Ducks host Seattle in home opener

Photo by: Zachary Krill

02/26/18 | Baseball

Complete Game Notes (Seattle/FAU)

Ducks' home opener Tuesday vs. Seattle

Oregon will open its home season Tuesday night at 6 p.m. vs. Seattle.
The Ducks hold a 21-2-1 series advantage over the Redhawks, including a 12-2-1 record since baseball returned at Oregon.
Oregon is 8-1 against Seattle at PK Park.
The two teams played at least one game against each other for the first eight seasons since the return of baseball in 2009. The streak was snapped last season when the two teams did not play.
Oregon has won four in a row against Seattle.

Oregon hosts FAU in first-ever meeting between the two program

The Ducks will host FAU in a four-game series that starts Friday at PK Park and runs through Monday.
The meetings will be the first four between the programs.
The Owls are 6-1 on the season with their lone loss coming at the hands of No. 1 Florida (6-2).
FAU hosts Miami, Fla. on Wednesday.

Postponed Portland game rescheduled

Oregon's postponed game on Feb. 21 at Portland has been rescheduled for April 25 at 6 p.m. in Portland.
The game was postponed because of cold weather.

Oregon wins two of three at Loyola Marymount

Oregon picked up a series win over Loyola Marymount last weekend rallying to win the Saturday and Sunday games after losing on Friday.
Rallied is the key word as Oregon trailed heading into the late innings of both games.
The Ducks scored single runs in the eighth and ninth innings to win Saturday's game 2-1. SO 1B Gabe Matthews drove in SO 3B Spencer Steer with the go-ahead run with a double into the right-field corner.
UO scored four runs in both the sixth and seventh innings to rally from a 4-0 deficit on Sunday. The Ducks added a run in the eighth and then held on for a 9-7 eight-inning win.
Sunday's game was called after eight innings because of a predetermined curfew to guarantee Oregon wouldn't miss its flight home.
JR RHP Parker Kelly picked up both of Oregon's wins in the series allowing no runs on one hit in three innings pitched. Oregon's pitching staff finished the series with a 2.52 ERA.
FR CF Jonny DeLuca and SO SS Ryne Nelson led the Ducks offense at LMU. DeLuca hit .308(4-for-13) with two RBI, while Nelson batted .300 (3-for-10) with all three hits coming in Sunday's win.

Ducks finish Marucci Desert Classic with 2-1 record

Oregon picked up wins over Loyola Marymount and Indiana State in the Marucci Desert Classic while losing to host UNLV.
Oregon batted .300 as a team in the three games while hitting six home runs, which ranks sixth in the nation and first in the Pac-12.
JR RF Jakob Goldfarb led Oregon batting .545 (6-for-11) with three home runs, a double and seven RBI.
SO 1B Gabe Matthews matched Goldfarb with a team-high six hits while batting .500 with a home run and three RBI.
SR 2B Kyle Kasser and SO 3B Spencer Steer both batted over .300. Kasser finished the tournament batting .364 (4-for-11) with a .500 on-base percentate in the leadoff spot, while Steer batted .357 (5-for-14) with a home run and two RBI.
JR RHP Matt Mercer and JR RHP Parker Kelly picked up wins in the tournament; while SO RHP Kenyon Yovan had a save.

Ducks put on power display in win over Indiana State

Oregon hit four home runs in an 8-5 win over Indiana State to wrap up the Marucci Desert Classic during the season's opening weekend.
JR RF Jakob Goldfarb hit two solo shots, while SO 1B Gabe Matthews and SO 3B Spencer Steer both hit two-run homers.
The four home runs were the most by a Ducks' team in a game since UO hit four in a game against Cal on April 13, 2013.
In that game, Scott Heineman hit two HRs, while Ryon Healy and Brett Thomas each hit one.
Goldfarb's two bombs in a game were the first by an Oregon Duck since Shaun Chase did it vs. Oregon State on May 20, 2014.

