Ducks Host UCSB in Three-Game Series This Weekend

Familiar Foes

Oregon and UC Santa Barbara will be meeting in a series on the diamond for the fourth consecutive season and for the sixth time in the last 10 years.
The Ducks will host for the third consecutive season after weather and field issues have forced the last two series (2023/2024) to move from Goleta, Calif., to Eugene.
Oregon holds a 10-9 all-time series lead with 17 of the 19 games played between 2015 and 2023.
UCSB won a pair of games in the 1960s (1964, 1967) with the two teams not playing again until the 2015 season.
Oregon won 10 of the first 12 games played in the modern era of Ducks' baseball, but the Gauchos have run off a streak of five straight wins heading into this weekend.

Home run record set again

Oregon set a new school record for home runs in each of the last three seasons.
The Ducks have increased the home run record by 53 long balls during the first three full seasons of the Mark Wasikowski era.
Last season, Oregon broke the school record of 75 home runs set during the 2022 season, which came a year after hitting 56 to break the old record of 48 that was set in 1974.
The Ducks averaged 1.6 home runs per game in 2023 and are averaging 1.3 this year.

Another assault on record books?

During head coach Mark Wasikowski's three full seasons at Oregon, the Ducks have rewritten the program's record book on offense.
Oregon's record-breaking offensive season ended in 2022 with the Ducks setting records in eight major statistical categories.
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).
In 2023, Oregon re-set four of the records with 101 HRs, 142 doubles, 1,057 total bases and 2,167 at-bats.
Oregon had also cracked the top 10 in RBI (2nd), runs (2nd), stolen bases (2nd) and hits (2nd).
Oregon also had a .298 team batting average, which ranked fourth all-time.
While increasing the home run record by 53 during the Wasikowski era, the Ducks have increased the runs scored record by 76 and the RBI record by 84.

Ducks have series wins over every Pac-12 opponent in Wasikowski era

Oregon's series win at Washington State in 2023 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 three series wins over Arizona State and Utah with two over Arizona, California, Oregon State, Stanford, USC and Washington during the Wasikowski era.
The Ducks are 62-43 (.590) in games vs. Pac-12 teams under Wasikowski including nonconference games vs. Oregon State and Pac-12 Conference Tournament games vs. Arizona (2), Arizona State, California, Stanford and Washington.

Walsh, eyeing Oregon home run record, named preseason All-Pac-12

Entering the USB series, JR 1B Jacob Walsh is tied for fifth all-time at Oregon in home runs and needs just eight more to set a new school career home run record
He has also cracked the top 10 in doubles, ranking 9th after the Lafayette series.
A three-year starter at first base, Walsh has hit 24 home runs in his two-plus seasons while batting .272 with 33 doubles and 84 RBI.
Last season, Walsh hit 16 bombs finishing one long ball short of the previous school record (Kenyon Yovan - 2021) that was broken by Sabin Ceballos who had 18 HRs in 2023.
In 2022, Walsh became just the Ducks' 10th freshman All-American after setting freshman program records for doubles (18) and total bases (103) while tying the record for home runs (6).
In addition to the home run and doubles records, Walsh is approaching the program's top 10 in RBI, starts, at-bats, runs scored, multiple-hit and multiple-RBI games.

Thompson builds on hot 2023 finish during opening weekend

Oregon JR C Bennett Thompson batted .308 (8-for-26) with double, two triples and five RBI over the first two weeks of the season.
That after he finished the 2023 season on a tear to wrap up the year slashing .348/.415/.587 with four home runs and 22 RBI.
After starting 2023 splitting time behind the plate, Thompson took control of the catcher's job the final weekend of the regular season starting the last two games of the series before starting all 10 postseason games.
In the last 13 games, Thompson went 19-for-46 (.413) with two 4-hit games, one 3-hit game and one 2 -hit game (both home runs).
Over his final 20 games played (19 starts), he batted .405 (28-for-69) with three home runs, one triple, 12 doubles, 15 RBI and 15 runs scored.
He played in 13 Pac-12 games (11 starts), batting .351 (13-for-37) with seven extra-base hits.
Of Thompson's 36 total hits, 30 went for extra bases (55.6 percent).
His strong finish led to him being named to the Pac-12 Conference All-Tournament Team.

Busting onto the scene

Oregon SO 3B Drew Smith put together an unbelievable freshman season setting a school record over his first 20 career starts.
Playing mostly DH, Smith set a program record for the longest hitting streak with hits in his first 20 career games with an at-bat (broke the old record of 18 held by current Cincinnati Red Spencer Steer).
After moving into the starting lineup in late April, Smith finished his true freshman season batting .365 (35-for-96) with three HR, 18 RBI, 14 runs scored and six stolen bases.
Named second-team All-West Region by the ABCA, 10 of Smith's 35 hits went for extra bases (3 HR, 2 3B, 5 2B) with multiple hits in 12 of 24 games started.
Starting the first six games of at third base, Smith has started the 2024 campaign strong batting .292 (7-for-24) with six RBI.
During his two-year career, he has a hit in 26 of 31 games played with an at-bat while reaching base in all 32 games with a plate appearance.

