Ducks head to Hawaii for four-game series

Series History - Hawaii

Oregon leads the all-time series against Hawaii 20-14, including a 20-9 edge since baseball returned for the 2009 season.
After a three -year hiatus in the series, UO returned to Hawaii last season and won three of four.
The Ducks and Rainbow Warriors had met every season between 2009 and 2015 with Oregon playing at Hawaii from 2010 to 2015.
The Ducks won 17 of the 24 games between 2010 and 2015 including a streak of 13 in a row at one point.

Zavala Red Hot

SO 3B/RF Aaron Zavala if off to a strong start to the 2020 season.
The Ducks' leading hitter has multiple hits in five of UO's last six games with three 3-hit games.
During those six games, Zavala is 14-for-22 (.636) with nine RBI and four runs scored.
For the season, Zavala has six multi-hit games, four with three hits, and seven multi-RBI games.
He heads to Hawaii batting .487 with a seven-game hitting streak and a four-game RBI streak.

Strong starts from pitching staff

After a slow beginning to the season in week one, Oregon's starting rotation has stepped up the last two weekends.
Oregon's starters have combined for four quality starts in the last five games with JR LHP Robert Ahlstrom leading the way with quality starts in his last two appearances.
JR RHP Peyton Fuller and JR RHP Brett Walker both got their first career quality starts over the weekend in wins over Milwaukee.

Ducks sweep seven-game homestand

Oregon finished its first homestand of the season 7-0 after sweeping both Nevada and Milwaukee at PK Park.
The Ducks outscored the two teams by a combined score of 40-12.
The Oregon pitching staff compiled a 1.38 ERA during the seven games allowing just 10 earned runs in 65 innings, while holding Wolf Pack and Panther hitters to a .194 batting average.
JR RHP Brett Walker and JR LHP Robert Ahlstrom both picked up two wins on the homestand, with JR RHP Peyton Fuller, JR LHP Kolby Somers and JR RHP Hunter Breault each getting one win.
Offensively, the Ducks batted .284 with 14 extra-base hits (8 doubles, 3 triples, 3 home runs.)
SO 3B/RF Aaron Zavala paced the Ducks batting .577 with 11 RBI, while JR DH Kenyon Yovan (.391, 9 runs scored) and SO SS Gavin Grant (.333) both batted over .300.

Bullpen shows up

Oregon's bullpen has been impressive in the first 11 games of the season.
Nine Ducks' relievers combined to allow just 11 earned runs (four in the ninth inning of the Pepperdine game) in 46.1 innings for an ERA of 2.14.
Minus the Pepperdine game, the Ducks' bullpen allowed just seven earned in 43.0 innings (1.47 ERA).
JR RHP Hunter Breault (6 app, 1 win, 1 save) and JR LHP Kolby Somers (5 app, 1 win) both have tossed 8-or-more innings and have not allowed a run in 16.1 combined innings.
tossed 2.1 scoreless innings (0.1 in the sixth plus the seventh and eighth) against Pepperdine, before throwing a scoreless eighth and ninth innings at Grand Canyon.
He picked up his save with a scoreless ninth against Nevada in a 3-2 ballgame.
He got the win in Oregon's walkoff victory in game one vs. Milwaukee with a scoreless inning, before tossing a scoreless ninth inning in the series finale.
allowed just one hit in two innings (fifth and sixth innings) against San Diego, before blanking Grand Canyon in the 10th and 11th innings allowing no hits.
He picked up the win in game one against Nevada tossing a scoreless ninth in a tie game.
He threw two scoreless innings (9th, 10th) in a tie-game with Milwaukee in the series opener, before tossing a scoreless eighth inning in the series finale.
JR RHP Brett Walker also hasn't allowed a run in his two relief appearances (2 innings vs. both San Diego and Nevada in game two of the series).
FR RHP Andrew Mosiello has back-to-back scoreless three-inning appearances.
The Ducks bullpen finished the 2019 season with a 6.58 ERA, with only three pitchers having ERAs under 5.00.
All three of those were either starters (Cullen Kafka - 1 relief appearance - 0.00 ERA) or part-time starters (Cole Stringer - 8 relief appearances - 3.20 ERA; Ryne Nelson - 19 relief appearances - 3.63 ERA).

