Citizen Staff Writer
JOHN MOREDICH
jmoredich@tucsoncitizen.com
The Arizona baseball program has ground to make up, and the season hasn’t started.
League coaches picked the Wildcats to finish fifth in the Pac-10 behind favorite Arizona State, UCLA, Stanford and Oregon State. Just 13 points separated UA and ASU, which shows the balance of the conference.
UA, a win away from the College World Series a year ago, received one first-place vote.
“We are going to be young, but we feel we have a lot of talent,” Arizona coach Andy Lopez said. “We’ll be good when it’s all said and done.”
ASU is picked to win the Pac-10 for the third straight season. The Sun Devils finished 49-13 a year ago.
“There’s no question that this projection is a sign of respect for the past success of Sun Devil baseball, since we only return four players with any significant Pac-10 experience,” ASU coach Pat Murphy said in a statement.
UA opens the season Feb. 20 at home against Sacramento State.
The Wildcats have a golf outing on Friday to begin their annual alumni weekend activities, which include an 11 a.m. intrasquad game at Sancet Stadium. There will be a luncheon with former UA players at 11:30.
Autographs will be available by former or current major league players, including Lance Dickson, Gil Heredia, Jack Howell and Nick Hundley.
Pitchers Daniel Schlereth and Ryan Perry, last year’s first-round signees from UA, are also expected.
PAC-10 BASEBALL POLL
Rank School (1st votes) Pts
1. ASU (3) 69
2. UCLA (3) 67
3. Stanford (1) 64
4. Oregon State (2) 58
5. ARIZONA (1) 56
6. California 42
7. USC 38
8. Washington State 24
9. Washington 23
10. Oregon 9