Bryce is right

Playing both baseball and football at Oregon, SR OF Bryce Boettcher is one of just 13 players nationwide playing both sports.
The Ducks outfielder and inside linebacker has made starts in both sports during his time doing double duty.
He has started six of Oregon's seven games this season, after starting all three of the Eugene Super Regional games and the Nashville Regional Tournament championship game last year.
Overall, Boettcher has started 34 games during his baseball career while playing in 139 games over the last three-plus years.
In football, Boettcher played in all 14 games for Oregon's Fiesta Bowl winning team while making two starts at inside linebacker.
He finished fifth on the team with 37.0 tackles while finishing with a sack, 2.5 tackles for loss, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery.

Outfield reinforcements

After losing all but one of the team's outfielder, including all three starters, Oregon had to turn to the transfer portal to restock the position.
A senior transfer from Elon, Justin Cassella made 107 starts for the Phoenix with 102 coming in center field and two in left field.
He batted .280 in his three seasons at Elon with 25 home runs, 26 doubles, 81 RBI and 39 stolen bases.
A junior transfer from Sacramento State, Jeffery Heard made 102 starts with 99 coming in left field.
UO also added Mason Neville from Arkansas (19 GP) who was the No. 86 overall prospect out of HS.
The three transfers combined for 19 starts over the first two weeks of the season.

Anderson garners preseason recognition

Oregon reliever Austin Anderson was named a preseason second-team All-America pick by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA), while also being named to the Stopper of the Year watch list.
He earned the honors after putting together a stellar season out of the bullpen in 2023.
The Roseburg, Ore., native finished his junior season with a 4-0 record and a 0.66 ERA while holding opposing hitters to a .111 batting average.
The right-handed pitcher allowed just two runs on 10 hits in 27.1 innings pitched with 39 strikeouts.
The reliever is entering his second season at Oregon after spending two seasons at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg.
As a sophomore at UCC, Anderson earned second-team South Division All-Northwest Athletic Conference honors after going 2-0 with a 0.68 ERA.

Grinsell, Mercado named preseason All-Pac-12 Conference

A pair of Ducks pitchers -- LHP Grayson Grinsell and RHP Logan Mercado -- are a part of the Pac-12 preseason all-conference team selected by the league's coaches.
As a true freshman, Grinsell was second on the team in appearances with 30 while finishing 2-1 with a 4.47 ERA and one save.
The Ducks' lefty earned a spot on both the Pac-12 Conference and Nashville All-Regional teams.
In Pac-12 games, Grinsell finished with a 2.42 ERA and a 1-1 record while holding opposing hitters to a .190 batting average.
The right-handed Mercado has been a versatile member of Oregon's pitching staff for the last three seasons making 48 career appearances, including 12 starts.
He finished the 2023 season 5-1 with a 5.95 ERA with one complete game and one save, while fanning a team-best 78 hitters in a team-high 81.2 innings pitched.
He excelled in relief appearances finishing 2-0 with a 3.94 ERA and one save while holding opposing hitters to a .218 average.
As a sophomore in 2022, Mercado led Oregon in wins and earned run average while going 6-2 with a 2.61 ERA in 25 appearance out of the bullpen.

Friday night guy

After missing all of the 2023 season with an injury, JR RHP RJ Gordon got the call on opening day on the mound, as well as in game one of the Lafayette series.
The previous names of pitchers who have taken the mound on opening day are impressive with future Major League Baseball pitchers, a MLB all-star, an eventual Pac-12 Pitcher of the Year and high MLB draft picks who have toed the rubber as series game-one starters.
Ten of the 12 previous opening day starters have been drafted with four of them playing in the big leagues.
Three of the starters (Tyler Anderson, Alex Keudell, David Peterson) earned All-America honors the season they served as the "Friday Night" guy.
Of the 15 seasons played since the return of baseball at Oregon, the Ducks' opening day starter has earned first-team all-conference recognition six times (2010, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2017).
The 12 pitchers who have served as opening-day starter have a combined 10 first-team all-conference selections on the mound during their careers.

Who is next?

Oregon boasts a proud tradition of fantastic closers who have locked up wins for the Ducks with clutch performances late in games.
Coming out of the first two weeks of the season, SR RHP Logan Mercado and SR RHP Michael Freund picked up saves with Freund tossing 1.2 scoreless innings vs. Oklahoma and Mercado throwing two hitless innings vs. Baylor.
In the Lafayette series, SR RHP Brock Moore came in late in a game and hit 101 mph on the radar gun.