Pac-12 Baseball Weekly Rundown - April 27, 2023

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LEADING OFF: With four weekends remaining in the regular season, the race to the Pac-12 title is heating up as four teams sit within three games at the top of the standings. Leading the way is No. 18 Arizona State at 13-4 overall, followed by No. 8 Stanford in second at 13-5 and No. 23 Oregon and USC tied for third at 11-7. UCLA and Oregon State also remain within striking distance at 9-7-1 and 11-10, respectively. 

Some big series are on the horizon in the final stretch, beginning this weekend with a top-25 showdown between the Sun Devils and the Ducks in at PK Park in Eugene and the Bruins and Cardinal meeting for three at Sunken Diamond. The series opener between UCLA and Stanford will be nationally televised on ESPNU Friday night at 7 p.m. PT.

Arizona State has yet to lose a Pac-12 series in 2023 after putting a stop to the red-hot Beavers' winning streak last weekend in Tempe, while Oregon has won two straight series, including one over Stanford at home two weeks ago. The results in Eugene this weekend will be pivotal in determining the Pac-12 regular season champion and the No. 1 seed in the second Pac-12 Baseball Tournament, set for May 23-27 in Scottsdale, Arizona. 

USC bounced back in a big way from the sweep at Oregon State, winning its first series over crosstown rival UCLA at Dedeaux Field since 2005 behind a two-out ninth-inning walk off by Cole Gabrielson for a 6-5 series-clinching victory. The Trojans will head to Seattle this weekend to take on Washington looking for its sixth Pac-12 series win of the season after winning two total a season ago. 

Arizona, winners of six straight, will be in Corvallis to face Oregon State in a series the Beavers will need to win to stay in contention at the top. Washington State visits Utah to round out the Pac-12 slate and California will travel across the country to play a three-game set at Pittsburgh on its conference bye weekend. 

Eight midweek games are on the docket for May 2 and May 3, highlighted by UCLA at UC Irvine and USC taking on Long Beach State at Angels Stadium in Anaheim on Tuesday night at 6:05 p.m.

RPI: 

• The Pac-12 has the third-best RPI ranking as a conference behind only the SEC and the ACC.
• Thru April 26th, the Pac-12 has 10 of 11 teams in the Top 78 in Adjusted RPI, one of only three conferences in the nation (ACC, SEC) to have nine or more in the Top 100. Five are in the top 35. Oregon has the league's top RPI ranking at No. 15, followed by Stanford at No. 18. UCLA is third-best at No. 31 with Arizona State and Oregon State right behind the Bruins at No. 32 and No. 33, respectively. Arizona sits at No. 53, followed by Washington at No. 58, USC at No. 59, Washington State at No. 60, California at No. 78 and Utah at No. 120.

STACKING UP:

• Overall, the Pac-12 has the third-best non-conference winning percentage among all conferences so far in 2023 with a 153-56-1 mark. The SEC is on top with a 258-60-1 record, followed by the ACC in second at 218-66.
• 9 of 11 league teams are at .600 or better with one month remaining in the regular season, while six teams (Stanford, ASU, USC, Oregon, Oregon State, and UCLA) are .500 or better in league play.
• Through April 26, the Pac-12 owns a 91-34 (.728) record against teams from the other four D1 conferences in the West Region (Big West, Mountain West, WAC, WCC). 

ON THE ROAD: 17-of-23 games against opponents in the A5 have been played away from home, including all 10 games against the SEC. Overall, Pac-12 teams have played 88 games away from home (non-conference plus neutral site).

RANKINGS ROUNDUP: The Pac-12 has three teams ranked and three more receiving votes in the latest USA Today's Coaches Poll. The league has four teams ranked in D1Baseball's latest poll and has at least three teams ranked in all six major polls. 

