Arizona baseball coach Chip Hale makes history with Pac-12 Coach of the Year Award

Arizona baseball coach Chip Hale was named Pac-12 Baseball Coach of the Year on Tuesday and he made history in the process. He becomes the first person to win that award and the Pac-12 Baseball Player of the Year Award.

Hale's Wildcats easily surpassed expectations this season, winning the regular season conference title after being selected ninth in the conference's preseason coaches poll.

Arizona won 20 conference games for just the third time since 1990. The Wildcats won 23 of their final 30 regular season games and 17 of their final 22 Pac-12 games.

During the season, Arizona had an 11-game winning streak at one point and also an 11-game conference win streak.

The Wildcats are the No. 1 seed in the Pac-12 Baseball Tournament this week in Scottsdale.

Interestingly, Hale a former Diamondbacks manager, split the Pac-10 South Player of the Year Award in 1987 with UCLA's Torey Lovullo, the DBacks' current manager.

Pac-12 baseball tournament: When, where, how to buy tickets

Chip Hale and others reacted to the Pac-12 Baseball Coach of the Year Award:

Reach Jeremy Cluff at jeremy.cluff@arizonarepublic.com. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter @Jeremy_Cluff.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona baseball's Chip Hale makes history with Pac-12 coach award