Ducks Host Rhode Island In Four-Game Series Starting Friday

Rhode Island at Oregon
Friday – February 21 – 3:05 p.m.
Saturday – February 22 – 11:05 a.m. (DH)
Sunday – February 23 – 12:05 a.m.
Stream: B1G+
Radio: 590 AM - (Eugene: Friday-Saturday), 95.3 (Eugene: Sunday); 910 AM (Portland)

Series History

Oregon and Rhode Island will meet on the diamond for the first time this weekend when the Ducks and Rams play a four-game series at PK Park.
While UO is meeting Rhode Island for the first time, Oregon has played just one game against any of the 12 teams currently in the Atlantic 10 Conference.
The Ducks lost against UMass in that meeting.

Winning Out West

Heading into week two of its first season in the Big Ten Conference, Oregon is riding recent success that ranks among the best on the West Coast.
Since 2021, the Ducks have the fourth-most wins (159) among teams in the West while also boasting the fourth-best winning percentage (.640).
UO trails just Oregon State, UC Santa Barbara and UC Irvine in both categories.

Fab Five

Oregon is one of just five teams in the nation that has advanced to the Super Regionals each of the last two years, and the only club to claim regional titles on the road both seasons.
The Ducks are joined by Tennessee, Florida, Kentucky and Virginia.
Tennessee joined Oregon as road regional winners in 2023, while Florida joined the Ducks in 2024.

Oregon makes move to Big Ten Conference

Oregon heads into its first season in the Big Ten Conference where the Ducks will play 10 conference series that include three with former Pac-12 rivals.
The Ducks open Big Ten play in week four of the season when they travel to Irvine, Calif., to face USC, while also having home series later in the season against long-time foes UCLA (April 18-20) and Washington (May 9-11).
Oregon will face seven new conference opponents starting with back-to-back home series against Minnesota (March 14-16) and Rutgers (March 21-23) in weeks five and six of the season.
The Ducks' first road series against a long-time member of the Big Ten comes in week seven when they travel to Ohio State.
The Ducks host Michigan (April 4-6) in week eight before traveling to Maryland (April 11-13) in week nine, Michigan State (May 2-4) in week 12 and Iowa (May 15-17) in week 14.
Oregon has played 17 games all-time vs. teams from the Big Ten and has a 6-11 record, including 6-9 vs. teams the Ducks play in 2025.

Ducks boast loads of experience heading into season

Oregon enters week two of its first season in the Big Ten with a group of veterans who have combined to start 826 games offensively and 49 on the mound at the Division I level.
Three players on the roster have more than 100 starts (Jacob Walsh - 178; Jeffery Heard - 152; Parker Stinson - 114) and two more with over 70 starts (Drew Smith - 83; Carter Garate - 70).
Of those 826 offensive starts, the Ducks return eight starters from the lineup that took the field in the final game of the 2024 season with those eight combining to start 336 games last season.
Oregon also returns three players who were not in the Super Regional finale starting lineup who combined to start 71 games last season.
Friday night starter Grayson Grinsell highlights the Ducks experience on the bump with 18 career starts, including 15 as a member of the Ducks' weekend rotation in 2024 and 2025.
In addition to D1 starts, transfer Julien Hernandez made 48 starts during four seasons at D3 Whitman.
Combining all four-year college appearances, the Ducks' staff has combined to make 337 appearances during their careers.

Going, Going, Gone

The Ducks have increased the home run record by 53 long balls during the first four full seasons of the Mark Wasikowski era.
Heading into his first full season at the helm in 2020, the Oregon team record for home runs in a season was 48.
After the COVID-19 shortened 2020 campaign, each of his next four clubs made a run at the programs home run record with the 2021, 2022 and 2023 teams all managing to increase the mark.
Last year's team fell just three home runs shy of matching the record set by the 2023 squad.
In 2023, 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.
With 10 home runs in four games (2.5 HR/Game), the Ducks are on pace to belt 140 homers in 2025.

Another assault on record books?

During head coach Mark Wasikowski's four 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, UO set school bests in 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 HR, 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 had a .298 team batting average, which ranked fourth all-time.
While the 2024 team did not break any of the previous teams' records, the Ducks did finish second in home runs (98), third in runs (420), RBI (383) and total bases (996), fourth in hits (575) and sixth in doubles (107).
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.

Familiar faces and loads of production return to Ducks' lineup

Oregon returns 11 position players from last year who helped the Ducks advance to their second consecutive Super Regional.
Of those 11, eight made at least 35 starts with one starting 22 games and another making 14 starts.
Three of the eleven batted over .300 with catcher Chase Meggers (.316) leading the way, followed by shortstop Maddox Moloney (.315) and second baseman Drew Smith (.314).
Three of the returners belted double-digit home runs led by first baseman Jacob Walsh who tied the single-season school record with 18, and he was followed by outfielder Mason Neville (16/T4th all-time) and Molony (Oregon freshman record 10 HR).
Combined, the 11 returners batted .286 (442-for-1,548) with 182 extra-base hits (88 HR, 82 2B, 7 3B), 396 RBI and 310 runs scored.

Walsh back to finish what he started

During his three-plus seasons at Oregon, SR 1B Jacob Walsh has compiled some staggering numbers that have him either holding a program record or closing in on adding a record to his resume.
The Ducks' first baseman already owns the career home run record at Oregon with 43 long balls, 12 more than former record holder Tanner Smith (2019-23) hit during his career.
He has also cracked the top 10 in RBI (2nd), multi-RBI game (2nd), at-bats (4th), doubles (T4th), runs (5th), games started (6th), hits (7th) and multi-hit games (8th).
In his fourth year as a starter at first base, Walsh is a career .265 hitter with 43 doubles and 137 RBI.
Last season, Walsh tied the single-season home run record (18) and finished tied for fifth all-time on the single-season RBI list (56).
In 2022, Walsh became just the 10th Ducks' freshman All-American after setting freshman program records for doubles (18) and total bases (103), while tying the record for home runs (6).

