Ducks host No. 7 Stanford starting Friday

Ducks face ranked Stanford

Oregon will entertain a ranked team for the second time this season when No. 7 Stanford comes to town.
Meeting a ranked Stanford squad is nothing new for the Ducks.
UO has played a top-25 Stanford team 21 times and boasts an 11-10 record in those games.
The Ducks are 5-7 all-time against Cardinal teams ranked in the top 10.
Last year, Oregon won two of three at No. 2 Stanford.

International Flavor

Oregon's roster has a distinct international look. In addition to featuring players from eight states, Oregon has players from four different countries.
JR OF Owen Diodati and FR RHPs Matthew Grabmann and Turner Spoljaric hail from Canada, while JR INF/C Sabin Ceballos is from Puerto Rico and JR UTL Rikuu Nishida grew up in Osaka, Japan.

Stay Hot

When Oregon takes the field on Friday, Oregon will be looking to add to its recent hot streak.
Since March 18, the Ducks have won 13 of 15 games in a 26-day stretch.
Included in those 13 games was an Oregon modern-era record 11 game winning streak that started at Washington State on March 18 and ran through a 2-0 win over Oregon State on April 7.

Ducks set program single-game home run record

Oregon went deep six times in the series opener against Northwestern State to set a school record for home runs in a game.
Sabin Ceballos hit a pair of home runs, while Gavin Grant, Dominic Hellman, Tanner Smith and Jacob Walsh all went yard once.
The six home runs in a game bested the previous record of five set vs. Central Connecticut State in the first round of the Eugene Regional Tournament on June 4, 2021.

Rewriting the record book

During head coach Mark Wasikowski's two full seasons at Oregon, the Ducks have rewritten the program's record book on offense.
Oregon's record-breaking offensive season came to an end in 2022 with the Ducks setting records in eight major statistical categories.
Oregon set school bests in batting average, hits, runs, home runs, RBI, doubles, total bases and at-bats.
The Ducks also finished in the top 10 in walks (6th) and stolen bases (T6th).
Of the eight new records, three broke school records set in 2021 when the team broke long-time records for runs (376 in 2010), home runs (48 in 1974) and RBI (332 in 2010).
While increasing the home run record by 27 during the Wasikowski era, the Ducks have increased the runs scored record by 76 and the RBI record by 84.

Three years running?

Oregon has set a new school record for home runs in each of the last two seasons.
The Ducks have increased the home run record by 27 long balls during the first two full seasons of the Mark Wasikowski era.
Oregon set a new school record with 75 home runs during the 2022 season, a year after hitting 56 to break the old record of 48 that was set in 1974.
The Ducks have hit 45 home runs heading into the Stanford series with long balls in 19 of the team's 31 games.
Oregon hit six in the Xavier series (4 games), none vs. UC Santa Barbara, seven vs. San Diego (4 games), five vs. UCLA (3 games), five at Washington State (3 games), 13 vs. Northwestern State (4 games), five at Arizona (3 games) and 2 vs. San Francisco (2 games) while hitting one in each of its midweek games vs. Niagara and Portland.
The Ducks are averaging 1.45 home runs per game and if they maintain that pace will finish with 79 in their 55-game regular-season schedule.
Oregon hit 71 in the 56-game regular season last year, with 50 coming in the first 31 games.

Ducks add Pac-12 series win over last remaining opponent in Wasikowski era

Oregon's series win at Washington State in mid-March allowed Oregon head coach Mark Wasikowski to check the last box in regards to winning a series vs. the other teams in the Pac-12 Conference.
The Ducks had at least one series win over the other nine Pac-12 teams during his first two seasons at the helm of the Ducks.
Oregon has two series wins over Arizona, Arizona State, California, Oregon State, USC, Utah and Washington during the Wasikowski era.
The Ducks are 49-32 (.605) in games vs. Pac-12 teams under Wasikowski including nonconference games vs. Oregon State and Pac-12 Conference Tournament games vs. Arizona and Arizona State.

Record Setter

Heading into the Stanford series, OF Tanner Smith already holds nine school records (6 career; 3 single season).
He set the at-bats record and tied the RBI record last Tuesday vs. Portland before tying the doubles record in the Oregon State series finale.
He set the career hits record with his first of nine hits vs. Northwestern State, besting Gabe Matthews' (2017-21) career mark of 246 hits.
The Ducks' first career record to fall to Smith came during the 2022 season when he broke the runs scored record during game one of the Washington series (April 14).
The Ducks' left fielder broke the career multi-hit games record vs. San Diego on March 3 in game two of the series against the Toreros.
In 2021, Smith broke the single-season school record for doubles when he finished with 24 (breaking the old record of 20 held by Gabe Matthews, Mitchell Tolman and Ryon Healy).
Last season, Smith added the single-season hits and multi-hit games records to his resume, finishing with 85 base knocks (KC Serna - 81) and 27 multiple-hit games (tied Serna).
Heading into the Stanford series, he needs just five home runs for that marquee record.
He ranks in the top five in career at-bats, games started, runs, hits, home runs, doubles, RBI, base on balls, slugging percentage, on-base percentage, multi-hit games, multi-RBI games and outfield assists.