• USA Today: #8 Stanford, #18 Arizona State, #23 Oregon, RV - Oregon State, UCLA, USC
• D1Baseball: #8 Stanford, #17 Arizona State, #22 Oregon State, #23 Oregon
• Baseball America: #9 Stanford, #12 Arizona State, #20 Oregon, #22 Oregon State
• Collegiate Baseball: #4 Arizona State, #11 Stanford, #15 Oregon
• NCBWA:  #7 Stanford, #16 Arizona State, #22 Oregon, #27 Oregon State, RV - UCLA, USC
• Perfect Game: #9 Stanford, #23 Oregon; #25 Arizona State

QUICK HITTERS:

• Arizona State has won five Pac-12 series in 2023 and split the sixth one (series finale was canceled at Washington) and at 28-12 has already surpassed its overall win total from last spring with a month still to go. The Sun Devils, after being picked to finish sixth in the conference, are in the drivers seat with four weekends remaining and have gone 22-5 over its last 27 games. The Sun Devils are one of only five teams from Power 5 conferences that have not lost a conference series. Against OSU, ASU became the first team since 2001 to score double digits against the Beavers in each game of the series, while it was the Sun Devils' first win over a ranked opponent since 2017.
• Oregon State's stretch of four straight series win came to an end last weekend in Tempe, but overall the Beavers have won 15 of their last 20 since getting swept at Stanford on March 19. OSU continues to rank top-10 in the country in ERA (3.69, 9th). Senior right-hander Trent Sellers' 78 strikeouts rank second in the conference and 16th in the country.
• Oregon dropped game one at California last weekend but took care of business in game two and three to win a second straight Pac-12 series at their fourth in 2023. Overall, the Ducks have won 19 of their last 24, which included an 11-game winning streak, the program's longest since the 1964 team won 12 straight. 
• Stanford got back on track after the series loss at Oregon, taking two of three at home against Washington last weekend and coming from behind in the ninth inning to beat Bay Area rival California in a midweek no-conference game. The Cardinal offense is hitting .300 as a team, a best for the program since the 2004 squad hit .330 through 38 games. Preseason All-American Quinn Matthews leads the Stanford pitching staff with a 2.60 ERA that ranks second in the Pac-12 while his 86 strikeouts rank third overall in the nation. 
• USC's first-year head coach Andy Stankiewicz picked up his first signature series win against then-No. 3 Stanford at home the weekend of March 10, the Trojans' first over the Cardinal in eight years. After a sweep against Oregon State on April 16, Stankiewicz and the Trojans rebounded in a big way, securing their first series win at home over rival UCLA since 2005 last weekend. USC has collected victories in 20 of its last 27, which included winning four consecutive Pac-12 series to start conference play for the first time since 2001.The Trojans' five series and 11 league wins have far surpassed last year's totals of two and eight, respectively.
• UCLA has a big test at Stanford this weekend and will hope to lean on a pitching staff that leads the conference and ranks sixth in the country with a 3.57 ERA to limit an explosive Cardinal offense. The Bruins have dealt with a slew of injuries in the position groups, but do have batting average leader Kyle Karros back in the lineup after the junior missed some time in early April.
• Despite losing the series at Stanford, Washington saw a superb performance out of transfer Kiefer Lord in a game-two Husky win, who dominated the Cardinal offense with eight shutout frames and 10 strikeouts to earn his second Pac-12 Pitcher of the Week honor this season. He is the first Washington pitcher to earn it more than once during the same season since Husky legend Tim Lincecum won it five times in 2006. 
• Arizona's offense is one of the best in the country, ranking in the top-10 in D1 in batting average (.325, 6th), hits (456, 8th), doubles (106, 4th) and triples (24, T1st) and in the top-20 for scoring (8.8 rpg, 19th). Arizona has multiple stars at the plate, led by Mac Bingham, who ranks first in the league in hits (62) and runs (44), Chase Davis (14 home runs co-leads the Pac-12) and Kiko Romero (leads Pac-12 and ranks 16th in D1 with 56 RBI). Davis earned his first career Pac-12 Player of the Week honor on April 24 after leading Arizona to 4-0 record on the week, hitting .688 with nine RBI, two home runs, two doubles and a triple to go along with a 1.313 slugging percentage.
• On April 17, the Pac-12 swept D1 Baseball's and the NCBWA's National Player and Pitcher of the Week awards, marking the first two from the Pac-12 to earn the honors this season. California's Kade Kretzschmar, the 2022 Ivy League Player of the Year and graduate transfer from Dartmouth, had a monster week for the Bears from April 10-16, hitting 15-for-21 (.714) with a pair of home runs, three doubles, 10 RBI, six runs scored, two walks and a stolen base to help Cal go 4-1 and take two of three at Utah. Oregon's Jace Stoffal dominated Stanford, allowing three hits and just four baserunners in a complete-game shutout in a 4-0 series-opening win. 
• Cal's Kretzschmar is hot in the month of April, hitting .492 (30-for-61) this month, with six doubles, a triple, and seven home runs. In 15 games this month, he has 10 multi-hit games, six with three or more. His 10 multi-hit games for the month of April are tied for the most in the Pac-12 with Arizona’s Mac Bingham and ASU's Luke Keaschall.
• Arizona State's sweep over rival Arizona on the weekend of March 24 was its first since 2019 and only its second since 2009.
• Washington State has turned in some stellar performances during Pac-12 play in 2023. On April 16, the Cougars won a league series against Arizona in Pullman for the first time since 2009, while it was their first back-to-back series wins over the Wildcats since 2006-07. Earlier in the season, WSU's two-game sweep on the weekend of April 1-2 (game three of series was canceled due to weather/game two postponement) was its first series win over UCLA since 2017 and the Cougars opened Pac-12 play by taking two of three at Oregon State on the weekend of March 10, Washington State's first series win in Corvallis since 2009.
• Stanford junior catcher Albert Rios set a Cardinal record and matched the Pac-12 record with 11 RBIs in a 24-9 Stanford victory over CSU Bakersfield on Sunday, March 5. The 11 RBIs matched the previous Pac-12 record of 11 set by UCLA's Bill Scott vs. Washington in a game that started on March 29, 1999 and was completed on March 30, 1999 due to rain. 
• Oregon State head coach Mitch Canham picked up his 100th career victory on Tuesday, March 7 as the Beavers beat San Diego 9-4 in Corvallis. 