Zavala debuts at third while getting off to another fast start

SO 3B/RF Aaron Zavala exploded onto the collegiate scene as a freshman last season with back-to-back three-hit games at Texas Tech to start his career.
He has come out of the gates fast again this season batting .487 with a team-high 16 RBI with seven multi-RBI games and six multi-hit games (four 3-hit )in the first 11.
also debuted at third base as a sub in the opener before getting his first three starts at the position in the next three games.
He started all three games of the Nevada series in right field, while splitting four starts vs. Milwaukee between third and right.
Last year, he became the first Oregon player in modern era program history to have four (4) three-hit games in a six game stretch (Feb. 15-23).
He has three 3-hit games in Oregon's last four games.
hit .542 (13-for-24) in the month of February with two doubles and four RBI.
The Ducks DH was batting .349 on March 16 and over .300 on March 22 before injuries plagued him eventually forcing the Salem, Ore. native to miss a number of games.

Yovan off to fast start after missing 2019

JR DH Kenyon Yovan was back in the lineup for the first time since May 26, 2018, when Oregon opened the season on Feb. 14.
returned in grand fashion batting .563 (9-for-16) with two home runs, two RBI, nine runs scored, a double and a triple in Oregon's four games in Arizona.
The Ducks' three-hole hitter had hits in all four games, including multiple hits in two and three hits against both Minnesota and Grand Canyon.
In the finale of the four-game trip at GCU, Yovan hit a pair of homers with a double while scoring all three of Oregon's runs.
He added three hits, including a walk-off single in the ninth, in the series opener against Nevada.
Yovan batted .462 (6-for-13) with six runs scored in the Milwaukee series.
He opened the season with a 3-for-5 night with two runs scored against Minnesota.
had a .667 OBP in the first four games with a 1.125 slugging percentage, with his OBP at .618 and his slugging percentage at .718 after the Milwaukee series.

Matthews off to fast start after Gold Glove season in 2019

SR 1B Gabe Matthews batted .471 (8-for-17) in Oregon's first four games with four RBI, four runs scored, two doubles and a triple, while finishing the road trip with a .591 OBP and a .706 slugging percentage.
In the Nevada series, he batted .300 (3-for-10) with three RBI, two runs scored and a double.
Against Milwaukee, Matthews added four hits, including a walk-off home run in the 11th inning, three RBI and five runs scored.
The effort to start the season came following a successful junior campaign that saw the four-year starter hit .290 with six home runs, 34 RBI and 13 doubles while playing stellar defense at first base.
earned one of nine spots on the 2019 ABCA Rawlings NCAA Division I Gold Glove team at first base.
The Ducks' veteran has started 169 games during his three-plus year career at Oregon, which ranks fifth all-time in school history.
He started 51 games as a freshman in 2017, 55 games as both a sophomore in 2018 and a junior in 2019 and has 11 starts this season.
has played in 173 total games in three-plus seasons.
In addition to being ranked fifth in starts heading into this weekend, Matthews is second in walks (97), third in on-base percentage (.398), fourth in at-bats (622), sixth in hits (177) and seventh in slugging percentage (.420).

Smith serves as Oregon's spark plug

SO OF Tanner Smith moved into the leadoff spot for the first time in his career vs. Milwaukee.
While starting the season in the two-hole, the Ducks' sophomore batted .308 (4-for-13) in the Angels College Classic.
batted .284 with a .372 OBP, four home runs, three triples, nine doubles, six stolen bases and 35 RBI last season.
also finished the season with five outfield assists, which is tied for the fifth most all-time in a single season. He added two in Arizona earlier this year to move into a tie for fourth for his career.

Novitske puts together one of top freshman seasons in UO history

SO Sam Novitske put together a stellar first season at Oregon setting freshman school records for runs scored (48), hits (70), walks (34) and at-bats (233).
He also became just the third freshman in modern UO history to bat .300 while starting and batting leadoff in all 56 games.
He became just the second player in modern program history to have three (3) four-hit games in a season (Mitchell Tolman - 2015).
reached base in 49 of 56 games in 2019 while getting on base multiple times in 30 of those games (he has reached in all 11 games this season).