Smith setting PK Park records

It is not just overall career records OF Tanner Smith is breaking.
The Ducks left fielder already owns the runs scored, hits, RBI, doubles, total bases, at-bats, games started and games played records at PK Park (which opened in 2009) and has a chance to set two others during his final season in Eugene.
He set the runs record during the 2022 season, added the hits record in game two of the UCSB doubleheader on Feb. 25, set the new total bases record with a home run in game three of the USD series, the at-bats record in the UCLA series finale and the doubles and RBI records in the Northwestern State series.
He set the games played record vs. San Francisco on Tuesday and the games started record in the OSU series.
Heading into the Stanford series, he needs two homers to add that record.

Nishida hard to ignore

Leading off or batting second 30 times while starting all 31 games this season, 2B/RF Rikuu Nishida has made his presence felt on the base paths.
The Osaka, Japan native has already swiped 14 bags, including two in two separate games.
If Nishida maintains his current pace of 1.75 stolen bases per series he will easily set a new Oregon single-season record.
The Ducks play 14 series during the season as well as 10 midweek games.
The Oregon record for stolen bases in a season is 18 set by Don Banderas in 1965.
The most stolen bases in the modern era of Oregon baseball came when Aaron Payne swiped 17 in 2014.

Power coming from a flock of Ducks

While Oregon is continuing to hit home runs at an unprecedented rate in the Wasikowski era, it is not just a handful of players contributing with long balls.
The Ducks have had 13 different players hit a homer, tied with last year's team for the most ever for a modern era Ducks team.
Nine Ducks have multiple homers, the second most for a Ducks team since 2009.
Five players have already hit five-or-more dingers, with one more hitting four.
Oregon's 45 home runs heading into the Stanford series already ranks fifth in the history of the program.

Stoffal claims Pac-12 Pitcher of the Week honors

Oregon's Friday night starter, Jace Stoffal has elevated his game on the mound to the point that he claimed Pac-12 Pitcher of the Week honors after throwing seven scoreless innings against Oregon State in a 2-0 win last Friday.
, who has been Oregon's game one starter every week since missing the season opening series, has wins in each of his last three games while matching a career-high seven innings pitched in each of his last two starts.
Against Oregon State, Stoffal took a no-hitter into the seventh inning before allowing his only hit of the game while also tying a career high with nine strikeouts.
The week before at Arizona, Stoffal held the Wildcats to just three runs (two earned) over seven innings in UA's notoriously offensive ballpark.
That followed a six-inning outing vs. Northwestern State where he held the Demons to just one run on five hits.
His other win this season came against San Diego when he held the Toreros to a run over 5.0 innings.
The Ducks' right-hander also set a career-high against #13 UCLA when he fanned nine batters in just four innings.

Trio of freshmen open season in rotation

When FR RHPs Leo Uelmen, Matthew Grabmann and Jackson Pace made starts in the season-opening series vs. Xavier, they became just the eighth, ninth and 10th Oregon pitchers in the modern era to crack the weekend rotation during the opening weekend.
The list of freshmen to start during opening weekend is impressive with six of the previous seven getting drafted and four of the seven making it to the big leagues.
Before starting a freshman during the opening weekend last year, the last freshman to start a game in the season-opening series was David Peterson, who eventually was selected in the first round of the 2017 MLB Draft by the New York Mets with pick No. 20.

Mollerus steps into closer role

Oregon boasts a proud tradition of fantastic closers who have locked up wins for the Ducks with clutch performances late in games.
San Francisco transfer RHP Josh Mollerus has stepped in as Oregon's stopper after two-time All-Pac-12 first-team selection Kolby Somers graduated.
He found immediate success in the role, earning his first win as a Duck in the season opener and his first save at Oregon in the series finale against Xavier.
Heading into the Stanford series, Mollerus has yet to allow a run in 17.0 innings pitched covering 13 appearances.
In four seasons at USF, Mollerus worked in a variety of rolls before settling into a bullpen role in 2022 when he finished with a 4-2 record and a career-low 3.96 ERA with five saves and a career-high 52 strikeouts.
He also had a 1.07 WHIP and held opponents to a .221 batting average last season.