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LEADING OFF: Pac-12 baseball hits the final weekend before conference play begins, #6 OREGON STATE heads home for the first time this season with a 4-game set against North Dakota State after taking 3 of 4 in Arlington, Texas last week. All-American Travis Bazzana had 2 of his Pac-12 high 5 home runs in Sunday’s win over Oklahoma State.
Winners of 7 straight games for the first time since 2008, UTAH is off to its best start since 1980 at 7-1. The Utes, who play their first 15 games of the season away from home, visit Cal Poly after sweeping the Tony Gwynn Legacy series last weekend. Outfielder Kai Roberts is hitting .343 while leading the conference in stolen bases (5) and tied for the lead in runs scored (12).
CALIFORNIA is another Pac-12 squad off to a 7-1 start, including starting 5-0 at home for the first time since 2018. Rodney Green Jr. and Caleb Lomavita have combined for 8 of the team’s 17 home runs so far this season while Lomavita leads the conference with 16 RBI. The Golden Bears head to the Las Vegas Baseball Classic this weekend where they’ll face off with Ohio State, Oklahoma and Pitt.
OREGON swept a 4-game series with Lafayette last week by a 51-13 margin to improve to 6-1 on the season. Jacob Walsh has 2 home runs so far thi season and needs just 8 more to set the Ducks career record. Oregon’s series with UCSB this weekend was moved to Eugene due to field conditions in Santa Barbara.
ARIZONA STATE and USC head to Arlington, Texas this weekend for the Kubota College Baseball Series where they’ll face a pair of Top 10 teams. ASU gets 2 games against #7 Texas A&M and one against #3 TCU while the Trojans faces the Horned Frogs twice and the Aggies once. ARIZONA meanwhile will also be in Texas for the Frisco College Baseball Classic to face 3 separate Top 25 teams. The Wildcats face #24 Dallas Baptist on Friday, #15 Alabama on Saturday and wrap up with #21 Indiana on Sunday.
UCLA overcame a 7-0 deficit in the 3rd inning on Wednesday to beat Long Beach State 12-11 in 10 innings. The Bruins are 5-0 at home this season and will face Michigan and San Diego at Jackie Robinson Stadium this weekend before taking on #25 UC Irvine at Dodger Stadium on Sunday.
And after pushing #3 TCU to extra innings in Fort Worth on Tuesday, WASHINGTON STATE comes home for the first time under first year skipper Nathan Choate as they host Rhode Island. The Cougars won last week’s Round Rock Classic with first baseman Joey Kramer winning the Tournament MVP.
The first conference game of the season will take place on Tuesday, March 5th with STANFORD visiting Bay Area rival California at 7pm PT on Pac-12 Network.
Rankings
NATIONAL AWARDS:
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
Golden Spikes Award
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 –
