Baseball Pac-12 Conference

Future is bright for Pac-12 baseball after 2023 season concludes

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SAN FRANCISCO - The 2023 season is officially in the books with the conclusion of the Men's College World Series Monday night in Omaha. It was another exciting year for Pac-12 baseball, highlighted by Stanford's third straight trip to the MCWS and Oregon's run to the Pac-12 Tournament title and its first Super Regional appearance since 2012.

Stanford became the first team to win back-to-back Pac-12 Regular-Season titles since Oregon state won two straight from 2013-14. After going 5-0 in elimination games during the regional and super regional rounds for a second straight year, the Cardinal returned to Omaha for a third consecutive season, the only team in the nation to do so. It was the third time in program history Stanford has reached the MCWS three or more consecutive years after the program did so in 1987, 1988 and 1990 and then again from 2000 to 2003.

After struggling down the final stretch of the regular season due to a rash of injuries, Oregon bounced back in a big way, making a run through the Pac-12 tournament to win the second annual event and earn an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. The Ducks made the most of that opportunity, going 3-0 in the Nashville Regional to advance to Supers for the first time in 11 years before coming up a few outs short of reaching the MCWS for just the second time in Oregon history.

In total, five teams made the NCAA postseason, including a Washington squad who made its first appearance under first-year head coach Jason Kelly since its own MCWS run in 2018 and an Arizona team that surged to the Pac-12 Tournament Championship game to earn an at-large berth. The Huskies third-place regular season finish was its highest since 2016 while Arizona made a second NCAA regional appearance in the last three seasons.

Oregon State remained the model of consistency, capturing a sixth straight NCAA postseason bid before falling to eventual 2023 National Champion LSU in the Baton Rouge Regional Final. The league had two additional teams that were right on the outside looking in after Arizona State and USC both had resurgent seasons under Willie Bloomquist and Andy Stankiewicz, respectively.

The debut season for Stankiewicz in Los Angeles was particularly impressive as the Trojans' 34 wins and 17 Pac-12 wins were the most since 2015. That was fueled by four straight series wins to start league play, including one over Stanford, won the series at crosstown rival UCLA for the first time since 2005 and won the series over Oregon.

Bloomquist had the Sun Devils at the top of the Pac-12 standings with a month left on the schedule and just missed out on a tournament berth as one of the first four teams out.

When awards season rolled in, 11 from Pac-12 baseball earned ABCA/Rawlings NCAA Division I All-West Regional Team selections while 13 total were tabbed All-Americans across three organizations - the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA), the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) and Perfect Game .

After the conclusion of the MCWS, D1Baseball.com and Baseball America also released their respective All-America teams, with Pac-12 Player of the Year Alberto Rios (D1Baseball & Baseball America First Team) and Pac-12 Pitcher of the Year Quinn Matthews (D1Baseball First Team, Baseball America Second Team) earning the top honors.

While graduation and the draft creates natural attrition, overall, the future is bright for Pac-12 baseball. In 2023, the league saw nine of 11 teams finish with winning records while the Pac-12 had the third-best RPI in the country all season long behind only the SEC and the ACC. The coaching pedigree from top to bottom in the conference has also proven to be strong.

That group will welcome a new face next year in Nathan Choate as Choate was announced as the new head coach at Washington State. He replaces Brian Green, who left for the same role at Wichita State, and comes to Pullman after leading Loyola Marymount to a West Coast Conference title this past season.

While the countdown is already underway to the 2024 season, there is still plenty of excitement surrounding Pac-12 baseball with multiple student-athletes competing for a spot on the USA Baseball Collegiate National Team and several Pac-12 standouts expected to hear their name called in the upcoming MLB Draft, which is set for July 9-11 in Seattle.

2023 ABCA/RAWLINGS NCAA DIV. I ALL-AMERICA TEAMS: Stanford accounted for four of six the ABCA/Rawlings All-America selections with the Pac-12 Player and Pitcher of the Year, Alberto Rios and Quinn Mathews , selected to the first team and Cardinal third baseman Tommy Troy and outfielder/pitcher Braden Montgomery earning second team status. Joining Troy and Montgomery on second team were Arizona standouts Chase Davis and Kiko Romero. The teams are voted on by members of the and the process is led by the ABCA NCAA Div. 1 All-America committee.

