Pac-12 Baseball leads the nation for the fourth-straight week

Apr 19, 2017

BY THE NUMBERS

4 - For the fourth-straight week Oregon State tops the national rankings in the USA Today poll, NCWBA poll, Collegiate Baseball poll, and the Baseball America poll.

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.

8, 10 - For the eighth-straight USA Today poll and tenth-straight NCBWA poll Oregon State and Arizona are ranked. The two 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.

7, 5 - Pac-12 teams lead in the nation in seven statistic categories. Five of those seven are held by No. 1 Oregon State, inlcuding ERA (1.74), hits allowed per nine innings (6.06), shutouts (8), WHIP (0.97), and WL percentage (0.938). Five individual Pac-12 players also top the national statistics.

NOTES

WEEKLY RECAP: Oregon State leads the nation for the fourth-straight week after going 2-1 on the week against Washington. UCLA (vs. Stanford), Arizona (vs. Oregon), and Utah (vs. California) also went 2-1 on the week. Arizona State bested Washington State in a three-game series. Stanford beat California on Tuesday to round out the Conference matches. USC opened its three-game series with a win against No. 9 Cal State Fullerton, but fell short in the final two games. Washington State lost to Gonzaga on Monday, but USC beat UC Irvine. UC Irvine turned around to beat USC on Tuesday and UNLV beat Arizona State, but unranked UCLA beat then-No. 24 Long Beach State to round out the week’s games.

NUMBERS GAME: No. 1 Oregon State currently leads the nation in five statistics categories: ERA (1.74), hits allowed per nine innings (6.06), shutouts (8), WHIP (0.97), and WL percentage (0.938). No. 7 Arizona is third in batting average (0.332), seventh in doubles (90), second in doubles per game (2.57), fourth in on base percentage (0.426), seventh in runs (315), and second in scoring (9.0). Washington is first in fielding percentage (0.985) and UCLA is first in sacrifice flies (26). Oregon is fifth in strikeout-to-walk ratio (3.45) and seventh in walks allowed per nine innings (2.57).

INDIVIDUAL NATIONAL STATS LEADERS: Arizona’s JJ Matijevic leads the nation in doubles (21) and doubles per game (0.60), as well as ranking seventh in batting average (0.418), fourth in hits (61), and third in hits per game (1.74). Oregon State’s Jake Mulholland is first in ERA (0.55) and his teammates Luke Heimlich and Jake Thompson are second (0.83) and seventh (1.03), respectively. UCLA’s Griffing Canning, Arizona’s Rio Gomez, Arizona State’s Eli Lingos, and Washington’s Chris Micheles are tied for fourth in games started (10). Arizona’s Alfonso Rivas is second in on base percentage (0.539). UCLA’s Scott Burke is third in pitching appearances (23). UCLA’s Daniel Rosica is fourth in sacrifice bunts per game (0.32) and his teammate Sean Bouchard is third in sacrifice flies (7). Oregon’s Kenyon Yovan is second in saves (12). Oregon’s David Peterson is first in strikeout-to-walk ratio (16.40) and fourth in strikeouts (82). Oregon State’s Nick Madrigal is sixth in toughest to strike out (21.7). Oregon State’s Thompson and Oregon’s Peterson are tied for first in victories (8) with Arizona’s JC Cloney closely following in third (7). Oregon State’s Mulholland is third in WHIP (0.79) with his teammate Heimlich in ninth (0.82). Oregon’s Peterson is fifth in walks allowed per nine innings (0.77).

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.

FAMILIAR FACES IN THE DUGOUT: After welcoming three new coaches last season, all 11 coaches return for the 2017 season. Second year Arizona head coach Jay Johnson looks to match or beat his performance last season. The Wildcats made it all the way to Game 3 of the NCAA College World Series before falling to Coastal Carolina. Three other Pac-12 teams also made it to the postseason- Arizona State, Utah, and Washington.