Pac-12 coaches aren’t expecting much from the 2024 Arizona baseball team.
The Wildcats landed in ninth place in the league’s annual preseason coaches’ poll released Wednesday — their lowest spot in the poll since 2016.
That year, Jay Johnson’s first as UA coach, Arizona made it to the College World Series finals. Every year thereafter, the Wildcats were picked to finish no lower than fourth in the conference.
Arizona finished fifth the regular season in 2022, Chip Hale’s first season, and eighth last year. The Wildcats qualified for the NCAA Tournament both years. In ’23, they used a late-season surge and a run to the Pac-12 Tournament finals to boost their résumé.
That team lost first-round draft pick Chase Davis and Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year Nik McClaughry, among others.
This year’s team is deeper, but many of the players Arizona is counting on are unproven. D1Baseball.com also picked the Wildcats to finish ninth in the league.
Arizona is slated to open the season on Friday, Feb. 16, against Northeastern.
The Pac-12 coaches picked Oregon State to win the conference. Here are the full results of the poll (first-place votes in parentheses, followed by total points):
1 | Oregon St. (8) | 95
2 | Stanford (2) | 85
3 | UCLA (1) | 82
4 | Oregon | 74
5 | USC | 64
6 | Arizona St. | 50
7 | Washington | 49
8 | Cal | 40
9 | Arizona | 31
10 | Utah | 20
11 | Wash. St. | 15
