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Pac-12 Baseball teams top national rankings for third-straight week

Apr 12, 2017

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BY THE NUMBERS

23 - Oregon State has a 23 game winning streak, one away from tying the Pac-12 all-time record in the category set by Arizona State in 2010. The NCAA record of 34 was set by Florida Atlantic in 1999 and Texas in 1977.

4 - Four Pac-12 teams are ranked this week in the NCBWA top-30 poll, the most thus far this season. The Pac-12 is third for most teams ranked, closely following the SEC with eight and ACC with six.

7, 9 - For the seventh-straight USA Today poll and ninth-straight NCBWA poll Oregon State, Arizona, and Stanford are ranked. The three teams have been ranked since the preseason poll for both polls.

5 - Five Pac-12 student-athletes appear on the Golden Spikes Award Midseason watch list: Griffin Canning, UCLA; Luke Heimlich; OSU; Nick Madrigal, OSU; J.J. Matijevic, ARIZ; and David Peterson, ORE.

8-1 - Pac-12 teams went 8-1 against non-conference opponents last week, ending with a 2-1 record against the West Coast Conference, 1-0 record against the Western Atlantic Conference, 2-0 against the Mountain West Conference, and 3-0 against the Big West.

NOTES

WEEKLY RECAP: Oregon State leads the nation for the third-straight week with a 23 game winning-streak, just one win shy from tying the Pac-12 all-time record in the category of 24 games set by Arizona State in 2010. The Beavers played a three game-series against Utah, ending the weekend 3-0. No. 19 Stanford played USC, winning two of three games.  No. 7 Arizona and Washington also won two of their three conference games from the week against Washington State and UCLA, respectively. California bested Arizona State in a three game series and Oregon beat UC Irvine in all three games played as well. Washington opened the week on Monday playing LMU, beating them 8-7. Stanford (vs. San Jose State), Oregon (vs. Portland), Arizona State (vs. UNLV), and Arizona (vs. Grand Canyon) all played winning games Tuesday, the only loss of the day was California falling to St. Mary’s.

PREVIEWING THE WEEKEND: Conference play opens Thursday with California at Utah, Washington State at Arizona State, Oregon at No. 7 Arizona, UCLA at No. 19 Stanford, and No. 1 Oregon State at Washington all for three-game series’. USC travels to No. 9 Cal State Fullerton for a three-game weekend non-conference series. Washington State travels to Gonzaga for a game Monday. Utah hosts BYU, California travels to No. 19 Stanford, Arizona State travels to UNLV, UCLA hosts No. 25 Long Beach State, and USC hosts UC Irvine to round out the Tuesday games.

NUMBERS GAME: No. 1 Oregon State currently leads the nation in five statistics categories: ERA (1.81), hits allowed per nine innings (5.84), shutouts (7), WHIP (0.94), and WL percentage (0.966). No. 7 Arizona is fourth in batting average (0.329), fifth in doubles (2.56), second in on base percentage (0.425), fourth in runs (288), and first in scoring (9.0). California is eighth in double plays per game (1.10), Washington is third (0.985) and USC is sixth (0.983) in fielding percentage, UCLA is first in sacrifice flies (25), Oregon is second in strikeout-to-walk ratio (3.87), and Oregon is fifth in walks allowed per nine innings (2.37). 

