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Pac-12 announces baseball All-Conference honors

May 31, 2018

CALIFORNIA'S ANDREW VAUGHN PLAYER OF THE YEAR / BATTING CHAMPION
OREGON STATE’S CADYN GRENIER DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR
ARIZONA STATE'S SPENCER TORKELSON NAMED FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR
OREGON STATE’S LUKE HEIMLICH SELECTED PITCHER OF THE YEAR
STANFORD’S DAVID ESQUER
VOTED COACH OF THE YEAR
 

SAN FRANCISCO – The Pac-12 Conference announced All-Pac-12 baseball honors for the 2018 season, as determined by a polling of the Conference coaches. CALIFORNIA’s Andrew Vaughn was voted Pac-12 Player of the Year and crowned the Pac-12 Batting Champion with a Conference-leading .402 batting average. OREGON STATE’s Cadyn Grenier was selected Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year and Luke Heimlich was voted Pac-12 Pitcher of the Year. Spencer Torkelson of ARIZONA STATE was named Pac-12 Freshman of the Year and STANFORD’s David Esquer earned Pac-12 Coach of the Year. The All-Pac-12 teams were also announced.

Pac-12 Player of the Year/Pac-12 Batting Champion – Andrew Vaughn, 1B, So., California (Santa Rosa, Calif.)
Vaughn was named Pac-12 Player of the Year for his second straight Pac-12 yearly honor after a breakout debut season earned him Freshman of the Year in 2017. The first baseman helped California (33-22, 16-14 Pac-12) to a fifth-place finish in the Conference standings for its highest finish since taking fourth in 2015. Vaughn was crowned the Pac-12 Batting Champion hitting .402 in the regular season and was in contention for the Pac-12 Triple Crown as he ranks second in the league with 23 home runs and tied for second with 63 RBIs. Vaughn earned three Pac-12 Player of the Week honors during the 2018 season as his standout batting average was accompanied by 23 home runs, which ranks second nationally, 59 runs scored, 163 total bases and 63 RBIs, totals which rank in the top-5 in the league. Vaughn is 1-of-4 athletes from the Conference to be named a Golden Spikes Award semifinalist. He has been named second team All-American by Collegiate Baseball Newspaper after receiving Freshman All-American honors last year.

Defensive Player of the Year – Cadyn Grenier, INF, Jr. Oregon State (Henderson, Nev.)
Grenier was tabbed the Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year after displaying a steady performance both at the plate and in the field for Oregon State. He enters postseason hitting .330 with four home runs and 42 RBIs while committing just six errors for a .969 fielding percentage. The junior has started all 55 games this season and has been selected as one of five finalists for the 2018 Brooks Wallace Award, given to the best shortstop in the country. He had a 27-game hitting streak from March 31 to May 19 during which he hit .393 (46-117). Grenier also earned All-Conference honors for the second straight season as well as his first All-Defensive Team nod.

Pac-12 Freshman of the Year – Spencer Torkelson, 1B, Fr., Arizona State (Petaluma, Calif.)
Torkelson landed Pac-12 Freshman of the Year honors for ranking in the top-10 in multiple Conference offensive categories including his league-leading 25 home runs and 59 runs scored, and second-best in slugging percentage (.743). Torkelson is also the current national home run leader with 25 this season, which doubled Barry Bonds’ 1983 ASU freshman record of 11. In NCAA history, no freshman has ever led the country in home runs at the end of the season. Torkelson was named both a Golden Spikes National Player of the Year Award and Dick Howser Trophy semifinalist for the 2018 season and is the only freshman in the country on either list. Torkelson finished one homer shy of the NCAA freshman record of 26, currently held by Todd Greene of Georgia Southern set in 1990. In Pac-12 games, Torkelson led the league in four offensive categories (slugging, home runs, runs, total bases). Torkelson has already garnered All-America Second Team honors by Collegiate Baseball Newspaper this year.

Pac-12 Pitcher of the Year – Luke Heimlich, LHP, Sr. Oregon State (Puyallup, Wash.)
Heimlich earned his second consecutive Pac-12 Pitcher of the Year honor while posting a nation-leading 14 victories during the regular season along with 139 strikeouts, which ties for fourth nationally. He is the first player to win award back-to-back awards since ASU’s Mike Leake did so in 2008 and 2009. A four-time Pac-12 Pitcher of the Week this season is 14-1 with a 2.49 ERA in 104.2 innings, and allowed more than two runs in a Pac-12 game once this season. He now holds the Oregon State records for most victories in a single season, single-season strikeouts (139), career strikeouts (356) and is the third pitcher in program history with 30+ career wins. He has been named a College Baseball Hall Of Fame Pitcher of the Year finalist and a Dick Howser Trophy award semifinalist for the 2018 campaign. Heimlich has earned his second Collegiate Baseball First Team All-American honor (2017, 2018).