Milestone watch

SR 2B Kyle Kasser started his 100th career game during the Loyola Marymount series. He now has 101 starts, 37 shy of cracking the school top ten.
JR OF Jakob Goldfarb played in the 100th career game of his career during the LMU series. He now has exactly 100 games played.
JR RHP Matt Mercer needs two strikeouts to get 100 for his career.

Ducks return veteran infield, but are inexperienced in the outfield

Oregon returns a wealth of experience, particularly in the infield, heading into week three of the season.
Six different infielders have combined to start 311 games during their careers at Oregon with SR Daniel Patzlaff leading the way with 108 starts in the infield. Patzlaff also has 10 starts at DH for a team-leading 118 career starts.
Patzlaff needs to start 20 games in 2018 to tie Scott Heineman (2012-15) and Brett Thomas (2011-13) for 10th on the all-time list.
SR 2B Kyle Kasser has a team-best 61 consecutive starts and 101 career starts.
Kasser has started games at all four infield positions with 50 starts at first base, 29 starts at shortstop, 19 starts at third base and eight starts at second base during his career.
Kasser needs 15 more consecutive starts in to tie Aaron Payne (2012-13) for the sixth-most consecutive starts in program history since 2009. Mitchell Tolman (2013-15) started a school-record 128 straight games, one more than Ryon Healy (2010-12) started.
Kasser needs 37 more starts to tie Heineman and Thomas for 10th on the all-time list.
SO 3B Spencer Steer and SO 1B Gabe Matthews have extensive consecutive games streaks as well. Steer has started 51 games in a row at third base, while Matthews boasts a 39-game streak with the last 35 of those coming at first-base. His four other starts in the streak were at designated hitter.
SO SS Ryne Nelson rounds out the infield. He made his first six starts at shortstop during the first two weeks of the season. Nelson has started six games at DH as well as one game on the mound.
Oregon has a combined 112 starts in the outfield.
JR C/RF Jakob Goldfarb, who redshirted in 2017 because of a toe injury, has a team-best 62 outfield starts with 57 of them coming in right field. The other seven starts were in left field. He also has seven starts at DH.
SR OF Taylor Travess started 25 games (22 in LF, 3 in RF) as a junior college transfer in 2017. He also had one start at DH.
SO C Braden Stutzman gave Oregon 13 starts in right field in 2017 due to injuries.
FR CF Jonny DeLuca and FR LF Evan Williams started the first six games of their respective careers to start this season.
Nobody on Oregon's roster had started a Division I game at catcher before JR C Ray Soderman started the season behind the plate. He has started all six Ducks' games.

Ducks have two weekend starters with experience on the mound

JR RHP Matt Mercer (22 starts) and JR LHP Cole Stringer (16 starts) give Oregon some experienced starters on the mound with 38 combined starts over the last two-plus seasons.
Mercer was Oregon's Saturday starter for all 15 weekends in 2017, finishing 6-7 with a 3.16 ERA and 59 Ks in 88.1 IP. He held opponents to a .241 batting average against.
He picked up a win in his first start of the 2018 season allowing just one run on three hits in 6.1 innings against Loyola Marymount with four Ks and three walks. LMU turned the tables on Mercer scoring three runs (two earned) on five hits in six innings piched in a 4-2 LMU win.
Mercer made five starts as a freshman in 2016 including the last four weekends of Pac-12 Conference play. He finished with a 2-2 record and a 4.28 ERA.
Stringer started and ended the 2017 season as Oregon's Sunday starter. He started the Ducks' first five Sunday games before moving to the bullpen. The lefty sandwiched five bullpen appearances around a mid-week start vs. Portland before moving back into the rotation for the final five weekend series.
Stringer got his first Saturday start at UNLV last weekend where he took the loss allowing four runs on seven hits in 4.2 innings with two strikeouts and no walks. He tossed five innings in a no-decision at LMU last weekend.
In his 12 weekend appearances, Stringer worked into the sixth inning six times and gave up more than two runs just three times. In his mid-week staffed game last year, Stringer picked up the win allowing just one run on one hit in four innings.
SO RHP James Acuña made his first two weekend starts pitching on Sundays during the season's first two weeks.
Acuña made two starts in 19 appearances as a true freshman last year. His best outing as a starter came in his first career start when he held Santa Clara scoreless through four innings while allowing just three hits and striking out four.
SO LHP Zack Noll (4 starts) and SO INF/RHP Ryne Nelson (1 start) combined for five starts in 2017.
Noll made two weekend Pac-12 starts and a pair of midweek starts. His best start came at UC Riverside where he left the game with a no-hitter through five innings. In that game he struck out seven while walking just two.

