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2008 Pac-10 Baseball Media Guide

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    1. Table of Contents, Composite Schedule, Pac-10 Baseball History 
    2. School Team Pages 
    3. 2007 Pac-10 Baseball Review, Honors, and Stats 
    4. Pac-10 Baseball Records 
    5. All-America and All-Conference Honors 
    6. Pac-10 History and Yearly Standings 
    7. The Pac-10 in the College World Series 
    8. An Overview of the Pac-10 Conference

    The Pacific-10 Conference truly is the "Conference of Champions," as it owns 26 baseball national championships since 1947, more than any other conference. The Pac-10 also claims 65 first-team All-Americans over the past 26 seasons (Baseball America), nine national coaches of the year (Baseball America and The Sporting News) and 14 national players of the year (Baseball America, Baseball Coaches' Association and The Sporting News).

    The powerful and prestigious Pacific-10 Conference has historically dominated college baseball. There has been a Pac-10 representative in all but four (1996, 1991, 1989, 1962) College World Series fields since the championship began in 1947. And in 34 of those championships, a Pac-10 team has finished either first or second. USC has more NCAA titles than any other school in the nation with 12, and Arizona State is tied for second with five. Four other Pac-10 schools have claimed at least two national titles as well, including Arizona (three), California (two), Stanford (two), and Oregon State (two). USC is second only to Texas in College World Series wins, with 74 to the Longhorns' 78, as well as total appearances with 21 to the Longhorns’ 32. The Pac-10 has also placed 173 players on the All-College World Series teams over the 40 seasons in which it has had a participant, including 20 MVPs, more than any other conference.

    Some of Major League Baseball's most prominent players have passed through this Conference. Current big leaguers who got their starts in the Pac-10 include: Barry Bonds (ARIZONA STATE/San Francisco Giants) – Major League Baseball’s only seven-time MVP and all-time home run record holder; Randy Johnson (USC/Arizona Diamondbacks) - four-time Cy Young Award winner and 2001 World Series co-MVP; Barry Zito (USC/San Francisco) - 2002 American League Cy Young Award winner; Jeff Kent (CALIFORNIA/Los Angeles Dodgers) - 2000 National League MVP; Troy Glaus (UCLA/Toronto Blue Jays) - 2000 American League home run leader; Aaron Boone (USC/Washington Nationals) – son of Bob Boone and third-generation major-leaguer; Mark Prior (USC/San Diego Padres); Paul Lo Duca (ARIZONA STATE/Washington Nationals); Xavier Nady (CALIFORNIA/Pittsburgh Pirates); Trevor Hoffman (ARIZONA/San Diego Padres); and Mark Hendrickson (WASHINGTON STATE/Los Angeles Dodgers). Players such as these have left their marks on the Pac-10, helping to sustain the nation's marquee baseball Conference.

    Through the years, the Pac-10 has also spawned some of the best to ever coach the game. Rod Dedeaux's tenure at USC (1943-45, 1951-86) – in which his Trojans claimed 11 NCAA titles – stands as one of the greatest coaching accomplishments to date. Former Sun Devil skippers Bobby Winkles (1959-71) and Jim Brock (1972-94) brought three and two national crowns to Arizona State, respectively. Former Arizona coach Jerry Kindall (1973-96) won three championships with the Wildcats, and current coaches Mark Marquess (Stanford) and Pat Casey (Oregon State) currently own a pair of NCAA titles.

    USC was also honored by Baseball America in its Feb. 1, 1999 issue, in which it named the Trojan program as the top collegiate baseball program of the 20th century.

    In recent years, Pacific-10 Conference baseball has continued to enjoy much success on the national level. In 1993 and 1994, Arizona State made back-to-back trips to the College World Series, the only Pac-10 team to do so in the 90's. Five Southern Division squads ventured to NCAA regionals, with Stanford and UCLA making it all the way to the College World Series in 1996. In 1998, four schools made it to the NCAA regionals, while USC and ASU advanced to the World Series and the Trojans won their 12th title. And in 2003, Stanford made its fifth consecutive trip to the College World Series and finished second (their third national championship game in four years). In 2004, Arizona advanced to the College World Series for the first time since 1986. Arizona State made its 19th trip to Omaha in 2005, while Oregon State returned to College Baseball's biggest stage for the first time since 1952. In 2006, the Beavers returned to the College World series for the second consecutive year where they won their first national title, Oregon State's second NCAA title in school history. Last season, OSU returned to the CWS as an at large bid and did the unthinkable as they captured their second consecutive national title becoming the first team seeded in the lower half of the NCAA Tournament field to win the CWS in the 20 year-history of the event.