Pac-12 Baseball enters postseason – Pac-12.com

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BY THE NUMBERS

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

5 – Five Pac-12 student-athletes appear on the 2017 Golden Spikes Award semifinalist list: Griffin Canning, UCLA; Luke Heimlich, OSU; Nick Madrigal, OSU; JJ Matijevic, ARIZ, and David Peterson, ORE.

14, 16 – For the fourteenth-straight USA Today poll and sixteenth-straight NCBWA poll Oregon State and Arizona are ranked. The two teams have been ranked since the preseason poll for both polls.

1 of 5 – Oregon State’s Luke Heimlich is one of five athletes named to the College Baseball Foundation’s Pitcher of the Year finalist list.

5, 5 – Pac-12 teams lead in the nation in five statistic categories. All five are held by No. 1 Oregon State, including ERA (1.84), hits allowed per nine innings (6.32), shutouts (13), WHIP (0.98), and WL percentage (0.925). Three individual Pac-12 players also top the national statistics in five categories.

NOTES

WEEKLY RECAP: Pac-12 baseball wrapped up the final games of the regular season. No. 8 Stanford (vs. Washington State), Utah (cs. Arizona State), and No. 1 Oregon State (vs. Abilene Christian) all went 3-0 in their series. Washington (vs. USC), UCLA (vs. Oregon), and California (vs. No. 16 Arizona) all went 2-1 in their series. California’s 2-1 upset of No. 16 Arizona was the major upset of the week.

PREVIEWING THE WEEK: NCAA competition starts this Thursday with two of the four Pac-12 baseball teams hosting. No. 1-seeded Stanford hosts and plays No. 4-seeded Sacramento State on Thursday, June 1st. No. 1-seeded Oregon State also hosts and plays No. 4-seeded Holy Cross on Friday, June 2nd. No. 2-seeded Arizona plays No. 3-seeded Sam Houston State and No. 3-seeded UCLA plays No. 2-seeded Texas also on Friday.

NUMBERS GAME: No. 1 Oregon State currently leads the nation in five statistics categories: ERA (1.84), hits allowed per nine innings (6.32), shutouts (13), WHIP (0.98), and WL percentage (0.925). No. 1 Oregon State is also fifth in strikeout-to-walk ratio (3.18) and sixth in walks allowed per nine innings (2.53). No. 17 Arizona is tenth in doubles per game (2.25) and tenth in scoring (7.9). Washington is fourth in fielding percentage (0.982). Oregon is eighth in 11th (7), second in strikeout-to-walk ratio (3.25), and tenth in walks allowed per nine innings (2.65). 

INDIVIDUAL NATIONAL STATS LEADERS: Arizona’s JJ Matijevic is first in doubles (29) and first in doubles per game (0.52). Arizona’s Jared Oliva is third in doubles (25) and eighth in doubles per game (0.45). Oregon State’s Luke Heimlich is first in earned run average (ERA) (0.81), eighth in hits allowed per nine innings (5.50), and fourth in WHIP (0.80). Oregon State’s Jake Thompson is third in ERA (1.31). UCLA’s Griffin Canning and Arizona State’s Eli Lingos are tied for third in games started (16). Arizona’s Alfonso Rivas is 10th in on base percentage (0.490). UCLA’s Nick Scheidler is fourth (35) and his teammate Scott Burke  is ninth (34) in pitching appearances. Stanford’s Colton Hock is first (16) and Oregon’s Kenyon Yovan is fourth (15) in saves. Oregon’s David Peterson is fourth in strikeout-to-walk ratio (9.33), second in strikeouts (140), and seventh in strikeouts per nine innings (12.56). UCLA’s Canning is fifth (134) and Oregon State’s Heimlich is ninth (120) in strikeouts. Arizona State’s Gage Canning is second in triples (8) and fourth in triples per game (0.15). Oregon State’s Thompson is first in victories (12) and Oregon’s Peterson is second (11). 

GOLDEN SPIKES: The USA Baseball Golden Spikes Award Semifinalist 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. 

COLLEGE BASEBALL FOUNDATION FINALISTS: Oregon State’s Luke Heimlich is one of five athletes on the National Pitcher of the Year finalist list.

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. 

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.