Ducks and Sun Devils meet in crucial series at PK Park

Battle Of Ranked Teams

PK Park will host a battle of top 25 teams when No. 12 Arizona State visits the 20th-ranked Ducks starting on Friday.
Oregon enters the weekend in a tie for third place, 2.5 games behind the first-place Sun Devils.
The series is the third for Oregon this year against a ranked team, with all three played in Eugene.
Oregon lost two of three to then No. 13 UCLA in early March before winning the series vs. then No. 7 Stanford two weeks ago.

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.

Mollerus On Stopper Watch List

Oregon closer Josh Mollerus has been a steady force in the back of the Ducks' bullpen and his success hasn't gone unnoticed.
The senior was named to the NCBWA Stopper of the Year watch list this week.
He is one of 56 relief pitchers named to the list. The Ducks' right-hander ranks second in the Pac-12 and 22nd in the nation with seven saves.
He didn't allow a run in his first 19.0 innings pitched to start the season.

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.

Three years running?

Oregon has set a new school record for home runs in each of the last two seasons and may be headed for a third.
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 Arizona State series, the Ducks have already hit 65 home runs with 13 regular-season games left to play.
The Ducks are averaging 1.6 home runs per game and if they maintain that pace will finish with 85 in their 53-game regular-season schedule.
Oregon hit 71 in the 56-game regular season last year, with 56 coming in the first 40 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 53-35 (.602) 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.

Another assault on record books?

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.
This season, Oregon has already cracked the top 10 in home runs (2nd), RBI (9th), doubles (9th) and total bases (9th) while needing just six hits vs. ASU to move into a tie for 10th.
Oregon also has a .288 team batting average which would rank in a tie for ninth all-time.
In 2022, Oregon set school bests in batting average, hits, runs, home runs, RBI, doubles, total bases and at-bats.
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.

Record Setter

Heading into the Arizona State series, OF Tanner Smith already holds nine school records (6 career; 3 single season).
He set the RBI record at Portland (April 18) 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 Arizona State series, he needs just three 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, home runs, 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 April 11 and the games started record in the OSU series.
Heading into the Arizona State series, he needs one homer to claim sole possession of the home run record.

Nishida hard to ignore

Leading off or batting second 39 times while starting all 40 games this season, 2B/RF Rikuu Nishida has made his presence felt on the base paths.
The Osaka, Japan native has already swiped 18 bags, including two in two separate games.
Averaging 1.8 stolen bases per series, Nishida has already tied the Oregon single-season record with 18 (Don Banderas in 1965).
Previously, the most stolen bases in the modern era of Oregon baseball came when Aaron Payne swiped 17 in 2014.
The Ducks play 14 series during the season as well as eight midweek games.

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 15 different players hit a homer, two more than last year's team and the most ever for a modern era Ducks team.
Ten Ducks have multiple homers, the second most for a Ducks team since 2009.
Six players have already hit five-or-more dingers, with one more hitting four.
Oregon's 65 home runs already ranks 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.
Over a two-week period, Stoffal 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-25 this week).
The Ducks' right-hander had 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 (snapped at Cal).
, who has been Oregon's game one starter every week since missing the season-opening series, has wins in four of his last five games with a no-decision in a win at Cal.
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 vs. Stanford that has been done only once before in the modern era of Ducks baseball.
The duo 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 without a run 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 Arizona State series, Mollerus has a 1.61 ERA in 17 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.