NATIONAL AWARDS:

• D1Baseball National Players of the Week
  • April. 17 -
    • Pitcher of the Week - RHP Jace Stoffal, Oregon
    • Player of the Week - OF Kade Kretzschmar, California
• NCBWA Dick Howser Trophy National Players of the Week
  • April. 18 -
    • Co-Pitcher of the Week - RHP Jace Stoffal, Oregon
    • Player of the Week - OF Kade Kretzschmar, California
• Collegiate Baseball National Players of the Week
  • Feb. 20 - C Josiah Cromwick, Oregon
  • Feb. 27 - RHP Trent Sellers, Oregon State
  • Mar. 6 - 1B/OF/C Kiko Romero, Arizona
  • Mar. 13 - RHP Connor Wilford, Washington State
  • Mar. 20 - RHP Dakota Hawkins, Washington State; 2B Luke Keaschall, Arizona State
  • Mar. 27 - OF Tanner Smith, Oregon
  • April 17 - INF/C Sabin Ceballos, Oregon
  • April 24 - RHP Kiefer Lord, Washington
• Perfect Game National Players of the Week
  • Mar. 7 - RHP Kiefer Lord, Washington - National Pitcher of the Week
• College Baseball Hall of Fame - Shortstop of the Week
  • April 4 - Drew Cowley, Oregon

STAT LINES:

