FROM CBD NEWS SOURCE
WALNUT CREEK, Calif. — In a polling of the Pac-12’s baseball coaches, defending Conference champion OREGON STATE has been selected as the preseason favorite to win the conference title again this season. The Cardinal received nine of 10 possible first-place votes and 98 points. Oregon State finished the 2013 campaign with a 52-12 record and advanced to the College World Series where they finished the year tied for third. The Beavers, led by preseason All-Americans Michael Conforto, Dylan Davis, Andrew Moore, Ben Wetzler and Scott Schultz, enter the season as a consensus top-5 team in the national rankings.
OREGON, a Conference runner-up for two-consecutive years, came in second with 86 votes and received one first-place vote. UCLA, fresh off their first College World Series title in program history, tallied 84 points and received the final first-place vote to come in at third place. ARIZONA STATE, a 2013 postseason participant, finished fourth in the balloting, collected 73 points. Arizona received 61 points to round out the top five.
STANFORD finished sixth in the polling, picking up 60 points, and CALIFORNIA’s 38 points were good for seventh. WASHINGTON STATE collected 35 points to nab the eighth spot in the poll, while USC came in ninth with 33 points. Washington, which picked up 22 points, was tabbed to finish 10th followed by Utah at the 11 spot with 14 points..
All 11 teams will be in action on Friday, Feb. 14 as the 2014 season gets under way. Pac-12 play starts Friday, March 14.
The following are the results of the preseason coaches’ poll. Ten points are awarded for a first-place vote, nine points for a second-place vote and so on. First-place votes are in parentheses. Coaches are not allowed to vote for their own teams.
2014 Pac-12 Baseball Preseason Coaches Poll
1. Oregon State (9) 98
2. Oregon (1) 86
3. UCLA(1) 84
4. Arizona State 73
5. Arizona 61
6. Stanford 60
7. California 38
8. Washington State 35
9. USC 33
10. Washington 22
11. Utah 14
