UO Heads To Regionals (Notes)
Ducks earn spot in NCAA Tournament and Springfield Regional: Oregon is headed back to the NCAA Tournament where the Ducks will take part in the Springfield Regional, hosted by Missouri State. UO, the third seed, opens the tournament on Friday against No. 2 seed Iowa at 11 a.m. (PT) with the game broadcast on ESPN3. Anish Shroff will handle play-by-play duties while Landon Powell provides commentary. Top-seed Missouri State, the No. 8 overall seed in the tournament, faces Canisius in the other first round game at 4 p.m. (PT) Friday. The double elimination tournament ends either Sunday or Monday.
Unfamiliar foes for the Ducks: There won’t be much to the scouting report for this weekend’s regional tournament for Oregon. In the history of the UO program the Ducks have never faced any of the teams in the bracket.
Oregon qualifies for the postseason for fourth straight season, and the fifth time in last six years: The Ducks are making their fourth straight appearance in the NCAA Tournament and their fifth since the program returned before the 2009 season. Oregon has a 10-6 record in those five regional tournaments with multiple wins every season. The Ducks, who won their 2012 regional, have played for the championship in all four of their previous trips to a regional. Oregon’s first appearance came in 2010 with the last three coming in 2012, 2013 and 2014. Twelve of the players on the active Ducks’ roster have played in a regional tournament with Shaun Chase, Scott Heineman, Nick Catalano, Mitchell Tolman and Garrett Cleavinger playing in multiple regionals.
Ducks win nine of last 10, including three of four against ranked teams in final week, to secure berth: There isn’t much doubt that Oregon played its way into the NCAA Tournament over the last month of the season going 12-4 in the month of May. The Ducks finished winning nine of their last 10 games, including three wins over NCAA Tournament teams in the final week of the season (all in 11 innings). The Ducks beat No. 17 Oregon State last Tuesday in Corvallis before winning two of three games from UCLA, the top seed in the NCAA Tournament, over the weekend. Oregon’s run to the postseason started in late April when they started a string of five straight Pac-12 series wins with a pair of wins over Washington. UO won 14 of 18 games after dropping the series opener to UW on April 24.
Horton making 16th regional appearance as head coach: Oregon head coach George Horton will be taking his 16th team to a regional tournament during his 18-year career as a Division I head coach. Horton, in his seventh year at Oregon, has compiled a 40-17 record in regional tournament play with eight regional championships resulting in trips to the Super Regionals. Horton teams have advanced to the College World Series six times, winning the 2004 NCAA title. In his 15 regionals as a head coach, Horton’s teams have won at least one game every year with four wins twice, three wins eight times, two wins three times and one win twice.
Cleavinger and Tolman earn first-team All-Pac-12 honors: Oregon placed two players on the Pac-12 Conference’s all-league team announced on Wednesday morning. JR 3B Mitchell Tolman and JR LHP Garrett Cleavinger were selected in a vote of the league’s coaches.
Tolman was selected first-team All-Pac-12 for the second consecutive season after batting a team-best .329 with three home runs and 40 RBI. The Lake Forest, Calif., native led Oregon in batting average, runs scored (42), hits (72), doubles (19), RBI, walks (42) hit-by-pitches (13), on-base percentage (.462) and slugging percentage (.475). In the Pac-12, Tolman led the league in on-base percentage and walks, while finishing second in doubles.
Cleavinger earned his first career all-league honor after finishing the season with a 6-2 record with a 1.59 ERA with nine saves and 66 strikeouts in 39.2 innings pitched. His 36 appearances was one fewer than SO RHP Stephen Nogosek’s 37. Cleavinger ranked fifth in the Pac-12 in saves and fourth in appearances.
Oregon 13-10 against 2015 NCAA Tournament field: The Ducks are battle tested heading to Springfield for the regional tournament. UO has played 23 games against NCAA Tournament teams including six against teams hosting regional tournaments. Oregon has compiled a 13-10 record in those games and is 4-2 against regional hosts UCLA, the tournament’s overall No. 1 seed, and UC Santa Barbara. The Ducks also won the season series (3-2) and the Pac-12 series (2-1) against Oregon State, while sweeping a three-game series against St. John’s.