• NCAA Top Team Rankings: Batting Avg. - Arizona (6th, .325); Hits - Arizona (8th, 456); Doubles - Arizona (4th, 106); Triples - Arizona, USC (1st, 24); Home runs - Oregon (33rd, 65); Scoring - Arizona (19th, 8.8); Slugging percentage - Arizona (10th, .555); Sacrifice Flys - Arizona, Washington State (9th, 26); ERA - UCLA (6th, 3.57); Shutouts - Oregon, UCLA, Washington (14th, 4); Strikeout-to-Walk Ratio - UCLA (4th, 3.37); Strikeouts-Per-9 Innings - Stanford (14th, 10.5); Walks Allowed Per Nine Innings - UCLA (5th, 2.87); Fielding percentage - Oregon State, Washington (13th, .980); Double plays - Utah (39th, 33). 
• NCAA Top Individual Rankings: Batting Avg. - Ryan Campos, ASU (19th, .413); Doubles - Luke Keaschall, ASU (2nd, 21); Triples - Austin Overn, USC (1st, 12); Hits - Mac Bingham, Arizona (40th, 62); Runs - Mac Bingham, Arizona; Nik McClaughry, Arizona (44th, 49); RBI - Kiko Romero, Arizona (16th, 56); Home Runs - Chase Davis, Arizona; Will Simpson, Washington (40th, 14); Sac Flys - Sam Brown, WSU (2nd, 7); Sac Bunts - Carson Wells, USC (2nd, 13); On-base percentage - Ryan Campos, ASU (18th, .523); Slugging percentage - Kiko Romero, Arizona (30th, .757); Toughest to Strikeout - Rikuu Nishida, Oregon (20th, 13.7); Stolen Bases - Rodney Green Jr., Cal (18th, 25); ERA - Kelly Austin, UCLA (28th, 2.49); Saves - Ryan Brown, OSU (11th, 8); Strikeouts - Quinn Matthews, Stanford (3rd, 86).

WE'RE GOING STREAKING:

• Arizona enters the weekend riding a league-high six-game winning streak and have gone 8-2 over its last 10. Oregon and USC have the second-longest steak of three games.
• Multiple Pac-12 hitters have streaks on the line at the plate heading into the seventh weekend of conference play. Arizona's Chase Davis and Mason White each have a 14-gamer going, the longest in the Pac-12 this season, while fellow Wildcat Emilio Corona is at 12. Washington's Cam Clayton and Washington State's Jonah Advincula both have streaks at 10, followed by Oregon State's Mason Guerra at nine.
• Multiple Pac-12ers have reached base safely over a long stretch of games. Oregon State's Garret Forrester has a league-high streak of 39 games with Arizona's Davis reaching safely in 37 straight and 51 dating back to last season. ASU's Ryan Campos has a 31-gamer going, but hasn't played since April 11. 

D1 BASEBALL FIELD OF 64 PROJECTIONS (As of April 26):

• D1Baseball releases weekly projections for the Field of 64 and six Pac-12 are projected to advance to NCAA Regionals in the latest installment. Stanford and Oregon are both slated as hosts and No. 1 seeds in their regions, while Arizona State. is a No. 2 seed in the Gainesville Regional and Oregon State is the No. 2seed in the Charlottesville Regional. UCLA is projected as the No. 3 seed in the UCONN Regional with USC rounding things out as a No. 3 seed in the Baton Rouge Regional.

2023 NCBWA STOPPER OF THE YEAR MIDSEASON WATCH LIST: The NCBWA announced its midseason watch list for Stopper of the Year and six different Pac-12 relievers made the list, with USC having a league-high two included.

• Micah Ashman, So., Utah
• Garrett Clarke, RS-Sr., USC
• Chase Grillo, RS-Jr., Washington State
• Trevor Long, Jr., Arizona
• Josh Mollerus, Sr., Oregon
• Kyle Wisch, RS-Jr., USC

GOLDEN SPIKES MIDSEASON WATCH LIST:

• Ryan Campos, C, So., Arizona State
• Chase Davis, OF, Jr., Arizona
• Braden Montgomery, OF/UTL, So., Stanford
• Tommy Troy, INF, Jr., Stanford 

D1 BASEBALL POSITION RANKINGS (As of April 1):

