Three Oregon baseball players were named to the All-Pac-12 First Team on Tuesday, as the conference announced its end-of-season awards. Drew Cowley, Sabin Ceballos and Jace Stoffal took home the honors ahead of Tuesday night’s Pac-12 tournament matchup against Cal.
Ceballos led the team with a .349 average and 1.090 OPS, while Cowley was not far behind at .340 and 1.087.
Cowley turned it on after a relatively slow start, and hit the most home runs of any Duck with 15. Prior to this year, he only had five home runs in his entire collegiate career. He also broke the Oregon single-season RBI record with 60. He was a consistent force in the Ducks’ lineup, staying healthy the whole year after missing a chunk of time last season with an injury. He started the year as the team’s third baseman, moved to DH for a little bit, then finished the season as the starting shortstop.
Ceballos, meanwhile, came over as a junior college transfer and shined. He started the season in a platoon role, but that didn’t last long as he quickly became the everyday third baseman. In addition to his bat, he provided slick and smooth defense at the hot corner. He had a brief injury scare that sat him out a few games near the end of the year, but he came back as the DH before eventually transitioning back to third base.
Stoffal had a breakout year, emerging as Oregon’s ace on a pitching staff that desperately needed one. He posted a 2.83 ERA, with a complete game shutout against Stanford to boot. He won Pac-12 Pitcher of the Week three times in a four-week span. He might have won Pac-12 Pitcher of the Year if he hadn’t gotten hurt, as the award instead went to Stanford’s Quinn Mathews.
Four Ducks were named honorable mentions: Rikuu Nishida, Josh Mollerus, Colby Shade and Tanner Smith. All four were significant contributors — Nishida and Mollerus via the transfer portal, with Shade and Smith being familiar faces. Shade was also named to the Pac-12 All-Defensive Team, recognizing his strong work in center field all season.
This group will try to carry that success into the postseason, which begins Tuesday night at 7 p.m. with the second ever Pac-12 Baseball Tournament.