Arizona junior first baseman JJ Matijevic appears to have a firm lead on becoming the Pac-12’s 2017 baseball player of the year. Why not? Through Friday, he leads the Pac-12 in hitting (.400) and RBIs (60). Oregon State’s Nick Madrigal, who plays for the nation’s No. 1 team, is likely Matijevic’s closest pursuer; Madrigal is hitting .385 with 26 RBIs. Arizona has produced seven Pac-12 baseball players of the year: Terry Francona, 1980; Chip Hale, 1987; Alan Zinter and Scott Erickson, 1989; Trevor Crowe, 2005; Alex Mejia, 2012; and Scott Kingery, 2015.