Baseball love is in the air if you’re a fan of the Oregon Ducks, as their season fires up on Valentine's Day against the Toledo Rockets.
Oregon comes into this season preseason ranked No. 12 after a strong 40-20 record in the 2024 season. The frigid and rainy Eugene weather will hopefully hold off enough for the 3:05 p.m. first pitch at PK Park. Junior starting pitcher Grayson Grinsell gets the opening day honors for the Ducks, as he looks to build off his All-Pac-12 Conference Honorable Mention from last season.
Where They Left Off
In the 2024 season, the Ducks made it to their second Super Regional in a row. After powering through San Diego and UC Santa Barbara in the regional, Oregon had a best-of-three date with Texas A&M.
This series turned into a disaster for Oregon. In Game 1, after going up 6-3 in the second inning, the Ducks gave up seven unanswered runs and dropped the first game of the series. When fans thought Game 2 couldn't get worse, it did.
Oregon took its lead further into this game, leading 8-4 after six innings. Then, in what felt like a three-hour seventh inning for Ducks fans, four runs were walked in, one run came in from a hit batter and a monster grand slam and another two-run homer buried the grave for the 2024 Oregon Ducks baseball team.
A New Season
This season, the Ducks appear stronger than ever to make that elusive College World Series run.
“We got guys from last year and the year before that understand what it takes to get to that level,” Grinsell said. “Then we have new guys that are helping to build off of what we’ve built with those past two years and we know what it takes. We’ve brought the talent this year to take it even a step further and end up in Omaha.”
Grinsell is the guy to watch for the Oregon Ducks this season. While his stuff may not wow fans, the results do. His fastball sits between 88-91 mph, yet it baffles batters. It becomes more dangerous when he’s had a few innings to mix in his curveball, changeup and slider. In his two seasons at Oregon, he has racked up 166 strikeouts and an outstanding 11.75 K/9. His ERA last season was excellent for the college level at 4.08, and much improved from the 4.47 mark the year before. With a whole offseason of improvement and the numbers already trending in the right direction, Grinsell’s old-fashioned yet effective pitching style could light up the Big Ten and provide a major pitching boost for Oregon, which has cost the team the last two seasons.
While Oregon will look to build off that strong but heartbreaking campaign from a year ago, this season already will be much different. Just like many other Oregon athletics, the Big Ten transition shook things up for the entire conference. Despite the shift, Oregon is projected to win the conference in their first season.
Opponents Watchlist
These high expectations will be put to the test with various landmark series throughout the season. Oregon is lucky to have only one team featured in the Big Ten projected top five scheduled, but that series will be a major decider for this team. That team is the Michigan Wolverines, who are projected to finish fifth in the Big Ten after a 32-28 finish to last season. That series will take place Apr. 4-6 at PK Park in Eugene, Ore.
A player to watch out for during those showdowns against Michigan is their two-way junior star, Mitch Voit. Voit, who plays infield when he’s not pitching, received All-Big Ten honors last year and will look to keep being a force all over the field for the Wolverines. He will want his ERA trimmed down from the 5.49 mark last season, but his high-efficiency bat will play a huge factor for the offense. Last year, he batted .292 with 14 home runs, which is most impressive for a two-way player.
The elephant in the room is the matchup against world series hopeful and in-state rival, the Oregon State Beavers. The Beavers come into this season preseason ranked No. 7 after a 45-16 record last season. Oregon hung tough with the Beavers last season, splitting the season series winning one on the road and one at home. Oregon has to be careful this year though, as Beavers outfielder Gavin Turley is geared for a massive season, hitting 19 homers last year with a .277 average.
Oregon has a counter for the strong hitting from Turley, and that’s Jacob Walsh. The first baseman had a spectacular season last year, mashing 18 dingers to lead the squad. He keeps his average solid despite being a power hitter, as he hit a respectable .254 last season. He also locks it down on defense. In 2024, he was awarded a spot on the Pac-12 All-Defensive Team.
That series will take place Apr. 25-27 at PK Park, with an additional game on Apr. 29 in Corvallis.
Big Time Expectations
This Oregon team has high hopes, but execution is going to be key. While all teams will have to be treated with the same respect, the Ducks’ schedule features mostly teams projected to finish in the middle of the bottom of the Big Ten. Oregon will have to take advantage of this and rack up wins and not let the weaker schedule get into their heads.
“It’s a new year, new group of guys, we’re just going to play Duck baseball,” Walsh said. “Usually, good things happen when we can do that.”
This Ducks team is talented and deep, and in college baseball, sometimes depth is all you need. If Oregon can beat those lower-quality teams and step up when the lights are brightest against the Beavers, this team could go all the way.
“We got a lot of talent. A lot of good, young talent that is going to make a big impact this year,” junior infielder Carter Garate said. “Including those guys that we had last year, I’d say we are headed in the right direction to start the year.”
The University of Oregon may not be known for its baseball. The history is short and features a 27-year hole of it not even existing at the school. But this team is legit. It features depth throughout the entire field, a strong pitching staff which is rare for a Ducks team and a strong manager in Mark Wasikowski.
The sport in the state is mainly dominated by the folks up north in Corvallis, but Ducks fans can only be thinking: can this team be the team that can take a College World Series to Eugene? With everything being said, it could be — and the fans can find out starting on Friday.