by Saul Galvan

Oregon baseball had the ideal start to the season in its opening series. After starting last year with a 1-3 record, the Ducks were able to complete the opening series sweep over Xavier. Now the Ducks look to pick back where they left off, as the Gauchos of UC Santa Barbara come to PK Park for a three game series. The series was originally scheduled to be played in Santa Barbara, but after multiple reports of significant rainfall in Southern California, a decision was made to move the games to PK park and cut from four games to three.

Oregon:The series over Xavier was one for books and a good sign for the 2023 season. The Ducks’ offense put up twenty runs, while the pitching kept Xavier in check, only allowing eight. Catcher Josiah Cromwick and newly welcomed Japanese infielder, Rikku Nishida, lead the offense combining for eleven RBI’s. Cromwick leads the team in homeruns after hitting three over the weekend, while Nishida put up five hits, placing him atop of the hits category. Pitching was also solid, especially for freshman pitchers Matthew Grabmann, Turner Spoljaric and Leo Uelmen. Despite the lack of college ball experience, all three had quality outings, each allowing less than two runs. Coach Mark Wasikoswki said after Sunday's win that despite the series sweep to start the season, the team has “great pieces but [they] are not very good right now and have a long way to go”.

UC Santa Barbara: The Gauchos come in after going 2-2 at the Sanderson Ford College Baseball Classic in Arizona to kick off their season. The Gauchos faced off against Minnesota twice, both times taking the win, but lost to New Mexico and Oregon State. Just like the Ducks in their opening series, the Gauchos bats were alive as they put up twenty-five runs on the weekend, but were shut out in the loss to Oregon State. Ivan Brethowr lead the weekend with eight hits and three RBI’s. The pitching was unable to stay consistent, letting up a combined twenty three runs, including eleven to Oregon State. Key this weekend for the Ducks is simple: do what you did last week. The sudden venue change may throw some teams off, but moving the series to PK Park may be beneficial to Oregon. Despite Coach Wasikowski’s thoughts on his team not being complete, the team needs a repeat of everything they did right last week. If they can get ahead in the first few innings of each game, and the freshmen pitching can keep UC in check, the Ducks could be looking at another successful weeknd. Currently, Oregon ranks #25 in the Coaches Poll and the NCAA Division 1 Baseball Top 25. Another sweep may allow the Ducks to start moving up before they begin conference play against UCLA on March tenth. The other benefit of this change in venue is that the Ducks will now play their first nineteen games at home before their first road series in Pullman. As the spring weather approaches, the Ducks will look to keep the fire going and show why they are a top team in all of college baseball. First pitch for Friday’s game is at 2:05.