D1BASEBALL ALL-AMERICA TEAMS : Five total from the Pac-12 were recognized by the D1Baseball staff. Stanford's Alberto Rios & Quinn Mathews were both tabbed first team selections, while Arizona's Chase Davis was a second team selection and Stanford's Tommy Troy and Oregon State's Travis Bazzana picked up third team honors.

D1 BASEBALL FRESHMAN ALL-AMERICANS: Stanford's Malcolm Moore was named a Second Team All-American by D1Baseball.

BASEBALL AMERICA ALL-AMERICA TEAMS : Four were tabbed All-Americans from the Pac-12 with Stanford's Alberto Rios and Quinn Mathews earning first and second team nods, respectively, while fellow Cardinal Tommy Troy and Oregon State's Travis Bazzana were each third team selections.

NCBWA ALL-AMERICA TEAMS : The National College Baseball Writer's Association (NCBWA) announced its 2023 All-America Teams this week and five from Pac-12 baseball were honored. Stanford's Alberto Rios and Quinn Mathews , the Pac-12 Player and Pitcher of the Year, were first-team honorees, while Arizona's Chase Davis earned second-team honors. Oregon State's Travis Bazzana and UCLA's Kelly Austin were both tabbed third-team selections.

PERFECT GAME ALL-AMERICA HONORS: Stanford's Tommy Troy and Quinn Mathews were honored as PG First Team selections with Alberto Rios and Arizona's Chase Davis picking up second team nods. Arizona State's Luke Keaschall collected a third team honor. Perfect Game also released its Freshman All-America Teams and four from the Pac-12 were honored. Stanford's Malcolm Moore earned a first team selection, while USC's Austin Overn and Oregon State's Gavin Turley garnered second team honors and Stanford's Matt Scott rounded it out with a third team selection.

ABCA/RAWLINGS DIV. I ALL-REGION TEAMS: 21 from Pac-12 baseball were named to the 2023 ABCA/Rawlings NCAA Div. 1 All-West Region teams announced this week.The teams in the eight regions are voted on by members of the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) and the process is led by the ABCA NCAA Div. 1 All-America committee. Of the 21 Pac-12 selections, 11 were first-team honorees. Stanford led the way with seven award winners, including a league-high five on the West Region First Team. Oregon and Arizona each had four selections apiece while Arizona State and USC had two each and Oregon State and Washington State each had one.

  • First Team - Ryan Campos, So., C, Arizona State; Kiko Romero, Jr., 1B, Arizona; Luke Keaschall, Jr., 2B, Arizona State; Travis Bazzana, So., 2B, Oregon State; Tommy Troy, Jr., 3B, Stanford; Chase Davis, Jr., OF, Arizona; Alberto Rios, Jr., OF, Stanford; Braden Montgomery, So., OF, Stanford; Jacob McKeon, Sr., DH, Washington State; Quinn Mathews, Sr., SP, Stanford; Drew Dowd, Jr., RP, Stanford.
  • Second Team - Malcolm Moore, Fr., C, Stanford; Nik McClaughry, Sr., SS, Arizona; Drew Cowley, Sr., SS, Oregon; Mac Bingham, Jr., OF, Arizona; Drew Smith, Fr., DH, Oregon; Caden Aoki, So., SP, USC; Josh Mollerus, Sr., RP, Oregon; Ryan Bruno, Jr., RP, Stanford; Kyle Wisch, Jr., RP, USC.

Stanford head man David Esquer also earned ABCA/Rawlings West Regional Coach of the Year honors for the second consecutive season.