Ducks have experience in the bullpen led by an All-American closer

Ten different Ducks pitched out of the bullpen during the first two weeks of the season with JR RHP Parker Kelly and SO RHP Kenyon Yovan each pitching four times.
Five freshmen saw the first action of their careers during the first two weeks of the season. RHP Cullen Kafka, RHP Peyton Fuller, RHP Brett Walker and LHP Kolby Somers all made one appearance in Las Vegas, while RHP Hunter Breault made his first appearance in the Loyola Marymount series. Somers pitched twice more at LMU.
Seven different Ducks (SR LHP Jesse Hobaica, Kelly, SO INF/RHP Ryne Nelson, SO LHP Zack Noll, SO LHP Nico Tellache and Yovan) in the bullpen in 2018 spent time on the mound, while one more (SO RHP Jacob Bennett) was a part of the 2017 bullpen before suffering an injury that forced him to miss last season. All seven who pitched last year have made at least one appearance in 2018.
Yovan was a consensus freshman All-American while also being named first-team All-America by the NCBWA and second-team All-America by Collegiate Baseball.
Yovan was a Stopper of the Year finalist after finishing the season with 15 saves, a 1-1 record with a 1.97 ERA and 36 Ks in 32.0 IP.
Kelly has made 30 career appearances including 14 last season. He has a 4-0 career record with a 3.39 ERA while fanning 41 in 38.1 career innings.
Kelly is 3-0 with a 0.00 ERA in four appearances this season with 7 Ks in 5.0 innings pitched.
Nelson started fast in 2017 before hurting his arm. He didn't allow a run in three February late inning set-up appearances for Yovan before being shut down until May 9.
Nelson picked up his first career save in Sunday's win over LMU fanning 2 in 0.2 IP.

Kelly tied for national lead in wins

JR RHP Parker Kelly is tied for the national lead in wins with three.
Kelly picked up both of Oregon's wins over LMU last weekend pitching a combined three innings while allowing no runs on one hit with three Ks and a walk.
Kelly's first win of the season came against Indiana State in the Marucci Desert Classic in Las Vegas. In that game, he tossed 1.1 scoreless innings while fanning two of the four batters he faced.
Kelly is tied with Seattle's Zach Wolf and Indiana's Cal Krueger with three wins.

Yovan earns spot on preseason Stopper of the Year watch list

SO RHP Kenyon Yovan is on the preseason Stopper of the Year watch list after putting together an All-American season as a freshman in 2017.
Yovan finished 2017 with 15 saves, which tied for fourth nationally following the regular season, and had a 1.97 ERA with a 1-1 record.
He was a finalist for the 2017 Stopper of the Year Award and earned NCBWA first-team All-America honors.
Yovan became the second Oregon pitcher to be named a finalist for the Stopper of the Year Award. Jimmie Sherfy was a finalist in both 2012 and 2013.

Yovan named first-team preseason All-America by both Collegiate Baseball and the NCBWA

SR RHP Kenyon Yovan was named a first-team preseason All-American by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) and Collegiate Baseball heading into the season.
Yovan is one of two relief pitchers named to the Collegiate Baseball team.
Yovan is one of five relief pitchers named to the NCBWA team.
He earned the honor after putting together a stellar freshman season where he with 15 saves, which tied for fourth nationally following the regular season, and had a 1.97 ERA with a 1-1 record. The Ducks' stopper struck out 36 and walked just six in 32 innings pitched. He picked up a save in half of Oregon's 30 wins and finished with the fourth-most saves in school history.
Yovan was named first-team All-American by the NCBWA, while claiming second-team All-America recognition from Collegiate Baseball. The right-handed pitcher was one of five finalists for the NCBWA Stopper of the Year Award, while also being named one of four National Freshmen of the Year by Collegiate Baseball, a first-team Freshman All-American by Baseball America and a second-team freshman All-American by D1Baseball.
Yovan was one of three Ducks named first-team All-Pac-12 Conference in 2017.

