Pac-12 announces baseball All-Conference honors

OREGON STATE’S NICK MADRIGAL PLAYER OF THE YEAR/DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR
CALIFORNIA’S ANDREW VAUGHN NAMED FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR
OREGON STATE’S LUKE HEIMLICH SELECTED PITCHER OF THE YEAR
OREGON STATE’S PAT CASEY VOTED COACH OF THE YEAR
ARIZONA’S JJ MATIJEVIC CROWNED BATTING CHAMPION

SAN FRANCISCO - The Pac-12 Conference announced today the baseball All-Pac-12 honors for the 2017 season, as determined by a polling of the Conference coaches. OREGON STATE’s Nick Madrigal was voted Pac-12 Player of the Year and Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year. CALIFORNIA’S Andrew Vaughn was named Pac-12 Freshman of the Year while Oregon State's Luke Heimlich was voted Pac-12 Pitcher of the Year. Oregon State head coach Pat Casey was named Pac-12 Coach of the Year. ARIZONA's JJ Matijevic was crowned the Pac-12 Batting Champion with a Conference-leading .389 batting average. The All-Pac-12 teams were also announced. 

Pac-12 Player of the Year/Defensive Player of the Year – Nick Madrigal, 2B, So., Oregon State

Madrigal takes home both honors after batting .377 with 18 doubles, two triples, four home runs, 31 runs batted in and 15 stolen bases during the regular season. Defensively, he played both shortstop and second base for Oregon State, committing just four errors. He has a .981 fielding percentage. He is a semifinalist for the Golden Spikes Award and a third team All-American on the Collegiate Baseball Division 1 All-America list. He was on the 2016 Pac-12 All-Conference and All-Defensive teams, as well as the 2016 Pac-12 Newcomer of the Year.

Pac-12 Freshman of the Year – Andrew Vaughn, 1B, Fr., California

Vaughn had a breakout first season in the Pac-12, ranking in the top-10 in multiple conference offensive categories and finishing in a tie with teammate Denis Karas for the Pac-12 lead in home runs. In four games against USC and Stanford, Cal’s first baseman went 7 for 15 with three home runs and 12 RBI as he hit a pair of walk-off home runs against the Trojans to help the Bears sweep their Southern California rivals. The offensive explosion garnered National Player of the Week honors from multiple publications as well as Pac-12 Player of the Week.

Pac-12 Pitcher of the Year – Luke Heimlich, LHP, Jr. Oregon State

Heimlich leads the nation with a 0.81 earned run average. He is 10-1 and his 120 strikeouts in 111 innings are 11 shy of tying Jonah Nickerson’s single-season school record of 131 in 2006. He was named to the first team of the 2017 Collegiate Baseball All-America list, is a semifinalist for the Golden Spikes Award, and is one of five finalists for the College Baseball Hall of Fame’s National Pitcher of the Year award. 

Pac-12 Coach of the Year – Pat Casey, Oregon State

Casey receives Pac-12 Coach of the Year honors for the fifth time in his 23 years as head coach at Oregon State (2005, 2006, 2011, 2013, and 2017). He guided the Beavs to a conference record-setting 27 wins and three losses in league play. Casey attained his 1,000th career win on the same day that the Beavs clinched the 2017 Pac-12 Baseball Championship. Oregon State won all 10 of its conference series, sweeping seven.

Pac-12 Batting Champion – JJ Matijevic, 1B, Jr., Arizona

Matijevic was crowned the Pac-12 Batting Champion after hitting .389 in the regular season. He led the Pac-12 in batting average, slugging percentage, total bases, doubles, RBI and hits. His .389 batting average was accompanied by 29 doubles, 10 home runs, 64 RBI and 54 runs scored. He is one double away from tying the single-season school record at Arizona for doubles in a season. Matijevic never went longer than four games this season without a multiple-hit game and went hitless in back-to-back games just once.

ALL-PAC-12

Honorable Mention: Andres Alvarez, WSU; Dan Amaral, UCLA; Daniel Bakst, STAN; Hunter Bishop, ASU; Adalberto Carrillo, USC; Zach Cerbo, ASU; Kyle Cuellar, UCLA; Cody Deason, ARIZ; Joe DeMers, WASH; Tanner Dodson, CAL; Dylan Drachler, UTAH; Cameron Eden, CAL; Brandon Eisert, OSU; AJ Graffanino, WASH; Michael Gretler, OSU; Justin Harrer, WSU; Levi Jordan, WASH; Ellis Kelly, UTAH; Ryan Kreidler, UCLA; Steven Kwan, OSU; Trever Larnach, OSU; Lyle Lin, ASU; Willie MacIver, WASH; Jack Meggs, WASH; Cameron Ming, ARIZ; Jeffrey Mitchell Jr., CAL; Jake Mulholland, OSU; Brandon Perez, USC; Nick Quintana, ARIZ; Adley Rutschman, OSU; Hunter Simmons, UTAH; Brett Stephens, UCLA; Cal Stevenson, ARIZ; Tyler Thorne, STAN; Michael Toglia, UCLA. 

ALL-DEFENSIVE TEAM