• Top 50 Catchers - No. 7 Ryan Campos (Arizona State); No. 24 Malcolm Moore (Stanford); No. 26 Caleb Lomavita (California); No. 29 Johnny Tincher (Washington).
• Top 50 First Basemen - No. 8 Kiko Romero (Arizona); No. 20 Sam Brown (Washington State); No. 22 Will Simpson (Washington); No. 36 Garret Forester (Oregon State).
• Top 50 Second Basemen - No. 4 Luke Keaschall (Arizona State); No. 7 Ethan Gourson (UCLA); No. 10 Travis Bazzana; No. 44 Drew Bowser (Stanford).
• Top 50 Shortstops - No. 18 Cam Clayton (Washington); No. 24 Cody Schrier (UCLA); No. 31 Luke Hill (Arizona State); No. 37 Nik McClaughry (Arizona).
• Top 50 Third Basemen - No. 6 Tommy Troy (Stanford); No. 14 Sabin Ceballos; No. 21 Kyle Karros (UCLA); No. 42 Nu'u Contrades (Arizona State).
• Top 50 Relievers - No. 19 Micah Ashman (Utah); No. 23 Josh Mollerus (Oregon); No. 44 Josh Emanuels (Washington); No. 47 Garrett Clarke (USC).
• Top 100 Starting Pitchers - No. 23 Quinn Matthews (Stanford); No. 27 Kiefer Lord (Washington); No. 28 Kelly Austin (UCLA); No. 33 Alonzo Tredwell (UCLA); No. 41 Stu Flesland; No. 45 Ross Dunn (Arizona State); No. 48 Matt Scott (Stanford); No. 60 Jake Brooks (UCLA); No. 64 TJ Nichols (Arizona); No. 67 Paulshawn Pasqualotto (California); No. 75 Trent Sellers (Oregon State); 
• Top 100 Outfielders - No. 3 Braden Montgomery (Stanford); No. 25 Tanner Smith (Oregon); No. 29 Chase Davis (Arizona); No. 36 JonJon Vaughns (UCLA); No. 58 AJ Guerrero (Washington); No. 61 Albert Rios (Stanford); No. 86 Cole Gabrielson (USC).

PERFECT GAME MIDSEASON ALL-AMERICANS:

• Braden Montgomery, Stanford - Second Team Hitter
• Tommy Troy, Stanford - Third Team Hitter
• Kiefer Lord, Washington - Third Team Pitcher
• Malcolm Moore, Stanford - Freshman First Team Hitter
• Austin Overn, USC - Freshman First Team Hitter
• Matt Scott, Stanford - Freshman First Team Pitcher
• Matthew Grabmann, Oregon - Freshman Second Team Pitcher

2023 MLB OPENING DAY: Former Oregon State standout and the 2019 No.1 overall pick Adley Rutschman may have made his MLB debut for the Baltimore Orioles in 2022, but Thursday, March 30 marked his first Opening Day in the big leagues. Rutschman had a monster day, hitting a home run in his first at-bat and going 5-for-5 overall with 4 RBI in a 10-9 Baltimore win over Boston, joining Hall-of-Famers Billy Herman and Babe Ruth as the third player ever to go 5-5 and get multiple RBI on Opening Day. UCLA great Gerrit Cole made some history himself, recording the most strikeouts by a Yankee pitcher on Opening Day with 11 in New York's 5-0 shutout of the Giants. Rutschman and Cole highlight a total of 54 former Pac-12 stars on 2023 Opening Day rosters. It's the second-most players from a conference behind only the SEC (SEC 89, Pac-12 54, ACC 42, WCC 21, American 20).

CARDINAL PICKED TO REPEAT: For a second consecutive year the Pac-12 coaches took defending champion Stanford atop their preseason poll with the Cardinal receiving nine first-place votes for a total of 99 points.

UCLA collected the other two first-place votes to come in second with 90 points and Oregon State was in third with 77 points. Arizona (74 points) and Oregon (68 points) rounded out the top five in fourth and fifth, respectively. 

INAUGURAL PRESEASON ALL-CONFERENCE TEAM: For the first time in Pac-12 history, the conference announced a Preseason All-Pac-12 Team, voted on by the league’s coaches. 

Stanford led the way with eight selections. Preseason All-Americans Braden Montgomery (UTL), Ryan Bruno (LHP), Carter Graham (INF), Quinn Mathews (LHP) and Tommy Troy (INF) earned the honor along with Cardinal infielder Drew Bowser, outfielder Eddie Park and pitcher Joey Dixon.