Pac-12 Coach of the Year – David Esquer, Stanford
Esquer collected the Pac-12 Coach of the Year honor in his first season at the helm of the Stanford Baseball program. It marks the third award in Cardinal program history and his second career award after earning Coach of the Year in 2001 while at California. He guided the Cardinal to its 18th Conference championship and first title since 2004 with a 22-8 league record while posting a 44-10 overall mark. Stanford posted its best Pac-12 winning percentage (.766) since the Cardinal went 19-5 (.792) in 1999 en route to a College World Series appearance. Esquer and the Cardinal were ranked in the top five of the USA Today Baseball Coaches Poll every week of the regular season, including a tie for No. 1 on May 21. He has the Cardinal as the No. 2 overall seed in the NCAA tournament, the highest in program history. 

ALL-CONFERENCE TEAM 

Name Pos. Yr. School
Tristan Beck RHP Jr. Stanford
Jake Bird RHP Sr.  UCLA
Kris Bubic LHP Jr. Stanford
Gage Canning OF Jr.  Arizona State
Andrew Daschbach IF/OF So.  Stanford
Jonah Davis OF Jr.  California
Joe DeMers RHP Jr.  Washington 
Tanner Dodson P/OF Jr.  California 
Bryce Fehmel RHP Jr.  Oregon State
Cadyn Grenier RHP Jr. Oregon State
Alex Hardy RHP Sr.  Washington
Luke Heimlich LHP Sr.  Oregon State
Nico Hoerner IF Jr.  Stanford
Levi Jordan IF Sr.  Washington 
Nick Kahle C So. Washington 
Dashawn Keirsey Jr. OF Jr. Utah
Steven Kwan OF Jr.  Oregon State
Trevor Larnach OF Jr. Oregon State
Jack Little RHP So.  Stanford 
Nick Madrigal IF Jr. Oregon State
Nick Quintana IF Jr.  Arizona
Alfonso Rivas OF Jr.  Arizona
Adley Rutschman C/IF So.  Oregon State
Cesar Salazar C Jr.  Arizona 
Chase Strumpf IF So.  UCLA
Tim Tawa OF Fr. Stanford
Michael Toglia IF So.  UCLA
Spencer Torkelson IF Fr.  Arizona State
Andrew Vaughn IF/P So.  California 
Joe Wainhouse RHP/IF Jr.  Washington
Jeremy Ydens OF So.  UCLA
Kenyon Yovan RHP So.  Oregon

ALL-DEFENSIVE TEAM

Name Pos. Yr. School
Daniel Amaral OF Jr. UCLA
Gage Canning OF Jr. Arizona State
Tanner Dodson P/OF Jr.  California
Michael Gretler IF Sr.  Oregon State
Cadyn Grenier IR Jr.  Oregon State
Dashawn Keirsey  OF Jr.  Utah
Nick Madrigal IF Jr.  Oregon State
Adley Rutschman C/IF So.  Oregon State
Andrew Vaughn IF/P So.  California

Honorable Mention: Carter Aldrete, ASU; Daniel Amaral, UCLA; Solomon Bates, USC; Brendan Beck, STAN; Beau Branton, STAN; Chase Bushor, USC; Cameron Cannon, ARIZ; Mason Cerrillo, WASH; Blake Clanton, WSU; Cody Deason, ARIZ; Oliver Dunn, UTAH; Ryan Garcia, UCLA; Jakob Goldfarb, ORE; Tyrus Greene, CAL; Michael Gretler, OSU; Jordan Jones, WASH; Kyle Kasser, ORE; Lyle Lin, ASU; Connor Lunn, USC; Matt Mercer, ORE; Kyle Mora, UCLA; Jake Mulholland, ORE; Dillon Paulson, USC; Zach Pettway, UCLA; Blake Sabol, USC; Aaron Shortridge, CAL; Spencer Steer, ORE; Cal Stevenson, ARIZ; Kyle Stowers, STAN; Scotty Sunitsch, WSU.