Ducks head to Bay Area for three games at Cal

Ducks travel to California

Oregon returns to Pac-12 play with a road trip to Northern California to play the California Golden Bears in Berkeley starting Friday.
Oregon has won the last three series between the Ducks and the Bears, including winning two of three games the last time the two teams played in the Bay Area in 2021.
Oregon holds a 35-31 lead in the series while winning 16 of 28 games played in Berkeley.

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.

Stoffal grabs honors

Over the last two weeks JR RHP Jace Stoffal has established himself as one of the top pitchers in the nation.
The Ducks' hurler has strung together 16 scoreless innings over his last two starts and was rewarded with two national pitcher of the week awards following last Friday's shutout of No. 7 Stanford.
He has also claimed back-to-back Pac-12 Pitcher of the week honors.

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.
Heading into the Cal series, the Ducks have already matched the 56 home runs hit two seasons ago, with long balls in 23 of the team's 35 games.
Oregon hit six in the Xavier series (4 games), 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), 2 vs. San Francisco (2 games) and eight vs. Stanford (3 games) while hitting four in two midweek games vs. Portland and one in a midweeker vs. Niagara.
The Ducks are averaging 1.6 home runs per game and if they maintain that pace will finish with 88 in their 55-game regular-season schedule.
Oregon hit 71 in the 56-game regular season last year, with 55 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, Stanford, USC, Utah and Washington during the Wasikowski era.
The Ducks are 51-33 (.607) 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 California series, OF Tanner Smith already holds nine school records (6 career; 3 single season).
He set the RBI record Tuesday at Portland after setting a new doubles record in the Stanford series.
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 California 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 last Tuesday and the games started record in the OSU series.
Heading into Oregon's games vs. Gonzaga next Tuesday and Wednesday, he needs two homers to add that record.

Nishida hard to ignore

Leading off or batting second 34 times while starting all 35 games this season, 2B/RF Rikuu Nishida has made his presence felt on the base paths.
The Osaka, Japan native has already swiped 15 bags, including two in two separate games.
If Nishida maintains his current pace of 1.67 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.
Ten 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 56 home runs already ranks tied for second in the history of the program.

Stoffal goes back-to-back with weekly honors

Oregon's Friday night starter, Jace Stoffal has elevated his game on the mound to the point that he claimed back-to-back Pac-12 Pitcher of the Week honors as well as a pair of national pitcher of the week honors after tossing a shutout against No. 7 Stanford last Friday.
Over the last two weeks, Stoffal has combined to toss 16 scoreless innings while allowing just four hits with 17 strikeouts and four walks vs. Oregon State and Stanford (both ranked in the top-20 this week).
The Ducks' right-hander has a streak of three consecutive quality starts dating back to a win over Arizona on March 31 where he allowed just two earned runs in seven innings.
Stoffal, who has been Oregon's game one starter every week since missing the season-opening series, has wins in each of his last four games.
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 back-to-back conference honors were the first for a Duck since Alex Keudell did it in 2012.

Back-to-back complete games a rarity at Oregon

Oregon's 1-2 punch of Jace Stoffal and Logan Mercado at the top of the rotation accomplished something last weekend that has been done only once before in the modern era of Ducks baseball.
The due combined to toss back-to-back complete games against No. 7 Stanford while combining to allow just one run in 18 innings on eight hits with 15 Ks and just two walks.
On Friday, Stoffal started the weekend holding the Pac-12's top scoring team scoreless on just three hits with eight strikeouts and one walk.
On Saturday, Mercado was nearly as good holding the Cardinal to a single run on five hits while matching a career-high with seven Ks with just one walk.
In the modern history or Oregon baseball (2009-present), Oregon pitchers have tossed just 28 complete games with only four coming after the 2018 season.
Back-to-back complete games has only happened once during that time with Jeff Gold (8.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 5 K vs. West Virginia) and Brando Tesser (9.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 6 K vs. Connecticut) accomplishing the feat on March 10-11, 2012.
Only a handful of Ducks have tossed more than one complete game in the modern era with Cole Irvin(2013, 2016) leading the way with five, Alex Keudell (2011, 2012) tossing four, Madison Boer (2009, 2011) three, and Tyler Anderson (2010, 2011) and Isaac Ayon (2022) contributing two.
Four of Irvin's CGs came during his freshman campaign in 2013, while Keudell tossed three of his four during the 2012 season when he was named the Pac-12 Conference Pitcher of the Year and Boer threw two of his in 2009.
In all, 17 different Oregon pitchers have tossed complete games since 2009.
The most complete games by a Ducks' team came in 2012 (7), followed by 2013 (4), 2009 (3) and 2011 (3), 2010 (2), 2017 (2), 2022 (2) and this year (2).
The Ducks tossed one in 2014, 2016 and 2018.

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 California series, Mollerus has a 1.37 ERA in 15 appearances and didn't allow a run in his first 19 innings pitched.
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.