Ducks boast experienced staff

Oregon opened the 2020 season with a staff that has 11 pitchers who have experience on the mound for the Ducks.
Of those 11, eight have started at least one game during their careers.
Six have started double-digit games with two starting 20-or-more games.
All 11 have at least 19 appearances with 10 making 20+ appearances, nine pitching in at least 30 games, five making 40+ appearances and one (SR LHP Nico Tellache) pitching in 62 games.
All 11 have pitched at least 26 innings during their careers.
Eight have more than 50 innings pitched, with five surpassing the 70-inning pitched plateau, four tossing over 90 innings, four breaking the century mark and one (SR LHP Cole Stringer) totaling a staff-high 157.2 innings pitched.
As a staff, the 11-experienced Ducks' hurlers have combined for 411 appearances, 104 starts and 874.2 innings pitched.
Those 11 are joined on the staff by five freshmen.

Kafka opens season in Friday night starter role

JR RHP Cullen Kafka will get the ball again on Thursday night when Oregon visits Hawaii this week.
The Ducks' starter struggled in his first appearance of the season, lasting just 2.2 innings against Minnesota in the season opener while allowing nine runs (seven earned) on 10 hits with three Ks and four walks.
Against Nevada, he allowed no earned runs (2 unearned) in five innings on just three hits with 5 Ks.
Against Milwaukee, he allowed three runs in 5.2 innings with four Ks and a walk.
, who pitched in all three-weekend rotation spots last season, served as Oregon's Friday night or series game-one pitcher five times as a sophomore and once as a freshman.
The Walnut Creek, Calif., native made his first career Friday night start in the season-ending series against Arizona as a freshman where he took a no-decision.
As a sophomore, he pitched on Friday's against Loyola Marymount, Hawaii, Washington and Arizona State, while opening the series against Stanford on a Thursday night.
In 23 career starts, Kafka is 7-8 with eight no decisions.

Ahlstrom with two straight quality starts

After two weeks as the Sunday starter, JR LHP Robert Ahlstrom has moved into the game two of the series spot following back-to-back quality starts.
He opened the season in the Sunday spot in the rotation with hopes that Oregon's top pitcher last season could help Oregon finish strong and hopefully put series/weekends into the win column.
In his first start of 2020, the lefty exited the game in the top of the sixth inning with the lead but Pepperdine rallied to win the game in the ninth.
picked up his sixth career win against Nevada allowing no runs on four hits in six innings with three Ks.
He moved to Saturday last weekend against Milwaukee with the Ducks playing a doubleheader that day.
Against the Panthers, he allowed just two runs on seven hits in seven innings with 5 Ks.
started 10 games in his first season with the Ducks in 2019, almost exclusively Friday or Saturday starts.
In those starts, he pitched into at least the sixth inning against NCAA Tournament teams -- No. 20 Arizona State (6 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 8 K), No. 12 Oregon State (8.1 IP, 7 H, 3 ER, 6 K) and No. 1 UCLA (7.1 IP, 8 H, 3 R, 9 K).

Fuller gets first career win as starter

JR RHP Peyton Fuller picked up his first career win as a starter against Milwaukee when he allowed no runs on two hits with eight Ks in his first career quality start (6 IP).
impressed Oregon coaches to the point that the career relief pitcher earned a spot in the Ducks' starting rotation.
In his first start, he settled in throwing scoreless third and fourth innings against San Diego after giving up two runs in both the first and second innings.
In his second start, he allowed two third-inning runs before leaving the game after five innings while giving up four hits with four Ks.
The Ashland, Ore., native enters this weekend fourth on the team in appearances with 43.
Fuller pitched 16 games out of the bullpen as a true freshman in 2018 before making 24 appearances, third most on the team, last season as a sophomore.
His longest outing, before his first start came at Washington State as a freshman when he tossed 2.1 innings in a 7-0 Oregon loss.

Breault and Somers headline strong effort from Ducks bullpen

A year after the bullpen finished with an ERA of nearly 7.00, the Ducks pen is off to a good start to the 2020 season.
JR RHP Hunter Breault (1-0, 1 save) and SO LHP Kolby Somers (1-0) have highlighted the effort combining to throw 16.1 scoreless innings.