NO. 1 OREGON (42-14)
Oregon, Arizona’s former rival in the Pac-12, won 11 straight games before losing in the final game of pool play at the Big Ten tournament to Nebraska 7-3 on Saturday morning at Omaha, Neb.
The Ducks are the No. 12 seed in the NCAA tournament and serving as host of the Eugene (Ore.) Regional on Friday through next Monday.
Oregon head coach Mark Wasikowski, a former Arizona assistant under Andy Lopez, was selected the Big Ten’s coach of the year, while 10 of the Ducks garnered all-league recognition including a league-best five first-team selections.
Starting pitcher Grayson Grinsell, relief pitcher Seth Mattox, first baseman Jacob Walsh, second baseman Ryan Cooney (at-large) and outfielder Mason Neville claimed first-team honors. The five first-team selections tied the 2021 team for the most in the modern era of Ducks’ baseball, and the 10 all-league members are the most ever in Oregon baseball history.
- Eugene Regional, Eugene (Ore.)
The Ducks placed four players on the conference’s third team and one player on the all-freshman team. Starting pitcher Jason Reitz, shortstop Maddox Molony, outfielder Anson Aroz and designated hitter Dominic Hellman all were on the third team, while catcher Burke-Lee Mabeus earned a spot on the all-freshman team.
Wasikowski earned the coach of the year award after leading Oregon to a tie for the league regular-season championship and the No. 1 seed in the Big Ten Tournament. Oregon finished the regular season with a 41-13 record and a 22-8 Big Ten record, tying for the most conference wins in Oregon baseball history. Under Wasikowski’s leadership, the Ducks have already set school records for home runs and RBI this season.
Grinsell, Oregon’s Friday night starter, claimed his first first-team all-league honor after earning spots on the all-regional tournament teams each of the last two seasons. Grinsell boasts a 9-3 record and a 2.62 ERA with 99 strikeouts in 92 2/3 innings while holding opposing hitters to a .197 batting average.
Mattox, who has emerged as Oregon’s closer over the last month, is 2-1 record with a 2.45 ERA and eight saves in 20 appearances. He has held opposing hitters to a .161 batting average.
Walsh, a first baseman named a semifinalist for the Dick Howser Trophy honoring college baseball’s top player, has had a monster senior season for the Ducks, leads the team in batting average (.336) while belting a career-high 19 home runs and driving in a career-best 59.
Neville, a semifinalist for both the Dick Howser Trophy and the Golden Spikes Award, finished the regular season leading the nation in both home runs (26) and home runs per game (0.49).
Cooney, a sophomore, improved his batting average by 64 points from March 29 to the end of the regular season. The Ducks’ second baseman earned Big Ten Conference Player of the Week two of the last three weeks of the regular season. He is second on the team with a .335 average while homering five times with 47 RBIs and 43 runs as the No. 8 batter in the lineup.
NO. 4 UTAH VALLEY (32-27)
Utah Valley is making its second NCAA tournament appearance, first since it won the 2016 WAC tournament and finished 0-2 in the Baton Rouge (La.) Regional.
Mason Strong, a junior catcher, launched a two-run homer in the top of the ninth inning on Saturday to lift Utah Valley to the WAC championship with an 11-9 win over Abilene Christian at Mesa. Strong, formerly of BYU and Oklahoma, finished 4-for-5 with two homers, four runs and three RBIs while being named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player.
“This group is special,” Utah Valley coach Nate Rasmussen told reporters after beating Abilene Christian. “From the moment we got together last August to now, it has been an absolute pleasure to be with them. I’m thrilled that I get to spend at least one more week with them.”
The Wolverines are the first team to go 4-0 in the WAC tournament since the 2022 season. They finished the week in Mesa hitting .338 while outscoring conference foes 40-18. Strong had an outstanding tournament, finishing with a .550 average with two homers, seven RBIs and three stolen bases.
Strong and Jayden Smith earned All-WAC first-team selections with Utah Valley.
Strong leads his team in hits (85), doubles (19) and total bases (143) and is among the top players in slugging percentage (.633).
He is No. 35 on D1Baseball’s Top 50 catchers list.
Smith, a center fielder, is Utah Valley’s first batter to hit .400 or better since 2012. He finished the regular season hitting .411, which led the conference and is the sixth-best in program history. He heads into the NCAA tournament batting .403.
Utah Valley has former Tucson High left-hander Mario Bejarano on its roster. After playing at Central Arizona College, Bejarano is in his first season with the Wolverines as a junior. He is 0-2 with a 10.38 ERA in 13 appearances this season. He has 11 strikeouts and eight walks in 8 2/3 innings.
