UCLA Baseball Picked to Finish Second in Pac-12

The UCLA baseball team has been picked to finish second in the Pac-12 Conference's preseason coaches' poll, as announced by the conference office.

Stanford was selected first in the preseason coaches' poll, earning 5 of 11 possible first-place votes to give them 93 points. UCLA garnered two first-place votes, giving them a total of 90 points. Oregon State, Oregon and Arizona rounded out the top five with Oregon State receiving the remaining three first-place votes.

Arizona State was picked to finish sixth, followed by California, USC and Washington State in that order. Washington and Utah were picked to finish 10th and 11th respectively.

UCLA, the two-time defending Pac-12 champions, has reached the postseason in six of the last seven years. The Bruins have also hosted an NCAA Regional the last three years and hosted an NCAA Super Regional in 2010 and 2012. UCLA reached its second College World Series in three years in 2012 after winning five consecutive games in the NCAA Regional and Super Regional rounds. Additionally, the Bruins posted a conference record of 20-10 last season, going 48-16 overall.

UCLA will begin the 2013 season with a three-game series against Minnesota starting on Friday, Feb. 15 at 6 p.m. at Jackie Robinson Stadium. The series will continue on Saturday and Sunday at 2 p.m. and 1 p.m. respectively.

Team

Points (First-Place)

2012 Record

2012 Conference Record (Finish)

Stanford

93 (5)

41-18

18-12 (t-4th)

2

UCLA

90 (2)

48-16

20-10 (t-1st)

3

Oregon State

87 (3)

40-20

18-12 (t-4th)

4

Oregon

73

46-19

19-11 (3rd)

5

Arizona

65

48-17

20-10 (t-1st)

6

Arizona State

58

36-20

18-12 (t-4th)

7

California

40

29-25

12-18 (t-8th)

8

USC

32

23-32

8-22 (10th)

8

Washington State

32

28-28

12-18 (t-8th)

10

Washington

28

30-25

13-17 (7th)

11

Utah

12

14-42

7-23 (11th)