Pac-12 coaches expect Arizona to be in the hunt for the conference title – but they don’t expect the Wildcats to repeat as league champions.
Arizona was picked to finish third in the Pac-12 in the annual poll of conference coaches released Thursday.
Stanford, which eliminated Arizona from the College World Series last year, was picked to finish first and received eight of 11 first-place votes. Oregon State was picked to finish second and received one first-place vote. UCLA, picked fourth, got two first-place votes. Arizona received none.
The coaches’ poll is consistent with the predictions of Baseball America and D1Baseball.com; both have the same top five of Stanford, OSU, Arizona, UCLA and Oregon.
The Wildcats are coming off a 45-18 season. They are ranked in the top 15 in most national preseason polls.
Here are the complete results of the Pac-12 poll:
Team (first-place votes) / Points
1. Stanford (8) / 98
2. Oregon State (1) / 84
3. Arizona / 77
4. UCLA (2) / 75
5. Oregon / 70
6. California / 53
7. Arizona State / 46
8-T. USC / 34
8-T. Washington State / 34
10. Washington / 19
11. Utah / 15