NO. 2 ARIZONA (39-18)
Arizona, which earned an automatic bid by virtue of winning the Big 12 tournament title Saturday over TCU, will face Cal Poly at 1 p.m. on ESPN+ in its first game of the Eugene Regional.
This marks the 44th NCAA tournament selection in program history, the sixth most in the nation. It is also the fifth consecutive year the Wildcats will participate in the NCAA tournament, the second-longest streak in program history.
Arizona rode dominant pitching, timely hitting, and effective defense to a 3-0 sweep of their first Big 12 championship last weekend in Arlington, Texas. Over the course of three games, the Wildcats pitching staff allowed just three runs. The Wildcats outscored BYU, West Virginia and TCU 18-3 in the three games.
Arizona has now qualified for the NCAA tournament in each of coach Chip Hale’s first four seasons, making him just the second coach in program history to achieve the feat. Frank Sancet coached the Wildcats to the NCAA tournament in his first four years from 1950 to 1953.
The Wildcats’ five straight NCAA Tournament berths are a first since qualifying for 14 straight from 1950–1963.
Down 1-0 going into the top of the ninth against TCU on Saturday, the Wildcats were down to their final three outs when Ironwood Ridge grad Andrew Cain launched a game-tying home run into right to lead off the inning. Prior to Cain’s homer, Arizona had been shut out on just three hits.
Reliever Tony Pluta entered the game and worked scoreless bottom of the ninth to send the game to extra innings, setting up more heroics from the Arizona offense.
Salpointe graduate Mason White, the Big 12 tournament Most Outstanding Player, drew a one-out hit-by-pitch, moved to third on a single by Adonys Guzman and came across for the go-ahead run on a bloop single from Maddox Mihalakis to make the score 2-1.
Pluta took the mound again for the 10th and worked around a one-out single to slam the door shut and secure the victory for the Wildcats. He improved to 2-0.
Mihalakis, Pluta, and Brendan Summerhill joined White on the all-tournament team.
Arizona now claims 12 conference championships.
Pluta, a junior right-hander, was selected as the Big 12’s Scholar-Athlete of the Year — the first such honor for an Arizona player.
He was also named to the All-Big 12 Second Team along White, a junior shortstop.
Additionally, freshman right-hander Smith Bailey, the effective starter in the Big 12 championship, was voted to the Big 12 All-Freshman Team. Arizona’s recognitions were rounded out by Guzman (junior catcher), sophomore right-hander Owen Kramkowski (Walden Grove grad) and junior outfielders Brendan Summerhill and Aaron Walton earning All-Big 12 honorable mention selections.
Across 23 regular-season appearances Pluta tallied 11 saves, the most in the Big 12 and tied for ninth among all Division I players. The Illinois native owns an impressive 1.44 ERA and has limited opposing hitters to a .181 batting average while striking out 30 and walking five in 31 1/3 innings.
He earned a save in the Big 12 tournament against BYU, increasing his season total to 12 and career number to 14, fifth-most in a season in Arizona history.
White, a Tucson native from Salpointe in his third year with the Wildcats, has started 57 games and is hitting .330 with 16 doubles, eight triples, 16 home runs, and 66 RBIs. White’s 45 career home runs and 106 extra-base hits are the second-most in program history in both categories.
Guzman is one of 13 semifinalists for the 2025 Buster Posey National Collegiate Catcher of the Year Award (Cal Poly’s Jack Collins is another).
Guzman is the first Arizona catcher to be selected as a semifinalist for the award since Daniel Susac picked up the honors in 2021. The award has been presented annually since 2000 to the nation’s most outstanding catcher; it was previously known as the Johnny Bench Award until renaming it after the famous Florida State and San Francisco Giants catcher, Buster Posey, in 2019.
Guzman has enjoyed a career year in 2025 across all facets of his game; through 51 regular season games he hit .309 (58-of-188) with 37 runs scored, 10 doubles, six home runs, 34 RBI, a .457 slugging percentage, and a .400 on-base percentage. All of Guzman’s batting numbers are career highs.
He has excelled defensively as well with a .985 fielding percentage on a team-high 461 total chances and throwing out 16 base runners, a mark that ranks tied for eighth among Wildcat catchers during the StatCrew era (1998-current).
NO. 3 CAL POLY (41-17)
Cal Poly is the Big West champions for the second time in program history after beating top-seeded UC Irvine 6-4 Sunday in the championship game at Fullerton, Calif.
Moments after Cal Poly squandered a 4-0 lead, Collins singled to drive in the go-ahead run in the seventh inning and senior right fielder Dylan Kordic doubled to lead off the ninth and scored on freshman left fielder Dante Vachini’s sacrifice fly for an insurance run.
Cal Poly bounced back from a 15-3 loss to the Anteaters on Friday with three straight victories in the tournament.