CSC ACADEMIC ALL-AMERICA TEAMS: College Sports Communicators (CSC) released its annual Baseball Academic All-America honors on Wednesday, June 7 and seven from Pac-12 programs were recognized, the most of any conference in the country. Washington State's Jacob McKeon (3.95 GPA, Sr., Kinesiology), the 2023 Pac-12 Baseball Scholar-Athlete of the Year, became a two-time CSC All-American, earning first team honors this spring after a second team selection in 2022. Three picked up 2023 second team accolades - Oregon State's Ben Ferrer (4.00/3.66 GPA, Gr., Economics & Finance (UG)/Corporate Finance & Business Analytics) and Stanford's Owen Cobb (3.87 GPA, Sr., Management Science & Engineering) and Carter Graham (3.58 GPA, Jr., Science, Technology & Society) - and three more were third team selections - Arizona State's Ryan Campos (3.58 GPA, So., Liberal Studies), Oregon State's Travis Bazzana (3.55 GPA, So., Psychology) and Stanford's Eddie Park (3.68 GPA, Jr., Management Science & Engineering).

USA BASEBALL COLLEGIATE NATIONAL TEAM TRAINING CAMP : Six Pac-12 baseball standouts are included on the roster for the 2023 Collegiate National Team Training Camp that is competing in a four-game Stars vs. Stripes intrasquad series in North Carolina. This years roster features 58 of the nations top non-draft eligible players. The Collegiate National Team Training Camp began on June 23, with the first game of the Stars vs. Stripes series scheduled for June 25 at the USA Baseball National Training Complex in Cary, North Carolina. A final 26-man roster will then be selected to compete in a pair of five-game series against Chinese Taipei and Japan, with games taking place across the Carolinas from June 30-July 12.

  • Duce Gourson; INF; San Diego, Calif.; UCLA
  • Rodney Green, Jr.; OF; Richmond, Calif.; Cal
  • Braden Montgomery; OF/RHP; Madison, Miss.; Stanford
  • Malcolm Moore; C; Sacramento, Calif.; Stanford
  • Austin Overn; OF; Tustin, Calif.; USC
  • Matt Scott; RHP; Redding, Conn.; Stanford

RANKINGS ROUNDUP (2023 Final):

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. The 2024 tournament will return to Scottsdale Stadium as the Pac-12s current agreement with the City of Scottsdale runs through 2024.

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.

PAC-12 BASEBALL SCHOLAR-ATHLETE OF THE YEAR: Washington State's Jacob McKeon was named the 2023 Pac-12 Baseball Scholar-Athlete of the Year . The senior ended his career as a two-time All-Pac-12 honoree and was twice named a CSC Academic All-American. McKeon graduated with his degree in Kinesiology this spring, finishing with a 3.95 grade-point-average. McKeon, recently named to the ABCA/Rawlings All-West Region Team, finished the 2023 season with a .341 batting average and career highs in runs (52), hits (70), doubles (18), home runs (8) and RBI (47).

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).

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
  • 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

NCBWA FRESHMAN ALL-AMERICA HONORS:

  • Second Team - Malcolm Moore, C, Stanford

NCBWA DISTRICT PLAYERS OF THE YEAR:

  • District 9 (California, Oregon, Washington, Hawaii, Arizona, Alaska)
    Alberto Rios, Stanford, Jr., OF, Bellflower, Calif.
    .392 BA, 58GP, 57GS, 222AB, 66R, 87H, 21 2B, 0 3B, 18 HR, 71 RBI, 36BB, 33K, 5-6 SB/SBA

COLLEGIATE BASEBALL ALL-AMERICA HONORS:

  • First Team - Alberto Rios, OF, Jr., Stanford;
  • Second Team - Quinn Mathews, LHP, Sr., Stanford; Kiko Romero, 1B, Jr., Arizona; Travis Bazzana, 2B, So., Oregon State; Luke Keaschall, OF, Sr., Arizona State.
  • Third Team - Drew Cowley, SS, Sr., Oregon

COLLEGIATE BASEBALL FRESHMAN ALL-AMERICA HONORS:

  • Malcolm Moore, C, Stanford
  • Austin Overn, OF, USC
  • Mason White, 2B, Arizona

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.

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

FINAL CONFERENCE STANDINGS ( Expanded Standings )

Teams Pac-12 Record Overall Record
Stanford (Regular-Season Champions) 23-7 44-20
Oregon State 18-12 41-20
Washington 17-12 35-20
USC 17-13 34-23-1
Arizona State 16-13 32-23
Oregon (Tournament Champions) 16-14 41-22
UCLA 12-16-1 28-24-1
Arizona 12-18 33-26
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