Chip Hale is one of one.
Arizona’s skipper was named Pac-12 baseball Coach of the Year on Tuesday after leading the Wildcats to the regular-season championship.
Hale is the first person in Pac-12 baseball history to win both Coach of the Year and Player of the Year. He shared Pac-10 South POY honors with UCLA’s Torey Lovullo in 1987.
Arizona was picked to finish in ninth place in the preseason Pac-12 coaches poll. The Wildcats defied those expectations by going 20-10, capped by a 4-3, walk-off victory over Oregon State on Saturday.
Arizona is the No. 1 seed in this week’s Pac-12 Tournament, which begins today at Scottsdale Stadium. The UA will open against No. 9 seed Washington at 7 p.m. Wednesday.
Hale is the fourth UA coach to win the conference COY award and the first since Jay Johnson in 2021. That was also the last time Arizona won 20 league games. It’s happened only three times since 1990.
Six UA players made the All-Conference Team, including all three weekend starting pitchers.
Arizona starter Cam Walty deals in the seventh inning against Oregon State in their Pac-12 game at Hi Corbett Field on May 18. Walty would allowed three runs in 8⅓ innings in the Wildcats' 4-3 comeback win.
Senior transfer Clark Candiotti takes a 6-3 record and a 3.27 ERA into postseason play. Candiotti has struck out a team-high 87 batters in 82⅔ innings.
Redshirt sophomore Jackson Kent went 3-3 with a 3.56 ERA during the regular season. He has struck out 82 batters in 81 innings.
Senior Cam Walty posted a league-best 8-1 record and a team-best 2.76 ERA. Walty has walked only 12 hitters in 78⅓ innings.
Three UA position players joined the starting trio, led by sophomore shortstop Mason White. The Salpointe Catholic High School product finished the regular season ranked third in the Pac-12 in RBIs (60) and tied for fourth in home runs (17).
Fellow middle infielder Garen Caulfield takes a .312 batting average into postseason play. The fifth-year junior has a team-high 19 doubles and a .400 on-base percentage.
Sophomore outfielder Brendan Summerhill boasts a .332/.406/.570 slash line and a team-high 31 extra-base hits. His two-RBI double in the bottom of the ninth inning vs. OSU clinched the conference crown for Arizona.
Two Wildcats earned honorable mentions from the league: senior outfielder Emilio Corona (41 runs scored, 20 extra-base hits, 14 stolen bases) and sophomore relief pitcher Casey Hintz (3-1, 3.58 ERA).
As expected, OSU’s Travis Bazzana was named Pac-12 Player of the Year. The full list of conference award winners can be found here.
Following a super-busy weekend in the Tucson sports scene, the Star's Justin Spears, senior writer and columnist Michael Lev and sports editor Brett Fera return to talk about Arizona baseball winning the Pac-12 regular-season championship, UA softball winning in Arkansas, UA football adding multiple prospects in the transfer portal, and two ex-Wildcats in the conference finals of the NBA playoffs.
Trailing 3-2 in the ninth inning of their last-ever Pac-12 baseball game, the Arizona's Brendan Summerhill hit a two-run RBI double to walk-off the Wildcats not just to a win, but also the conference's 2024 regular-season championship. (Courtesy Pac-12 Networks)
