman, So., Utah
  • Garrett Clarke, RS-Sr., USC
  • Chase Grillo, RS-Jr., Washington State
  • Trevor Long, Jr., Arizona
  • Josh Mollerus, Sr., Oregon
  • Kyle Wisch, RS-Jr., USC

GOLDEN SPIKES MIDSEASON WATCH LIST:

  • Ryan Campos, C, So., Arizona State
  • Chase Davis, OF, Jr., Arizona
  • Braden Montgomery, OF/UTL, So., Stanford
  • Tommy Troy, INF, Jr., Stanford

BROOKS WALLACE AWARD MIDSEASON WATCH LIST:

  • Cam Clayton, So., Washington
  • Owen Cobb, Sr., Stanford
  • Drew Cowley, Sr., Oregon
  • Luke Hill, So., Arizona State
  • Mikey Kane, So., Oregon State
  • Nik McClaughry, Sr., Arizona

D1 BASEBALL POSITION RANKINGS (As of May 10):

  • Top 50 Catchers - No. 9 Ryan Campos (Arizona State); No. 28 Malcolm Moore (Stanford); No. 38 Caleb Lomavita (California); No. 39 Johnny Tincher (Washington).
  • Top 50 First Basemen - No. 13 Kiko Romero (Arizona); No. 16 Garret Forester (Oregon State): No. 28 Sam Brown (Washington State); No. 39 Jacob Tobias (Arizona State).
  • Top 50 Second Basemen - No. 3 Luke Keaschall (Arizona State); No. 4 Travis Bazzana (Oregon State); No. 44 Elijah Hainline (Washington State).
  • Top 50 Shortstops - No. 10 Drew Cowley (Oregon); No. 21 Ethan Gourson (UCLA); No. 22 Cam Clayton (Washington); No. 46 Nik McClaughry (Arizona).
  • Top 50 Third Basemen - No. 6 Tommy Troy (Stanford); No. 20 Sabin Ceballos; No. 48 Johnny Olmstead (USC).
  • Top 100 Starting Pitchers - No. 4 Quinn Matthews (Stanford); No. 31 Jace Stoffal (Oregon); No. 32 Kiefer Lord (Washington); No. 33 Kelly Austin (UCLA); No. 78 Blake Sodersten (USC);
  • Top 100 Outfielders - No. 7 Chase Davis (Arizona); No. 16 Alberto Rios (Stanford); No. 33 Braden Montgomery (Stanford); No. 42 TJ Clarkson (Utah); No. 59 Rodney Green Jr. (California); No. 83 Johan Advincula (Washington State); No. 100 Austin Overn (USC).

PERFECT GAME MIDSEASON ALL-AMERICANS :

  • Braden Montgomery, Stanford - Second Team Hitter
  • Tommy Troy, Stanford - Third Team Hitter
  • Kiefer Lord, Washington - Third Team Pitcher
  • Malcolm Moore, Stanford - Freshman First Team Hitter
  • Austin Overn, USC - Freshman First Team Hitter
  • Matt Scott, Stanford - Freshman First Team Pitcher
  • Matthew Grabmann, Oregon - Freshman Second Team Pitcher

2023 MLB OPENING DAY: Former Oregon State standout and the 2019 No.1 overall pick Adley Rutschman may have made his MLB debut for the Baltimore Orioles in 2022, but Thursday, March 30 marked his first Opening Day in the big leagues. Rutschman had a monster day, hitting a home run in his first at-bat and going 5-for-5 overall with 4 RBI in a 10-9 Baltimore win over Boston, joining Hall-of-Famers Billy Herman and Babe Ruth as the third player ever to go 5-5 and get multiple RBI on Opening Day. UCLA great Gerrit Cole made some history himself, recording the most strikeouts by a Yankee pitcher on Opening Day with 11 in New York's 5-0 shutout of the Giants. Rutschman and Cole highlight a total of 54 former Pac-12 stars on 2023 Opening Day rosters. It's the second-most players from a conference behind only the SEC (SEC 89, Pac-12 54, ACC 42, WCC 21, American 20).

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 leagues 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 - Washingtons Jason Kelly and USCs 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 UWs first-ever trip to the Mens College World Series in 2018 before stints as the pitching coach at Arizona State and last season at 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

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 Conferences automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. The Pac-12s current agreement with the City of Scottsdale runs through 2024.

CONFERENCE STANDINGS ( Expanded Standings )

Teams Pac-12 Record Overall Record
No. 5 Stanford (Regular-Season Champions) 23-7 38-16
No. 14 Oregon State 18-12 39-18
Washington 17-12 34-18
USC 17-13 34-23-1
Arizona State 16-13 32-23
(RV) Oregon (Tournament Champions) 16-14 37-20
UCLA 12-16-1 28-24-1
Arizona 12-18 33-24
California 12-18 24-28
Washington State 10-19 29-23
Utah 9-20-1 22-32-1

2023 PAC-12 WEEKLY AWARDS

Player Pitcher
Feb. 20 Jonah Advincula, WSU TJ Nichols, ARIZ
Feb. 27 Gavin Turley, OSU Trent Sellers, OSU
March 6 TJ Clarkson, UTAH Kiefer Lord, WASH
March 13 Kiko Romero, ARIZ Connor Wilford, WSU
March 20 Luke Keaschall, ASU Matt Dallas, ORE
March 27 Nu'U Contrades, ASU Matt Scott, STAN
April 3 Jacob Walsh, ORE Tyler Stromsborg, USC
April 10 Ryan Campos, ASU Jace Stoffal, ORE
April 17 Kade Kretzschmar, CAL Jace Stoffal, ORE
April 24 Chase Davis, ARIZ Kiefer Lord, WASH
May 1 Drew Cowley, ORE Jace Stoffal, ORE
May 8 Alberto Rios, STAN Blake Sodersten, USC
May 15 Alberto Rios, STAN Caden Aoki, USC
May 22 Caleb Lomavita, CAL Turner Spoljaric, ORE