Yovan continuing tradition of superb closers

It wouldn't be a stretch to call Oregon "Closer University" with the run of top notch relievers the Ducks have had in the back end of the bullpen over the last six seasons.
SO RHP Kenyon Yovan became the latest in a string of dominant closers last year when the freshman finished as a finalist for the Stopper of the Year Award after finishing the season with 15 saves and a 1.97 ERA.
He picked up his 17th career save last weekend while throwing a scoreless ninth inning.
Yovan followed four closers who combined for a 19-8 record with 78 saves and a 1.85 ERA in the previous five seasons.
All four were drafted in the first 10 rounds of the MLB Draft.
Jimmie Sherfy started the run in 2012 and combined for a 7-3 record with 40 saves and a 2.22 ERA during his two seasons as the closer before being drafted by the Arizona Diamondbacks in the 10th round of the 2013 draft.
Jake Reed inherited the closer role and finished 4-1 with 13 saves and a 1.93 ERA before being picked in the fifth round of the draft by the Minnesota Twins.
In 2015 Garrett Cleavinger went 6-2 with nine saves and a 1.58 ERA, and then was selected in the third round by the Baltimore Orioles.
Stephen Nogosek was the next Ducks' pitcher to excel in the role, finishing his final season at Oregon 2-2 with 16 saves and a 1.13 ERA before being drafted in the sixth round by the Boston Red Sox.

Yovan in the top 10 in single-season and career saves and games finished at Oregon

He's only appeared in 26 games, but SO RHP Kenyon Yovan has already put his name in Oregon's single-season and career record books with 17 saves.
Yovan passed Stephen Nogosek (2014-16) for second on the all-time saves list with his 17th career save at Loyola Marymount on Feb. 24. Jimmie Sherfy (2011-13) is the all-time leader with 40 saves, 23 more than Yovan.
On the single-season list, Yovan (2017) ranks fourth, one shy of Nogosek (2016) who is third.
Sherfy is first (2013) and second (2012) on the list with 21 and 19.
Yovan is seventh in career games finished with 23 and needs six more to pass Jake Reed (2012-14) for sixth.
Yovan finished his freshman season sixth in single-season games finished with 20.

Yovan finishes freshman year second in Pac-12, sixth in the nation in saves

RHP Kenyon Yovan finished second in the Pac-12 with 15 saves while ranking in a tie for sixth in the country.
Yovan picked up saves in 15 of his 22 outings, while getting a win in another appearance.
The Ducks' closer, who didn't give up an earned run in his first 19.1 innings pitched, finished just four saves behind the national leader.

Mercer takes Friday night roll as one of the top prospects for 2018 MLB Draft

JR RHP Matt Mercer is the latest pitcher on the Oregon staff to appear prominently on the radar of Major League Baseball teams.
Mercer was No. 24 on College Baseball Daily's Top 100 Countdown.
Mercer ranked No. 42 on D1Baseball's College Top 100 Prospects.
Oregon has had 29 pitchers drafted in the MLB Draft since the sport returned in 2009.
Of those 29, 15 were drafted in the top 10 rounds while nine were picked in the top five rounds.
Tyler Anderson (2011) and David Peterson (2017) were both first-round picks. Both were the 20th overall pick in their respective drafts.
Mercer picked up a win in his opening day start against Loyola Marymount allowing just one run on three hits in 6.1 innings with four strikeouts and three walks.