“Our players showed their toughness, resiliency, and ability this past weekend,” Cal Poly coach Larry Lee told reporters afterward. “I couldn’t be more proud of how they performed under the pressure that each game presented.
“There were numerous individual contributions that led to our success. This weekend will prepare us for what lies ahead.”
Collins struggled offensively in Cal Poly’s first three games of the tournament, going 0-for-11 with seven strikeouts. The junior catcher made strong contributions the rest of the way, however, with a two-run home run and three runs against UC Irvine on Saturday and his single and sacrifice bunt on Sunday.
In five tournament games, Collins also picked off two runners at first base, his third and fourth of the season, and threw out two more runners trying to steal second, giving him a Big West-leading 20 for the year.
“Baseball is a tough game,” Collins said. “It happens sometimes where you’re going to have tough games, but you can’t let that get to you or things will start to spiral from there. Every game is a new day and I just try to do my best every day.”
Cal Poly earned its fourth NCAA regional berth with Sunday’s win, joining the 2009, 2013, and 2014 teams. The Mustangs’ first Big West crown was captured in 2014 and that team split four games in the San Luis Obispo (Calif.) Regional. The Mustangs have never advanced to a Division I super regional.
UC Irvine had beaten Cal Poly four times prior to Saturday night when the Mustangs avoided elimination with a 15-5 triumph. That win gave Lee his third 40-victory season, following a 40-19 mark in 2013 and a 47-12 campaign in 2014. Cal Poly also won 41 games in 1977 and 1992.
Redshirt senior second baseman Ryan Fenn was named MVP of the tournament after going 9-for-21 with two doubles and five RBIs.
Collins, a transfer from Cal State Northridge, Saddleback College, and Long Beach State, had major shoes to fill stepping into the role of catcher at Cal Poly. He replaced Ryan Stafford, a 2024 MLB Draft fifth-round pick and Buster Posey Award finalist.
Collins finished the regular season second in the Big West for RBIs (56) and runners caught stealing (18) and fourth in home runs (12) and doubles (16). Collins is responsible for winning home runs in upset results over ranked opponents Texas A&M and Oregon State.
Collins opened his Mustang career with a 14-game hitting streak (23-for-57, .404), three home runs, and 19 RBIs.
Alongside fellow All-Big West honorees and teammates Alejandro Garza and Casey Murray Jr., Collins is just one of three Mustangs to play all 53 games of the regular season.
Four Mustangs earned All-Big West first-team honors this season, the highest amount of Cal Poly players since 2022, which includes a second consecutive nod for Garza, a sophomore third baseman, to put him one step closer to a potential three-time first-team list that has just nine total players in conference history.
Senior first baseman Zach Daudet, made only two errors through 322 fielding chances (.994 fielding percentage) in the regular season. Despite missing the first half of April due to a blood infection, Daudet fought back into the lineup and finished the regular season with a .362 batting average, 55 hits, 14 doubles, seven home runs and 22 RBIs.
Fenn, the team’s most tenured field player, earned an All-Big West honor for his third straight and final season as a Mustang after earning honorable mentions in 2023 and 2024. He has an 18-game hitting streak (35-for-74, .473) and racked up 24 multiple-hit games, including 13 three-hit contests. Fenn leads the team with 19 doubles and 15 stolen bases. He is batting .368. This is his second consecutive season tallying 70-plus hits, double-digit RBIs, and 30-plus RBIs.
Garza earned first-team honors for the second consecutive season. Garza’s 83 regular-season hits ranked No. 21 in Division I, and his 31 multi-hit games are tied for third-most in the program’s D1 history. He also finished the regular season second-best on the team for batting average (.366), RBIs (48), and doubles (16) while leading in runs (52).
Griffin Naess, 2024 Big West Freshman Pitcher of the Year honoree, made the first team list this season after being an honorable mention in 2024. As a freshman right-hander, he posted a perfect 7-0 record, the most by a Cal Poly freshman since 1996. He went 6-2 in 2025 for a career 13-2 record. During the regular season, Naess started all 14 game-one contests this season and led the team with 81 1/3 innings pitched and led starters with a 3.65 ERA. He posted seven quality starts (at least six innings pitched and three or fewer earned runs) and in six of those, allowed one run or less. He is now 7-2 with a 3.78 ERA and figures to start against Arizona on Friday.
Former Arizona left-hander Josh Morano, who made two starts for the Wildcats as a freshman last season, is now with Cal Poly. He is 2-0 with a 2.55 ERA in 16 relief appearances this season, including an impressive outing against Hawaii in the Big West tournament. He picked up the win, pitching 6 1/3 innings in relief. He allowed five hits, struck out two, and walked one.
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