Arizona baseball: Cal Stevenson named Pac-12 Player of the Week

Just the culmination of an improved run of late

Back on April 1st, Arizona Wildcats junior outfielder Cal Stevenson’s batting average had dipped as low as .264.

Since then it’s steadily climbed, now sitting at .306 after a week where he went 8-for-14 at the plate including three doubles and a walk-off home run on Friday. These things were all good enough for Stevenson to be named Pac-12 Player of the Week.

This was also the first time Stevenson has put together three multi-hit games in a four-game span since the Hartford series in early March.

“I think he’s helped us win a lot more than maybe the numbers show, and the numbers aren’t that bad in this conference,” head coach Jay Johnson said of Stevenson on Friday night.

In Pac-12 games, Stevenson is now hitting .269, which is fifth on the team. However, he is still the conference’s leading run scorer, crossing the plate 50 times this season for the Wildcats. His 33 walks and three hit by pitches this year combined with his hitting numbers has resulted in the third-best on-base percentage at Arizona (.435).

Only 29 players in the conference have an overall batting average of .300 or higher this year with Stevenson joining the fray after a 3-for-5 game on Sunday. Six of those 29 play at Arizona.

This is the third time an Arizona player has been named P12 POW. Nick Quintana and JJ Matijevic were the other two. Luke Heimlich was named the conference’s Pitcher of the Week. That’s the third time he’s won it this year, and is the fifth time an Oregon State pitcher has earned the honor in 2017.

Arizona returns to the field on Tuesday night when they host the Arizona State Sun Devils for a midweek, non-conference battle at 6 PM PT.

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