Stringer takes over as Saturday starter

JR LHP Cole Stringer struggled in his first outing as Oregon's Saturday starter taking the loss in Oregon's game at UNLV.
The Ducks' lefty allowed four runs on seven hits in 4.2 innings pitched while striking out two.
Stringer bounced back at LMU during the season's second week. He gave up just one run on four hits in five innings.
Last season, Oregon's issues with Sunday starting pitchers in 2017 were put to rest by Stringer.
The Portland native returned to the starting weekend rotation against Arizona State on April 30 and allowed just one run in 5.2 innings pitched.
He proceeded to give the Ducks four strong starts, including a quality start at USC when he allowed two runs on five hits in six innings while striking out three and walking none.
Stringer made 11 starts in 2017, including 10 as a member of the weekend rotation.
In those 11 starts, Stringer had a 4-3 record with a 3.06 ERA in 53 innings pitched with 33 strikeouts and just nine walks while allowing 53 hits.
His best outing came in his first when he held Fresno State to a run on six hits in seven innings while striking out eight and walking just two.

Kasser continues to be "Mr. Consistent" for Ducks

SR 2B Kyle Kasser picked up in 2018 where he left off in 2017. The Ducks' leadoff hitter batted .364 in Oregon's opening weekend at the Marucci Desert Classic in Las Vegas.
After going 0-for-3 while reaching base on a HBP in the opener, Kasser went 5-for-11 in the final two games including a 3-for-5 game on Saturday.
Kasser finished the weekend with a .500 on-base percentage adding two walks to the four hits and the HBP.
During the Loyola Marymount series, Kasser extended his on-base streak to 21 games.
A first-team All-Pac-12 selection in 2017, Kasser set the modern era (since 2009) program record for highest single-season batting average, hitting an impressive .352.
He led the team in hits (75), runs (34), on-base-percentage (.435) and slugging percentage (.408).
Kasser finished third in the Pac-12, hitting .381 in conference games while leading the conference in Pac-12 play with an on-base percentage of .459.
He proved to be one of the more versatile players on the team defensively, starting at least one game at every infield position with most of his starts coming at shortstop or first base.
Kasser tied the school record for longest hitting streak in one season, hitting safely in the final 15 games of the year. That streaked ended when he went hitless in the 2018 season opener against Loyola Marymount.
He also led the team in 2017 with 24 multi-hit games putting him in a tie for third on Oregon's single-season list.

Goldfarb returns to lineup with a bang (and a bang, and a bang)

JR RF Jakob Goldfarb returned to the starting lineup at the Marucci Desert Classic after missing the entire 2017 season with a toe injury.
Goldfarb finished the tournament batting .545 (6-for-11) with three home runs and seven RBI, while boasting a 1.455 slugging percentage and a team-best .583 on-base percentage.
Goldfarb was 3-for-4 with a home run, a double and a career-high five RBI in the opener against Loyola Marymount. He finished that game with four two-out RBI, including three on his first home run of the season.
On Sunday, Goldfarb was 2-for-4 with home runs in back-to-back at bats in the sixth and seventh innings.
Goldfarb's two bombs in a game were the first by an Oregon Duck since Shaun Chase did it vs. Oregon State on May 20, 2014.
Goldfarb's three home runs matched the total he put up in his first two seasons (2015-16) at Oregon.

Matthews gets third career four-hit game in win over Indiana State

SO 1B Gabe Matthews went 4-for-4 with a walk in Sunday's 8-5 win over Indiana State at the Marucci Desert Classic.
The four-hit game was the third of Matthew's career and his first this season.
Matthews launced a two-run home run over the right-center field wall in the seventh inning to break a 5-5 tie. He also had an RBI single in the fifth inning that got the Ducks within one run of the Sycamores.
He finished the weekend batting .500 (6-for-12) with a homer and three RBI. He also had a .750 slugging percentage and a .538 on-base percentage.
Matthews has 13 career multi-hit games.

Steer gets two multi-hit games in Las Vegas

SO 3B Spencer Steer had two multi-hit games at the Marucci Desert Classic to run his career total to 17.
Steer went 3-for-5 with a home run in a win over Indiana State. It was his third career three-hit game.
Steer opened the season going 2-for-4 in a win over Loyola Marymount.

