TUCSON, Ariz. — The Arizona Wildcats picked up their most All-Conference honorees in over a decade and head coach
Chip Hale has been selected as the 2024 Pac-12 Coach of the Year, the conference announced on Tuesday morning.
Coach Hale becomes the first person in Pac-12 baseball history, and just the second person in conference history regardless of sport or gender, to win both Pac-10/12 Player of the Year (1987) and Pac-12 Coach of the Year. He joins elite company along with current Oregon State Gymnastics head coach, Tanya Chaplin, who won multiple of each award.
In addition to Hale's major award win, Clark Candioitti,
Brendan Summerhill,
Cam Walty,
Mason White,
Jackson Kent, and
Garen Caulfield all picked up Pac-12 All-Conference honors. Six All-Conference selections ties a program record and is the most for Arizona Baseball since the 2012 National Championship team also tallied six. Arizona also picked up a pair of Pac-12 All-Conference Honorable Mention selections in
Emilio Corona and
Casey Hintz.
Pac-12 Coach of the Year
Pac-12 All-Conference
Pac-12 All-Conference Honorable Mention
Hale took a team picked to finish ninth in the Pac-12 Preseason Coaches Poll all the way to a regular season championship, the sixth in program history. He is the first Wildcat skipper to earn the award since 2021, and the fourth to win the award all-time. Hale's former head coach during his time as a Wildcat student-athlete, Jerry Kindall, rattled off three Pac-10 South Coach of the Year awards in 1980, 1989, and 1992. From March 24–April 26, under Hale's direction, the Wildcats won 11 consecutive Pac-12 Conference games, the program's longest single-season conference win streak since they joined the Pac-10 for the 1979 baseball season. The 2024 Arizona Wildcats piled up 30+ wins for the ninth consecutive full season, and the 35th time across 45 seasons in the Pac-10/12, while also tallying 20+ conference wins for just the third time since 1990.
All eight of the Wildcats All-Conference honorees are first-time recipients of the award. This year also marks the most Arizona pitchers to earn First Team All-Conference honors since 2008 and what is believed to be the first time all three of the Wildcats primary starting pitchers landed on the list.
Candiotti, a senior transfer in his first year with Arizona, made 14 regular season starts for the Wildcats and posted a 6-3 record with a 3.27 ERA and a team-leading 87 strikeouts. The tall right-hander logged multiple complete games, the first coming on March 29 against UCLA and the second on May 4 against Stanford. Candiotti's first career shutout against the Cardinal earned him Pac-12 Pitcher of the Week honors for May 6. The son of former Major League Baseball great Tom Candiotti went five or more innings in all but one of his 14 starts and notched five quality starts.Â
Summerhill, who earned his first taste of extended playing time in 2024 as a sophomore, finished the regular season leading the team with a .332 batting average and a .406 on-base percentage. The Chicago native ranked second on the team with 13 multi-RBI games and third on the team with 19 multi-hit performances. Summerhill delivered the Wildcats game-winning hit on the final day of the regular season, sealing a Pac-12 regular season championship for Arizona.
Walty, the Pac-12 leader with eight wins, anchored the Wildcats rotation for nearly the entire season. As Arizona's Sunday starter, Walty made 14 appearances with 12 starts and posted a team-best 2.76 ERA that also ranked second in the Pac-12 among qualified pitchers in the regular season. The right-hander made seven starts that lasted six-plus innings, including an 8.1 inning effort on the final day of the regular season that helped the Wildcats clinch the conference title.
White, a Tucson native, finished the regular season ranked third in the Pac-12 with 60 RBI, while his 17 home runs were tied for fourth most on the circuit. White paced the Wildcats with 21 multi-hit games and 18 multi-RBI performances. The true sophomore has already slugged 27 home runs in his Arizona career, just four shy of breaking into the program's all-time top 10. White also picked up Pac-12 Preseason All-Conference recognition, a place on the Bobby Bragan National Collegiate Slugger Award watch list, and the Frisco Classic All-Tournament team.
Kent, a southpaw hailing from Illinois, was tabbed with the Friday night starter role from the jump and delivered reliable performances all season. Kent made 14 starts and went 3-3 with a 3.56 ERA while striking out 82. Following a dominant six-inning, eight-strikeout effort on opening night against then No. 23 Northeastern he earned Pac-12 Pitcher of the Week honors. A dozen times the left-hander worked five or more innings for Arizona, with eight quality starts scattered among them.
Caulfield, enjoyed a bounce-back year for the Wildcats, hitting a career-high .312 with 36 runs scored, the most doubles on the team (19), and 40 RBI. Caulfield ranked second on the team in batting average, walks, and on-base percentage while hitting primarily in the two and three holes of the Arizona lineup. The third-year infielder tied for the team lead with 21 multi-hit games and ranked third on the squad with 11 multi-RBI performances.
Corona, a senior from San Luis Obispo, clubbed 20 extra-base hits and drove in 29 RBI for the Wildcats in his final collegiate regular season. Corona's combination of speed and power led to a Pac-12 leading seven triples from the outfielder. In addition to his performance at the plate he contributed strong defense in right field, posting a .990 fielding percentage with a pair of outfield assists.
Hintz, a two-way player but primarily a right-handed reliever,
 rounds out the Wildcats nominees. The Illinois native notched 24 relief appearances for Arizona and went 3-1 with two saves and a 3.58 ERA. In addition to his pitching duties, Hintz was pressed into service as the Wildcats center fielder in the final regular season series of the year during which he picked up his only hit of the season in Arizona's title-clinching comeback victory.
Arizona is back in action this week at the 2024 Pac-12 Baseball Tournament in Scottsdale. The Wildcats open their postseason run against the Washington Huskies on Wednesday, May 22 with a first pitch set for 7:00 p.m. MST on the Pac-12 Networks.
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