Heineman named Pac-12 Player of the Week: JR 1B Scott Heineman was named Pac-12 player of the week Monday, after hitting .562 as the Ducks went 3-1 against ranked teams to play their way into the NCAA Tournament. Heineman, who enters Oregon’s Springfield Regional appearance Friday hitting .289 for the season, had three hits in the Ducks’ midweek nonconference win at Oregon State on Tuesday. He then went 6-of-11 with two home runs as Oregon won two of three from No. 1 overall postseason seed UCLA over the weekend at PK Park.
Move to third base pays off for both team and Tolman: After playing primarily second base for the first 39 games of this season, JR Mitchell Tolman made the move back to third base, the position he played most of his sophomore season, on April 18 against USC. Since then Oregon is 15-6, including 12-5 in Pac-12 Conference games, with Tolman’s batting average climbing by .33 points. Following the move Tolman is batting .381 (32-for-84) with a home run, a triple, 10 doubles and 18 RBI. He has a .480 on-base percentage and a slugging percentage of .560. Defensively, Tolman has a .975 fielding percentage at third base in the Ducks’ 21 games and the team’s ERA has dropped by .12 from 3.80 to 3.68 with a 3.46 ERA in the last 21 games.
Tolman’s assault on Oregon record book goes beyond the three school records: With three career records accomplished, JR 3B Mitchell Tolman has solidified his place among the Oregon baseball greats. If he decides to come back for his senior season instead of turning pro the Ducks’ infielder has a good chance of adding seven more school records to his resume, and in turn, to his legacy. Tolman set his first career record at Washington State when he drove in his 119th and 120th run, passing former teammate Ryon Healy (2011-13) who had 118. Tolman added school-record number-two in game one against Gonzaga when he tied Healy for the most multiple-RBI games in school history with 31. Record number three came against Utah when he broke Healy’s school record for doubles when he lined his 44th career two-bagger to right center to drive in a run. In addition to those records, Tolman already ranks in the top 10 in nine other career categories. If Tolman returns to Eugene as a senior and has a season comparable to his first three he could leave Oregon with as many as 10 career records.
Tolman adding name to individual season top 10 record book for second straight season: As a sophomore 3B Mitchell Tolman added his name to the single-season record book 10 times last season with three runner-up finishes for school records. Tolman ranked second all-time in doubles (18), RBI (49) and multiple-RBI games (13). This season the junior has already added himself to the single-season record books in seven categories, including a No. 2 ranking in walks (42) and doubles (19).
Tolman’s consecutive start streak snapped at 128; the longest streak since return of baseball: It had been a long time since JR Mitchell Tolman wasn’t in the Ducks’ starting lineup before he sat out the March 14 game at California. The Ducks second baseman had a 128-game start streak snapped when he didn’t play in the Ducks’ loss. The last time he wasn’t in the starting lineup was on March 13, 2013 when he sat out against Texas State. Tolman’s streak began two days later when he started at third base at USC in Oregon’s Pac-12 opener. Tolman’s versatility was extraordinary during the streak starting games at four different positions. His 17 starts at second base and one start at first base to open this season came after he started 72 games at third base in his first two seasons, as well as 20 at designated hitter and 18 at first base.
Cleavinger makes 108th career appearance: JR LHP Garrett Cleavinger became the school’s all-time leader in appearances when he took the mound in a March 6 win over St. John’s. Cleavinger pitched in his 77th career game moving past Jimmie Sherfy, who appeared in 76 games from 2009 to 2011. Cleavinger has pitched in eight straight Oregon games to run his career total to 108 appearances. Cleavinger ranks seventh in the nation in career appearances and is the only junior in the top nine.
