Six Bruins named All-Pac-12

Beau Amaral, David Berg, Jeff Gelalich, Scott Griggs, Tyler Heineman, and Adam Plutko were named to the All-Pac-12 team on Wednesday, the most since the ’97 squad, while Ryan Deeter was an honorable mention pick.

Plutko, who will start on Friday against Creighton in the NCAA Regional at Jackie Robinson Stadium, earned the honor for a second consecutive season after going 9-3 with a 2.79 ERA and 78 strikeouts in 96.2 innings. Amaral was also awarded for the second time, the first in 2010, after hitting .313 with four home runs, eight doubles and 43 RBIs.

The performance of the other five Bruins, however, was not quite so expected.

Gelalich, a semifinalist for the Golden Spikes Award, ranked second in the Pac-12 with a .367 batting average, with a team-high nine home runs, 39 RBIs and 50 runs. He batted .268 with two home runs last year. Heineman, who was stuck behind Steve Rodriguez at catcher for two years, broke out with a .359 batting average and a .461 on-base percentage, ranking second in the conference. Heineman was the only catcher selected to the team.

There was also a renaissance of the bullpen, which served the Bruins so well in 2010 during their World Series run but faltered last season.

Griggs set a UCLA single-season record and finished second in the conference with 15 saves, while notching a 3-1 record with a 2.27 ERA and 61 strikeouts, and Berg set a Pac-12 record with 43 appearances, while posting a 1.79 ERA. Deeter, meanwhile, went 1-0 with a 0.98 ERA in 34 relief appearances.

Also, Arizona’s Alex Mejia was named the Conference Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year. Oregon’s Alex Keudell won Pitcher of the Year, and Oregon State’s Michael Conforto earned Freshman of the Year honors.