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Sixth-straight week Oregon State leads nation and Pac-12 baseball

May 3, 2017

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BY THE NUMBERS

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

2 - Oregon’s David Peterson, the Pac-12 Pitcher of the Week, received two national weekly honors this week:  Collegiate Baseball’s National Player of the Week and NCBWA National Pitcher of the Week.

10, 12 - For the tenth-straight USA Today poll and twelfth-straight NCBWA poll Oregon State and Arizona are ranked. The two teams have been ranked since the preseason poll for both polls.

4 - Four Pac-12 athletes appear on the NCBWA Midseason Stopper of the Year Watch List, the second most of any conference: Colton Hock, STAN; Erik Martinez, CAL; Jake Mulholland, OSU; Kenyon Yovan, ORE.

6, 7 - Pac-12 teams lead in the nation in six statistic categories. Five of six are held by No. 1 Oregon State, inlcuding ERA (1.89), hits allowed per nine innings (6.03), shutouts (8), WHIP (0.97), and WL percentage (0.897). Seven individual Pac-12 players also top the national statistics.

NOTES

WEEKLY RECAP: Oregon State leads the nation for the sixth-straight week after going 2-1 against USC. Washington State (vs. Utah), UCLA (vs. Cal Poly), Oregon (vs. Arizona State), and Washington (vs. California) all went 2-1 in their three-game series’ for the week. No. 14 Stanford beat No. 19 Arizona 3-0 in their three-game series in the top-25 matchup of the week. No. 19 Arizona turned around and beat Santa Clara on Monday. UCLA lost to San Diego State, Stanford beat San Jose State, Oregon State beat Oregon, and California beat San Francisco on Tuesday to round out the week’s games.

PREVIEWING THE WEEK: Utah hosts UC Riverside for a three-game series starting Thursday. UCLA also plays at USC on Thursday to start the LA rivalry three-game series. On Friday, Oregon plays at Washington State, No. 19 Stanford plays at Arizona State, Washington plays at No. 14 Arizona, and California plays at No. 1 Oregon State to start the rest of the three-game series’. On Tuesday, Utah travels to BYU, Arizona State plays at No. 14 Arizona, No. 19 Stanford hosts San Francisco, UCLA travels to No. 16 Cal State Fullerton, and Washington hosts Seattle.

NUMBERS GAME: No. 1 Oregon State currently leads the nation in five statistics categories: ERA (1.89), hits allowed per nine innings (6.03), shutouts (8), WHIP (0.97), and WL percentage (0.897). No. 7 Arizona is ninth in batting average (0.317), tenth in doubles (101), seventh in doubles per game (2.35), ninth in on base percentage (0.412), and sixth in scoring (8.3). Washington is first in fielding percentage (0.985). UCLA is third in sacrifice flies (29). Oregon is second in strikeout-to-walk ratio (3.66) and sixth in walks allowed per nine innings (2.40).

INDIVIDUAL NATIONAL STATS LEADERS: Arizona’s JJ Matijevic is second in doubles (22), first in doubles per game (0.51), 12th in hits (70), and sixth in hits per game (1.63). Oregon State’s Luke Heimlich is first in ERA (0.78) and his teammate Jake Thompson is fourth (1.07). Arizona’s Jared Oliva follows Matijevic in double and doubles per game in sixth (20) and ninth (0.47), respectively. UCLA’s Griffin Canning and Arizona State’s Eli Lingos are tied for fourth in games started (12). Oregon State’s Heimlich and Thompson are second (4.71) and third (4.86), respectively, in hits allowed per nine innings. UCLA’s Scott Burke is third in pitching appearances (29). His teammate Sean Bouchard is seventh in sacrifice flies (7). Oregon’s Kenyon Yovan is fourth in saves (13) and Stanford’s Colton Hock is seventh (12). Oregon’s David Peterson is first in strikeout-to-walk ratio (17.83), second in strikeouts (107), and eighth in strikeouts per nine innings (12.96). UCLA’s Canning is seventh in the category (98). Arizona State’s Gage Canning is first in triples (7) and triples per game (0.17). Oregon State’s Thompson and Oregon’s Peterson are tied for first in victories (9). Oregon State’s Heimlich is first in WHIP (0.75). Oregon’s David Peterson is first in walks allowed per nine innings (0.73).

STOPPER OF THE YEAR: The Pac-12 has four student-athletes from four different universities on the NCBWA Midseason Stopper of the Year Preseason Watch List, the second most among all conferences: Stanford’s Colton Hock, California’s Erik Martinez, Oregon State’s Jake Mulholland, and Oregon’s Kenyon Yovan. 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. 

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.

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.