Steer and Matthews earn freshman All-America honors in 2017 while playing corner infield positions

SO 3B Spencer Steer and SO 1B Gabe Matthews led a talented group of freshman who saw significant action during the 2017 season.
Both Steer and Matthews were named freshman All-Americans by Collegiate Baseball following the 2017 season.
Matthews finished second on the team in batting average, hitting .282 with three home runs and 26 RBI.
Matthews was also named to the all-tournament team at the Tony Gwynn Classic after batting .571 with a .667 on-base percentage.
Steer hit .262 with a team-high (and Oregon freshman record) 12 doubles and a team-best 35 RBI.

Nelson gets first three-hit game and first career save in same game

Sunday's win over Loyola Marymount will be one that SO SS/RHP Ryne Nelson will remember.
The Ducks utility player picked up his first three-hit game going 3-for-4 with two runs scored in a 9-7 Oregon win.
He also came in to pitch in the game's final inning with one out and the bases loaded with the Ducks leading by two runs. After walking the first batter he faced, Nelson fanned the next two hitters to pick up his first career save.

Ten Ducks on D1Baseball's list of the Pac-12's top prospects/freshmen

Oregon placed 10 players on D1Baseball's list of top prospects from the Pac-12 Conference for the 2018 Draft, the 2019 Draft and a list of the conference's impact freshmen.
In the 2018 draft prospect list, the Ducks placed two players. JR RHP Matt Mercer was the seventh-ranked prospect and the fourth-ranked pitcher. SR 2B Kyle Kasser checked in at No. 36 on the list.
Oregon had four sophomores on the 2019 draft list. RHP Kenyon Yovan was eighth overall and the fourth-ranked pitcher. SS/RHP Ryne Nelson was 10th on the list, while 3B Spencer Steer was 20th and 1B Gabe Matthews was 27th.
Oregon also had four players on the impact freshmen list. OF Jonny DeLuca was fourth, RHP Cullen Kafka was 16th, OF Evan Williams ranked 23rd and RHP Hunter Breault was 30th.

Ducks 28-21 all-time against ranked teams at PK Park

Despite going 2-5 against ranked teams in 2017, Oregon has been successful against ranked teams at PK Park.
The Ducks have played 49 games against teams ranked in the Baseball America top-25 and compiled an impressive 28-21 record in those games.

Ducks picked sixth in Pac-12 preseason coaches poll

Oregon was picked sixth in the preseason coaches poll finishing behind Oregon State, UCLA, Stanford, Arizona and California.
The Ducks finished with 51 points, five behind Cal and one in front of Washington.

Ducks play 14 games against teams ranked in preseason polls

Oregon will face four teams who are ranked in at least one of the six preseason polls during the season.
UO plays Oregon State five times, as well as Arizona, Stanford and UCLA three times each. The Beavers are the consensus No. 2 ranked team in the polls, while both Stanford and UCLA are ranked in the top 25 in every poll. Arizona is No. 36 in the Collegiate Baseball preseason poll.

Oregon will play 14 games on Pac-12 Network

The Pac-12 Network will televise a total of 14 Oregon baseball games in 2018.
Four Pac-12 series will have all three games broadcast with three of those coming on the road. The series at Washington (April 13-15), at Oregon State (April 19-31) and at UCLA (May 18-20) will all be televised.
The season-ending series against Arizona (May 24-26) is Oregon's lone Pac-12 series televised at home.
All five Oregon State games will be broadcast including the two non-league games vs. Oregon State (May 1, May 8).
All Oregon home games will be streamed live on Pac-12 Conference's Oregon live stream (http://pac-12.com/live/university-oregon).

Ducks join Team IMPACT and sign 15-year old James Dahl

Oregon Baseball joined Team Impact and signed 15-year old James Dahl of Eugene to a letter of intent on Friday, Feb. 9.
Dahl has been bravely living with Rasmussen's Encephalitis, a rare inflammatory neurological disease, since 2012.
At the signing ceremony, Dahl was presented with season tickets for his family and was given his own locker inside the Ducks' locker room.
Since 2011, Team IMPACT has matched more than 1,400 children with over 500 colleges and universities in 47 states, reaching more than 40,000 participating student-athletes.