INDIVIDUAL NATIONAL STATS LEADERS: Pac-12 Player of the Week Arizona’s JJ Matijevic is first in the nation in doubles (20) and in doubles per game (0.63). He is also fifth in hits (55), fourth in hits per game (1.72), and 10th in total bases (93). UCLA’s Kyle Cuellar is sixth in batting average (0.422). Pac-12 Pitcher of the Week Oregon State’s Jake Mulholland and teammate Luke Heimlich are second (0.59) and fifth (0.77), respectively, in ERA. UCLA’s Griffing Canning, Arizona’s Rio Gomez, Arizona State’s Eli Lingos, and Washington’s Chris Micheles are all tied for third in games started (9). Oregon State’s Jake Thompson and Luke Heimlich are third (4.56) and ninth (4.91), respectively, in hits allowed per nine innings. Arizona’s Alfonso Rivas is sixth in on base percentage (0.526). UCLA’s Scott Burke is fourth in pitching appearances (21) and his teammate Sean Bouchard is third in sacrifice flies (7). Oregon’s Kenyon Yovan is second in saves (11) and his teammate David Peterson is first in strikeout-to-walk ratio (19.25). Peterson is also second in strikeouts (77), eighth in strikeouts per nine innings (13.24), and fifth in walks allowed per nine innings (0.69). Oregon State’s Nick Madrigal is fifth in toughest to strike out (24.0). Oregon State’s Jake Thompson and Oregon’s Peterson are tied for first in victories (7). Oregon State’s duo of Mulholland and Heimlich are third (0.72) and fifth (0.75), respectively, in WHIP.

IN THE RANKINGS: In the latest USA Today Top 25 Coaches Poll, three teams are ranked. Oregon State leads the way at No. 1 for the third-straight week, Arizona jumps up one place to No. 7, and Stanford jumps up to No. 19. The NCBWA has four teams ranked this week, the most this season: Oregon State is again No. 1, Arizona jumps to No. 7, Stanford jumps to No. 22, and Oregon enters the ranking at No. 26. Baseball America has four teams ranked: Oregon State is No. 1, Arizona is No. 7, Stanford is No. 18, and Oregon is No. 22. Collegiate Baseball has three teams ranked: Oregon State is No. 1, Arizona is No. 7, and Oregon is No. 23. This is the third-straight week Oregon State is No. 1 in all four national rankings. Oregon State and Arizona have appeared in every weekly ranking since the preseason polls.

All 11 Pac-12 teams appear in the top 100 RPI rankings: Oregon State is No.1, Arizona is No. 2, Stanford is No. 25, Oregon is No. 37., Utah is No. 52, Washington is No. 55, California is No. 68, USC is No. 77, Washington State is No. 85, Arizona State is No. 87, and UCLA is No. 94.

GOLDEN SPIKES: The 40 man USA Baseball Golden Spikes Award Midseason Watch List features five Pac-12 student-athletes, two from Oregon State, and one from UCLA, Arizona, and Oregon: Oregon State’s junior pitcher Luke Heimlich and sophomore infielder Nick Madrigal, UCLA’s junior pitcher Griffin Canning, Arizona’s junior infielder J.J. Matijevic, and Oregon’s junior pitcher David Peterson.

The USA Baseball Golden Spikes Award Preseason Watch List features 50 amateurs, seven of which are student-athletes from four different Pac-12 teams. With seven, the Pac-12 has the third-most representatives among all conferences. Stanford leads the way for most representatives by one team, with three Cardinal student-athletes featured, tying Florida and TCU. Now in its 39th year recognizing the top amateur baseball player in the country, seven former Pac-12 baseball players have won the award, most recently pitcher Trevor Bauer of UCLA in 2011. 

ALL AMERICANS: The Pac-12 had eight different student-athletes from four different Pac-12 teams featured on Baseball America, NCBWA, and Collegiate Baseball preseason All-America teams.

STOPPER OF THE YEAR: The Pac-12 has nine student-athletes from nine different universities on the NCBWA Stopper of the Year Preseason Watch List, the most among all conferences. The National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association will be presenting the Stopper of the Year Award to the top relief pitcher in Division I baseball for the 13th straight year in 2017. 

DRAFT: Every Pac-12 school had at least one student-athlete drafted in the 2016 MLB Draft: Arizona (7), Arizona State (5), California (7), Oregon (5), Oregon State (5), Stanford (4), UCLA (5), USC (12), Utah (1), Washington (3) and Washington State (3). ASU leads all NCAA schools with 414 total MLB draft picks, and at least one Sun Devil has been drafted every year since the draft’s inception in 1965.