Starting pitching a strength for Ducks over the last four weeks: After a season of experimentation with the starting pitching, Oregon has settled into a three-man weekend rotation that has been very good over the last month. JR LHP Cole Irvin, FR LHP David Peterson and JR RHP Josh Graham put together three straight quality starts for the second consecutive week last weekend against UCLA after doing it in a sweep at Utah. Against the NCAA Tournament’s top seed, the trio combined to allow just seven earned runs in 22.1 innings for a 2.82 ERA. That came after the three starters allowed just four earned runs in 20.2 innings for a 1.74 ERA at Utah. Both Irvin and Peterson had quality starts at Washington State the week before the Utah series, while Graham didn’t allow a run in five innings to give the Ducks’ starters a 1.96 ERA against the Cougars. In the last three weeks combined, the UO starters have a 2.19 ERA allowing just 15 earned runs in 61.2 innings pitched. Peterson has put a run of five straight quality starts together with a 3.03 ERA during that time, while Irvin has four straight quality starts with a 2.93 ERA vs. Stanford, WSU, Utah and UCLA. Graham has a 1.71 ERA over his last three starts with back-to-back quality starts and a career-high 11 Ks vs. UCLA on Sunday.
Irvin overcomes road struggles in back-to-back starts: The return from a missed 2014 season has been one of highs and lows for SO LHP Cole Irvin with most of the lows coming away from PK Park. After a pair of midseason hiccups away from Eugene, the Ducks’ ace has put together four-straight quality starts including two on the road. Irvin will get the start either Friday or Saturday at the regionals, and while his numbers have not been great on the road he has been very good of late. Despite getting a no-decision in his last two road starts, Irvin has a 2.02 ERA in those games which Oregon eventually won.
Graham named to John Olerud Award watch list: Pulling double duty landed JR C/RHP Josh Graham on the watch list for the John Olerud Award, which honors the nation’s top player both on the mound and at the plate. Graham, who spent his first two seasons at Oregon as only a catcher, has been impressive in his move to the pitching mound. The Roseburg native was a key cog in the back end of the Ducks bullpen with a 2-0 record and a 1.84 ERA with a save before moving into the starting rotation for the Washington series. Since moving to the rotation, Graham has worked almost exclusively as a pitcher which resulted in him not making the revised watch list on May 15 which narrowed the list to 21 players.
Harber named Pac-12 Pitcher of the Week: JR RHP Conor Harber was named the Pac-12 Pitcher of the Week for Feb. 16-22. Harber threw six no-hit innings of relief to help Oregon post its third come-from-behind victory of the season, 3-1 over New Mexico State in the Ducks’ home opener at PK Park on Feb. 19. It was the second time in two weeks the Ducks threw Harber in relief of Cole Irvin, who remained on a pitch count as he built up his arm strength. After five two-hit innings in a shutout of Hawaii to open the season, Harber upped the ante by going six against NMSU and not allowing a hit.
Oregon one of only eight teams to win 40 or more games in each of previous three seasons; Ducks tied for fourth among those teams in total wins: Oregon is one of just eight teams in the country with a chance for a fourth consecutive 40-win season. The Ducks’ 44 wins in 2014 came after UO won a school-record 48 games in 2013 season after winning a then school-record 46 games in 2012. Oregon’s 175 wins since the beginning of the 2012 season are tied for the fourth most during that time and trails only LSU, Louisville and Florida State on the total wins list.
Ducks no strangers to TV: The Ducks made 20 appearances on television during the 2015 regular season. Eight of the team’s 31 games at PK Park were broadcast by the Pac-12 Networks with one televised by ESPNU. In all, six of the Ducks’ 10 Pac-12 series had all three games televised. The Pac-12 Networks televised all three games at Arizona (March 27-29), the three-game series against Washington (April 24-26) in Eugene, the three-game set at Washington State (May 8-10), the three-game series at Utah (May15-17) and the final series of the season against UCLA (May 22-24) at PK Park. Oregon’s three-game conference series against Oregon State (April 10-12) was also broadcast with ESPNU televising the Friday series opener and the Pac-12 Networks carrying the final two games. In all, five Civil War games against Oregon State were televised with the Pac-12 Networks broadcasting non-conference games in Corvallis on May 5 and May 19.