Molony still making his mark

If the first weekend of the 2025 season is any indication, SO SS Maddox Molony is out to prove his record-setting freshman season was not a fluke.
The Springfield, Ore., native, led Oregon to a series win over Toledo slashing .467/.500/1.200 with five extra-base hits (3 HR, 2 2B) and three RBI with a stolen base.
The Ducks' shortstop had a pair of three-hit games vs. the Rockets, going 3-for-4 with a pair of solo home runs in the second game of a Saturday doubleheader before finishing 3-for-4 with three extra-base hits (2 2B, 1 HR) in a series-clinching Sunday win.
It did not take Molony long to put his name in the Oregon record books.
In 2024, the Ducks' shortstop became just the second Oregon freshman, and first position player to ever be named first-team All-Pac-12 Conference.
He joined Kenyon Yovan, who was named All-Pac-12 in 2017 as a relief pitcher following his freshman season.
The all-league honor came after Molony etched his name in Oregon's record books earlier in the season.
The then-freshman belted his seventh career home run in his 93rd career at-bat and 26th career start to set a new Oregon freshman home run record.
The record did not stay at seven for long as Molony homered in each of his next two games pushingthe record to 10.

Neville looking to build on strong finish

JR CF Mason Neville picked up where he left off and the end of last season.
The Ducks' leadoff hitter slashed .375/.421/.875 to finish with a 1.296 OPS while tallying four extra-base hits (2 HR, 2 2B) and five runs scored.
He had hits in all four games against Toledo with a pair of two-hit games, while also driving in runs in all four games.
He clubbed home runs in both games of Saturday's doubleheader.
Over the final third of the 2024 season, no Duck was hotter at the plate than Neville.
A transfer from Arkansas, Neville is slashed .268/.369/.664 with a 1.033 OPS while slugging 16 home runs with 43 RBI and eight stolen bases in 2024.
He homered in 16 of 36 starts during the season and had 13 bombs in his last 29 starts.
The Las Vegas native hit a home run every 9.3 at-bats on the season.
He finished two home runs behind Jacob Walsh (2024) and Sabin Ceballos (2023) and three shy of setting a new program record.
A starter over the last 23 games, Neville batted .318 (28-for-88) with 10 HR, 23 RBI, two doubles, two triples and 21 runs scored from April 20 to the end of the season.
During that stretch, he slugged a homer every 8.8 at-bats.
Since the Gonzaga game on April 16, Neville started 24 of 25 games for the Ducks batting .330 (30-for-91) with 11 home runs, three doubles, and a triple with 25 RBI and 23 runs scored.
Playing mostly right field during the season, Neville moved into the leadoff spot in the batting order for regionals and super regionals, where he batted .333 (6-for-18) with two RBI, three runs scored and three stolen bases.

Grinsell named to Golden Spikes watch list and preseason All-America teams

Oregon's lone returning weekend starter, LHP Grayson Grinsell was named to the Golden Spikes watch list, while also earning second-team preseason All-America recognition from D1Baseball and third-team honors from the NCBWA.
The Ducks' lefty finished the 2024 season 7-2 with a 4.08 ERA with 99 strikeouts in 79.1 innings of work while allowing 37 runs (36 earned) on 54 hits with 44 walks.
The Ducks' Saturday starter held opposing hitters to a Pac-12 Conference-best .196 batting average, while finishing with six quality starts including a pair against nationally-ranked teams (at #13 Oregon State, at #18 UC Santa Barbara).
He led the Pac-12 and ranked 19th nationally in hits allowed per nine innings (6.13), finished third in the Pac-12 and ranked 51st nationally in strikeouts per nine innings, while ranking fourth in strikeouts in league play and 53rd nationally.

Grinsell looking to move into top 10 in career Ks at Oregon

Friday night starter Grayson Grinsell needs four strikeouts to crack the top 10 on Oregon's career list.
The Ducks' lefty enters this weekend's series with 173 Ks during his first two-plus campaigns with the Ducks.
Last year, Grinsell fanned 99 batters in 79.1 innings finishing the year with the fifth most Ks in a single season at Oregon.
As a true freshman in 2023, Grinsell struck out 67 in 48.1 innings of work while making 30 appearances with 27 coming out of the bullpen.

Friday night guy

For the first time in his career, Grayson Grinsell took the mound as the starter on Opening Day.
The previous names of pitchers who have taken the mound on opening day are impressive with future Major League Baseball pitchers, an 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.
Eleven of the 13 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 13 pitchers who have served as opening-day starters have a combined 10 first-team all-conference selections on the mound during their careers.

Oregon rotation off to strong start

Oregon's four-man pitching rotation put together a strong weekend on the mound in the season-opening series vs. Toledo.
The four pitchers -- LHP Grayson Grinsell, RHP Collin Clarke, RHP Jason Reitz, RHP Will Sanford -- combined for a 1.06 ERA allowing just two runs on eight hits in 17.0 innings of work while striking out 25 and walking eight.
While none were credited with a win in the series, they combined to hold Toledo hitters to a .143 batting average.
On opening day, Grinsell allowed just one hit and one run while fanning seven in 5.0 innings.
In a doubleheader on Saturday, Clark struck out a career-high seven and did not allow a run on just three hits before Reitz tossed three scoreless innings with five Ks in 3.0 innings.
On Sunday, the true freshman Sanford gave up just one run on two hits with six Ks in four innings.