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LEADING OFF: As we head into the final weekend of the regular season, 7 teams have already qualified for the Pac-12 Tournament: ARIZONA, OREGON STATE, OREGON, UTAH, ARIZONA STATE, USC, and CALIFORNIA. 3 teams are still competing for the final 2 spots with STANFORD holding any eventual tiebreakers over WASHINGTON and WASHINGTON STATE.
The regular season title and #1 seed in the tournament will be decided this weekend in Tucson as Oregon State visits Arizona. Arizona needs just 1 win to clinch the title, while Oregon State would need to sweep the 3-game series. Travis Bazzana has an 8-game hitting streak going 14-29 (.483) with 6 HR and 17 runs scored and now owns the OSU career record in hits, runs, home runs, walks, stolen bases and total bases. In 9 conference starts, Clark Candiotti is 6-2 for the Wildcats with a 2.33 ERA and even tougher at home against conference opponents where he’s allowed just 3 earned runs in 29.0 innings (0.93 ERA).
Oregon is still in the mix for the #2 seed, hosting Washington State this weekend, as they own tiebreakers over both Arizona and Utah. Shortstop Maddox Molony has homered in 3 of the last 4 games to set the Ducks’ freshman HR record. The Cougars, who would not have the tiebreaker over Stanford or Washington, need at least 2 wins and some help this weekend to qualify for the Pac-12 Tournament. Thursday’s starter, Grant Taylor, needs 8 strikeouts to become the 7th pitcher in WSU history to reach 100 strikeouts in a season and the first since 2009.
Utah and USC are battling it for seeding this weekend in Southern California, with both teams potentially finishing anywhere from 2nd to 7th. The Utes, who are 17-10 away from home this season, will hand the ball to Bryson Van Sickle, who is the first Utah pitcher with multiple complete games in a season since 2008. Freshman Kevin Takeuchi has 11 RBI for the Trojans over the last 9 games.
Stanford needs just one win or a WSU loss this weekend to clinch their spot as the Cardinal visit UCLA. Jimmy Nati was 4-5 for Stanford on Sunday against ASU with 2 HR and 5 RBI, his second multi-homer game of the season. UCLA will wrap up their season this weekend but have gotten positive contributions from their freshmen, including Roch Cholowsky who has 7 of his 8 HR this season coming in the last 12 games.
WASHINGTON, who owns the tiebreaker over Washington State, has a magic number of 2 (UW wins or WSU losses) to book their flights to the Desert. The Huskies, who visit Cal this weekend, are riding the hot bat of AJ Guerrrero who has hit safely in 11 of the last 12 games with 7 multi-hit games, 5 HR and 20 RBI in that span. The Bears will be playing for seeding this weekend and have gotten their best pitching of the season in the month of May with a 3.38 ERA. Caleb Lomavita (14) and Rodney Green Jr. (13) make Cal 1 of only 2 Pac-12 teams with multiple players with 13+ HR this season.
ARIZONA STATE is the lone team with their regular season conference slate complete and will be scoreboard watching this weekend to see what seed they will have in Scottsdale. Nick McLain, the reigning 2-time Pac-12 Player of the Week, is batting .568 (21-37) with 7 HR, 19 RBI, and 16 runs scored in 8 games this month.
Rankings
FIELD OF 64 PROJECTIONS:
Baseball America (May 15): Oregon State (#1 seed, 13 overall), Arizona (#2 seed), Oregon (#3 seed), California (Next Four Out)
D1Baseball (May 15): Oregon State (#1 seed, 13 overall), Arizona (#2 seed), Oregon (#2 seed), Utah (#3 seed, Last Four In)
RPI: Through games of Tuesday, May 14, the Pac-12 has 7 teams in the Top 100 with 3 of them in the Top 50. Oregon State is the highest rated team at #14 thanks to their 17-9 mark against the Top 100. Arizona, who owns the toughest non-conference strength of schedule in the country, sits at #27 and have a Pac-12 high 18 wins against the Top 100 including a 14-4 record in Quad 2 games.
NATIONAL AWARDS
NBCWA Dick Howser Trophy National Player of the Month
D1Baseball National Pitcher of the Week
D1Baseball National Player of the Week
NBCWA Dick Howser Trophy National Pitcher of the Week
NBCWA Dick Howser Trophy National Hitter of the Week
Perfect Game National Player of the Week
Perfect Game National Pitcher of the Week
MIDSEASON WATCH LIST
NCBWA Stopper of the Year Award
Buster Posey National Collegiate Catcher of the Year Award
Golden Spikes Award
BEAVERS EARLY FAVORITES: Oregon State, who has finished 2nd in the regular season standings each of the last 2 seasons, was picked by the Pac-12 coaches as the favorite to win the conference. The Beavers received 8 of the 11 first place votes and are looking for its first Pac-12 title since 2017. Stanford, who’s won the last 2 regular season titles, was 2nd and had 2 first place votes while UCLA was picked 3rd and received the other first place vote.
PRESEASON ALL-CONFERENCE TEAM: For the 2nd straight year, the conference released a Preseason All-Conference team as voted on by the league’s 11 coaches. Oregon State, Arizona State and California all led the league with 5 selections each. The 33-person team featured 18 players that earned Pac-12 honors last spring including 8 all-conference selections highlighted by preseason All-Americans Travis Bazzana (Oregon State), Malcolm Moore (Stanford), Austin Overn (USC), Duce Gourson (UCLA) and Micah Ashman (Utah).
PRESEASON ALL-AMERICANS
D1 Baseball
Baseball America
NCBWA
Perfect Game
PRESEASON AWARD WATCH LISTS
Bobby Bragan National Collegiate Slugger
NCBWA Stopper of the Year
D1BASEBALL PRESEASON POSITIONAL PLAYER RANKINGS
Catchers (Top 50)
First Basemen (Top 50)
Second Basemen (Top 50)
Shortstops (Top 50)
Third Baseman (Top 50)
Outfielders (Top 100)
Starting Pitchers (Top 150)
Relief Pitchers (Top 50)
Impact Transfers (Top 130)
BASEBALL AMERICA PRESEASON LISTS
FIELD OF 64 PRESEASON PROJECTIONS:
Baseball America: Oregon State (1 seed), Stanford (2 seed), UCLA (2 seed), Oregon (3 seed), USC (3 seed), Arizona State (First Four Out)
D1Baseball: Oregon State (1 seed), Stanford (2 seed), Arizona State (3 seed), Oregon (3 seed), UCLA (3 seed), USC (3 seed)
MADE IN AMERICA: 3 current Pac-12 players made the 2023 Collegiate National Team Roster that went 7-3 this summer, sweeping 5 games with Taiwan and going 3-2 against Japan. The Pac-12 was represented by INF Duce Gourson (UCLA), OF Rodney Green Jr. (Cal), and C Malcolm Moore (Stanford). Former Stanford OF/P Braden Montgomery was also on the team prior to his transfer in August.
2024 PAC-12 BASEBALL TOURNAMENT: Once again, the Pac-12 Baseball Tournament returns to Scottsdale Stadium May 21-25, 2024 for year 3 at the Spring Training home of the San Francisco Giants. The tournament will once again feature pool play, with the top 9 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.
ON DECK (Full Schedule)
2024 CONFERENCE STANDINGS (Expanded Standings)
2024 PAC-12 WEEKLY AWARDS
– Pac-12.com –