Ducks 23-15 all-time against ranked teams at PK Park: Oregon’s two wins over No. 3 UCLA at PK Park were just the latest wins by the Ducks against a ranked team at PK Park. During the program’s five seasons playing in the park, the Ducks have played 38 games against teams ranked in the Baseball America top 25 and compiled an impressive 23-15 record in those games. In their first series against a ranked team this season, Oregon won the series finale against then-No. 16 Arizona State.
Three Ducks named to preseason All-America Teams: Three Ducks were named to preseason All-America Teams heading into the 2015 season. SR C Shaun Chase, JR INF Mitchell Tolman and SO LHP Cole Irvin each earned a spot on at least one of the preseason teams.
Chase was named to two preseason All-America Teams earning Louisville Slugger second-team honors from Collegiate Baseball and third-team recognition from D1Baseball.com. Chase, a first-team All-Pac-12 pick as a junior, was named to the teams after putting together one of the top power seasons in college baseball in 2014. The Ducks catcher finished second in the country in home runs per at bat hitting a homer every 10.36 at bats, while tying an Oregon single-season record with 14 dingers. Chase, who led the Pac-12 in homers, ranked seventh nationally in home runs and home runs per game (0.26) while leading the Pac-12 in long balls. He batted .283, third on the Ducks’ team, while finishing with nine doubles and 37 RBI. His .634 slugging percentage set a new single-season record at Oregon.
Irvin also was named to a pair of preseason All-American teams. He joined Chase as a second-team pick on the Louisville Slugger team, while also being named third-team by the National Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA). Irvin was named to the teams despite missing the entire 2014 season after suffering an elbow injury and having Tommy John surgery. The 6-foot-3 left-handed pitcher was Oregon’s Saturday starter during the 2013 season and finished with a school-record 12 wins while wrapping up his freshman season with a 2.48 ERA, a 12-3 record and four complete games. He claimed freshman All-America honors by both the NCBWA and Louisville Slugger, while earning honorable mention all-league recognition. Irvin claimed Pac-12 Pitcher of the Week honors twice, while being named the NCBWA National Pitcher of the Week once. He won both the national and conference award after throwing his first career complete game, a 6-0 shutout of Washington where he struck out a season-high 11. His second Pac-12 award came after he shut out Ohio State in a 4-0 win with seven strikeouts. Irvin was also named to the Eugene Regional All-Tournament Team after holding San Francisco to just one run on six hits with nine strikeouts. The Yorba Linda, Calif., native started the 2013 season as Oregon’s Sunday starter but moved to Saturday’s in early April. After the change, Irvin went 6-2 with a 1.92 ERA and three complete games in eight starts. He finished the season with seven straight quality starts, while tying teammate Tommy Thorpe with a team-high 12 quality starts during the season.
Tolman was named third-team preseason All-America by Perfect Game. The Ducks junior was named as a third baseman, the position he played for a bulk of his sophomore season. He batted .315 with two home runs and 49 RBI. Tolman also had a .438 on-base percentage and a .470 slugging percentage with 18 doubles and five triples.
Seven Ducks on D1Baseball.com’s list of Pac-12 top prospects: D1Baseball.com released its list of the Pac-12 Conference’s top 20 prospects per class in February and seven Ducks made the list. LHPs Garrett Cleavinger and Cole Irvin ranked among the prospects eligible for the 2015 MLB Draft. Cleavinger, Oregon’s closer, was the top ranked UO player at No. 5, while Irvin, who is battling back from Tommy John surgery, ranks 10th. Three Ducks who are eligible for the 2015 Draft made the list. Former first-round draft pick LHP Matt Krook, who is recovering from Tommy John surgery and may miss the season, is ranked second while RHP Stephen Nogosek is ranked 12th in the class and SS Mark Karaviotis is 17th. D1Baseball also ranks the impact freshmen with UO LHP David Peterson checking in at No. 2 on the list and C/RHP Tim Susnara ranking 18th.
