Smith Streaking As Ducks Return Home
03/25/22 | Baseball, @GoDucksMoseley
Outfielder Tanner Smith is riding an 11-game hit streak during which he has 10 extra-base hits, entering Friday's home game against USC.
Oregon's preseason all-American is playing at an all-America level the last three weeks, and Tanner Smith's timing couldn't be better.
The UO baseball team opens a three-game series against USC in PK Park on Friday at 4 p.m., and Smith will look to extend an 11-game hitting streak. A junior from Newport Beach, Calif., Smith is setting the tone in the leadoff spot for the Ducks, who have won seven of their last eight despite a recent spate of injuries.
Smith is 20-of-47 during his hitting streak, a .426 average. Half of his hits have gone for extra bases during the streak, in which Smith is slugging .894 with an OPS of 1.365. He has scored 18 runs, and driven in 11.
"It's fun," Smith said. "It's what makes the game enjoyable; it's why you play the game, for moments like this."
Smith's hot streak ended a short slump to open the year. After recording a pair of singles in each of Oregon's first two games, Smith fell into a 5-for-33 funk that saw his average fall to .214.
But UO hitting coach Jack Marder suggested an adjustment for Smith to employ in the batter's box during Oregon's first homestand of the spring, against St. John's. A week later against UC Santa Barbara, Smith's hot streak began. He's been raking ever since.
"He just came up with a slight little plan to relax everything, get everything flowing, get some rhythm going," Smith said. "He did what he does. That's the value of having a hitting coach that puts in so much time and so much effort in all of us. It's awesome."
While Smith was scuffling early, the UO offense was sparked by infielder Drew Cowley, who leads the Ducks with a .467 average. But Cowley hasn't played since March 11 due to a broken bone that has him sidelined until early April. Smith's resurgence has helped make up for his absence.
When this season started, Smith was a preseason all-American who expected to set the offensive tone for the Ducks, and let his teammates follow his lead. Instead, it was Smith who ended up feeding off the contagious offensive production of fellow hitters like Cowley, Brennan Milone, Colby Shade, Jacob Walsh, Gavin Grant and Josh Kasevich.
"As the season went on I just slowly started to understand my role again," Smith said. "It's such a great feeling to be able to trust how good the hitters are behind you. All you've got to do is get on first base, and there's a really good chance in the next four or five pitches you're going to be in the dugout after scoring."
Kasevich is respected as one of Oregon's hardest-working players. He considers Smith part of that club as well.
"There was never a doubt that he was going to get going," Kasevich said. "He was in the cages all the time – before practice, after practice, whenever. So there was never a doubt."
Smith's hot streak began against Santa Barbara, and he hit his first home run of the season in the series finale. That began a streak of homers in three straight games, and Smith brings another streak of homers in three straight games into Friday's opener against USC.
Those six homers are one more than the career-high five Smith hit in 2021. Part of his focus this past offseason was turning doubles into the gaps and corners of PK Park into home runs. Mission accomplished.
Smith's hot streak also has been well-timed because of disruption to the pitching staff's starting rotation. Saturday starter Isaac Ayon is the only member of the season-opening four-man rotation who still occupies his spot entering this weekend's series.
"It's nice to have a team that's relying on offense right now to win games," Smith said. "Baseball is a game where it comes and goes. I'm sure there's gonna be plenty of times this year where we're gonna win games not because bats are hot, but because somebody is going to step up on the mound."
