By: Ian Sutliff
Eugene, OR-- It has been a great season for both teams as the PAC-12 foes have faced gauntlets of a schedule in 2023. Arizona State has been a tough team at home, with a 14-5 record in Tempe and it’ll be another tough test for a squad who will be aiming to make a statement in a crowded conference. Oregon on the other hand has been consistent this entire season, never losing more than twice in a row and have gone a respectable 6-7 against ranked opponents. A series win for either team will be huge in gaining steam going into the end of the season and will be telling of what’s in store for the playoffs.
Oregon:The Ducks have two of the best players in the country in veterans Allee Bunker and Terra McGowan. Bunker is batting .415 with seven homers and 38 RBIs this season and has been on a tear of late. She’s 13-25 (.520) over her last eight games and that includes a pair of home runs, as well as 14 RBIs. McGowan is also one of the best hitting catchers in the conference and the redshirt senior has a .624 slugging percentage in large part because of her ten home runs. She’s also batting .303 this season and was behind the dish when Stevie Hansen threw her no-hitter back in February. Ariel Carlson is also quietly having herself another great season, along with KK Humphreys. The two have combined for eight home runs and have stolen 17 of the team’s 52 bases. This is an offense that has multiple weapons and has shown up against some of the best pitchers in the nation.
On the mound, Oregon has found much of an identity this season then it did in 2022, when Hansen was really the only reliable option. Hansen is still the overwhelming ace on the staff, as she is 15-4 with a 2.33 ERA in 105 innings in 2023. Morgan Scott has established herself as the number two option on this staff with Raegan Breedlove not too far behind. Scott has four complete games and her 2.83 ERA and 1.20 WHIP have proven that she can be relied upon to relieve or start in big games.
Arizona State:This Sun Devils team doesn’t have as deep of a lineup as Oregon, but they do have two comparable standout hitters in Yannira Acuna and Jordyn VanHook. Acuna is batting .412 with eight home runs. Her .504 on-base percentage is near the very top of the conference and she has also added nine stolen bases.VanHook is the best power hitter in the PAC-12 with 15 home runs and is a nightmare for opposing pitchers to deal with when Acuna is on base. Outside of those two, there is really only one other player who poses nearly as big of a threat. That’s senior Jazmyn Rollin who is hitting .322 with seven home runs and her OPS is sitting at a remarkable .974. Those three players account for 42.5% of the team’s hits, so it’ll be interesting to see what the Ducks’ plan is for them this weekend.
Arizona State uses four pitchers on a regular basis, but doesn’t have a truly dominant pitcher like many of the other teams in the conference. Kenzie Brown and Marissa Schuld are the two most consistent pitchers on this staff, but only have five combined starts. Mac Osborne and Kylee Magee will likely start the first two games of the series as they have done most of the season, but the two have been somewhat inefficient. Osborne is the better of the two starters and even though her record sits at 4-8, the junior has a 3.57 ERA while allowing just a .244 batting average against. Magee has struggled this year, as her ERA sits at 4.14 and her WHIP all the way up to 1.82. If Osborne and Magee can’t limit the damage before Brown and Schuld come in, this could be a long series for the Sun Devils.
Prediction: With Arizona State possessing some of the weakest starting pitching that the Ducks have and will see, Oregon’s offense has the chance to put up big numbers this weekend. With an improved pitching staff, Oregon will take the first two games of the series, before dropping a close one on Sunday. Bunker will add a pair of home runs and Arizona State will fall in the PAC-12 standings.