The 32-person team also includes preseason All-Americans Travis Bazzana (INF) and Ben Ferrer (RHP) from Oregon State, Chase Davis (OF) from Arizona and pitcher Alonzo Tredwell of UCLA. 

Tredwell and UCLA teammate Cody Schrier (INF), both 2022 Freshman All-Americans, were two of six Bruins selected, which was second-most behind Stanford. 

FRESH (AND FAMILIAR) FACES:  The Pac-12 has a pair of new head coaches in 2023 - Washington’s Jason Kelly and USC’s Andy Stankiewicz - but neither are new to the West. 

Kelly in particular is no stranger to the Pac-12, returning to Washington to begin his head coaching career after previously spending seven years as the Huskies pitching coach from 2013-19 under Lindsay Meggs, who announced his retirement following the 2022 season. Kelly was a key part of UW’s first-ever trip to the Men’s College World Series in 2018 before stints as the pitching coach at Arizona State and last season at LSU. Kelly was also previously honored as the 2018 D1Baseball National Assistant Coach of the Year.

Stankiewicz, a former Major League Baseball player, came to USC last summer after a highly successful 11-year run at Grand Canyon in which he won five regular season Western Athletic Conference titles and was named the WAC Coach of the Year four times. Over the last two seasons, Stankiewicz guided Grand Canyon to its first ever NCAA Division I postseason appearance in 2021 then led the program to its first ever at-large bid this past season.

NATIONAL AWARDS PRESEASON WATCH LISTS

GOLDEN SPIKES

• Chase Davis; OF; Arizona
• Quinn Mathews; LHP; Stanford
• Braden Montgomery; OF/RHP
• Cody Schrier; INF; UCLA
• Tommy Troy; INF/OF; Stanford

BOBBY BRAGAN COLLEGIATE SLUGGER AWARD

• Drew Cowley, INF, Oregon
• Chase Davis, OF, Arizona
• Carter Graham, INF, Stanford
• Jacob McKeon, OF, Washington State
• Tanner Smith, OF, Oregon
• Jacob Walsh, INF, Oregon

PRESEASON ALL-AMERICAN TEAMS

• D1 Baseball - First Team: RP Ryan Bruno (Stanford), 2B Tommy Troy (Stanford).
• Baseball America - First Team: 2B Tommy Troy (Stanford)
• Collegiate Baseball - First Team: INF Carter Graham (Stanford), SP Quinn Matthews (Stanford)
• NCBWA - First Team: INF Carter Graham (Stanford)
• Perfect Game - First Team: 2B Tommy Troy (Stanford), SP Quinn Matthews (Stanford)

AMERICAN MADE: Two Pac-12 players were part of the 26-man roster for the 2022 Collegiate National Team that represented Team USA and finished in third place at Honkbalweek Haarlem last July at  Pim Mulier Stadium in Haarlem, Netherlands. The final squad was named after completing the 2022 Collegiate National Team Training Camp, a five-game intrasquad series played throughout North Carolina. The roster included RP Ryan Bruno (Stanford) and RP Ross Dunn (Arizona State). 

2023 PAC-12 BASEBALL TOURNAMENT: After an exciting inaugural event last May, the Pac-12 Baseball Tournament returns to Scottsdale Stadium May 23-27, 2023 for year two at the Spring Training home of the San Francisco Giants. The tournament will look different in 2023 after the Pac-12 coaches approved format changes during the offseason.

Switching from a double-elimination format to pool play, the top nine teams in the Conference standings will earn berths to the tournament. The teams will be split into three pools based on their regular season finish with the top team from each pool advancing to the semifinals. The fourth semifinal spot will be determined by the top record of the non-advancing teams, with any tiebreakers going to the higher seed.  

The champion will receive the Conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. The Pac-12’s current agreement with the City of Scottsdale runs through 2024.

ON DECK (Full Schedule) 

CONFERENCE STANDINGS (Expanded Standings) 

2023 Pac-12 Baseball Weekly Awards