In the 5 years and 4 NCAA Tournaments since the Oregon State Beavers won the 2018 national championship, the Pac-12 has won precisely 1 College World Series game — in 2021, the 1st of Stanford’s three straight trips to Omaha. Last year and this year, they’ve headed back to Palo Alto with their tails tucked between their trees, though, winless on college baseball’s grandest stage.

Does that make season a failure? No. A disappointment, maybe.

A pair of early dominant teams dwindled to one after UCLA faded following a fast start, and no other Pac-12 squad joined Stanford as a true national threat. The conference tournament was won by the No. 6 seed, upstart Oregon.

But good things are to come. USC and Washington showed flickers of life and Arizona took a step under Chip Hale.

Here’s some of the best and worst of the 2023 Pac-12 baseball season…

Best team: Stanford

The Cardinal were the class of the Pac-12 once again, continuing a strong tradition under David Esquer. Stanford advanced to its 3rd straight College World Series, though they left Omaha winless once more.

A two-game set against some of baseball’s best does not erase Stanford’s success, though. The Cardinal went 23-7 in league play after going 21-9 last year, winning 8 series and sweeping 5 squads. Early in the year, the Cardinal upended Cal State Fullerton, Rice and Texas Tech to get off to a good start.

Stanford started putting some excess mileage on its pitchers’ arms late in the year, going 6-6 in its last 12 games.

But once again, the body of work was unsurpassed in the Pac-12.

Biggest surprise: USC

It’s almost unfathomable, but the best program in Pac-12 history — and maybe the best college baseball program ever — hasn’t won so much as a conference title since 2002. And this is a squad that has 12 national titles from 1948-1998.

But this season marked a major step toward respectability in Andy Stankiewicz’s debut season at the helm.

The former Major Leaguer, Arizona State assistant and Grand Canyon head coach guided the Trojans to a 34-23-1 record after Jason Gill won 25 games in back-to-back seasons at the helm. USC was on the cusp of its 1st NCAA Tournament bid since 2015, but will have settle for plenty of momentum.

Biggest disappointment: UCLA

The stars were aligned in a big way for John Savage and the Bruins to bounce back after what — by their standards — were a pair of middling seasons. Such is the standard set by the former CWS champion.

Savage is zeroing in on two decades at the helm, but UCLA’s 28 wins were its fewest since 2016. The Bruins were done in by injuries all over the field, but particularly to a pitching staff that still managed to impress, even if it was running on fumes late in the year.

With just one more year left before the big move to the Big Ten, you’ve got to wonder where Savage’s head is at.

Best bats: Stanford

Stanford batters ranked 2nd and 4th in batting average, tied for 3rd and 7th for home runs, 2nd, 4th and tied for 6th in doubles and 2nd, 4th, 7th and 8th in RBIs.

And that was 5 different players.

Tommy Troy, Alberto Rios — the surprise Pac-12 player of the year after seeing scant playing time last year — Braden Montgomery, Carter Graham and Malcolm Moore were each among the league’s best hitters.

Best player: Stanford’s Rios

After appearing in just 7 games as a pinch hitter last year, Rios was an absolute revelation this year.

He was a monster in conference play, batting a league-best .434. His league-leading slugging percentage of .841 was almost .300 better than No. 6 Kiko Romero, the Arizona slugger. Rios had 48 RBIs, trailing just Romero in conference play, as well as 12 homers.

What a story he was.

Worst loss: Arizona 20, Arizona State 0, April 19

It was a hump day hammering, the likes of which you rarely see on the baseball diamond, and especially in a rivalry game. The Territorial Cup runneth over for the Wildcats, who demolished Arizona State, 20-0, on April 19. Three different UA players had 3 or more hits, as Mac Bingham, Chase Davis and Romero combined to go 12-for-13 with 9 runs, 12 RBIs and a home run and a double a piece.

Just over a month later, the Sun Devils suffered another disappointment to the Wildcats in a 12-3 Pac-12 Tournament-opening loss. Their season would end just two days later.

They missed the NCAA Tournament while the Cats got in.

Best arms: UCLA

It says a lot about John Savage’s pitching acumen that a badly damaged Bruins staff could still manage to lead the league in walks allowed, rank 2nd in ERA and hits allowed, 3rd in home runs allowed and strikeouts per 9 innings. USC was the only team better than UCLA in ERA, but the Trojans allowed 13 more home runs, averaged more than a strikeout fewer per inning and issued 46 more free passes.

Worst stretch: Arizona State

Things were looking so good for the Sun Devils, who bounced back from a 5-game early season losing streak to reel off 12 wins in 13 games, ultimately heading into the stretch with a 28-12 record and a strong RPI. But Arizona State picked the worst time for its bats to run cold, starting in late-April. The Sun Devils finished the season on a 4-11 slide, including sweeps at the hands of Stanford and USC. ASU particularly struggled against the Trojans, scoring 2 runs in the 3-game set.

Best battery: Stanford’s Malcolm Moore and Quinn Mathews

The league’s best pitcher and best newcomer formed a potent pair. Mathews was stellar in conference play with 90 strikeouts in 72.2 innings — 21 more than 2nd place. He topped himself in a big Super Regional win over Texas, tossing a complete game with 16 strikeouts.

Moore, meanwhile, was a steady presence beyond his years as a freshman backstop. He looks like a future conference player of the year.

Worst luck: UCLA

The season-robbing Tommy John surgery for Gage Jump in the summer of 2022 was just a harbinger of things to come for Savage and the Bruins. That was bad enough: Jump arrived in Westwood as one of the top pitching prospects in the country and spent much of his freshman year injured and big things were expected for him as a sophomore.

That was just the early beginning. The Bruins then had to contend with injuries to sophomore right-hander Alonzo Tredwell and sophomore left-hander Ethan Flanagan, as well as sophomore closer Luke Jewett. And then there was senior Charles Harrison, who has battled tremendous injuries, but managed a 1.38 ERA in 22 appearances.

And that was just on the mound. UCLA also suffered big-time losses with sophomore shortstop Cody Schrier (torn labrum) and sophomore center fielder Malakhi Knight, along with stud Kyle Karros, who misses extended time.

What began as a top-10 bounce-back season for the once-mighty Bruins devolved quickly — after starting 16-3 overall and 6-1 in the Pac-12, UCLA finished on a 12-21-1 stretch and 12-16-1 in conference play.