On Thursday, the 2022 Pac-12 baseball preseason coaches’ poll was released and Stanford came in at the top with 98 total points and eight first place votes. Oregon State, who finished second in the poll with 84 points received one first place vote while UCLA, who finished fourth in the poll with 75 points, received the other two first place votes. Arizona finished third in the poll with 77 points, but interestingly enough received no first place votes.
Stanford is coming off a season in which they reached the College World Series for the first time since 2008. Junior outfielder Brock Jones has received preseason All-America honors and first-team All-American honors, so he’s expected to have a big year. Senior right-handed pitcher Alex Williams will be taking over the number one starting pitching role with Brendan Beck now in the major leagues and freshman Braden Montgomery looks to have an interesting role on the team as both a pitcher and outfielder.
Considering that Stanford is ranked inside the top ten and even top five in various nationwide preseason polls, it’s no surprise that they are the heavy favorites to win the Pac-12. While they did lose some key players, many are back and the team feels confident that they’ll be able to build on last year’s run to the College World Series.
Stanford will begin their season on Friday, February 18th at home against Cal State Fullerton in a three-game series that concludes on Sunday, February 20th. The first game is set to start at 2:05 PM PT.
Related: Notes from Stanford Baseball Media Day
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