Jonah Bruneau
Oregon heads down south to Southern California for the first time this season as they get set for a crucial weekend series with the Trojans of USC. The Ducks, who lost already this week in the Tuesday night single-header against Oregon State, are living in tense times as they continue their pursuit for their first regular season conference championship since 1957.
Conference Picture
As it stands, Oregon (30-14) sit in third place and two games behind the conference leading Stanford Cardinal (28-13). The team in between these two is Arizona State (29-15), the squad Oregon just took two out of three from at PK Park last weekend. Now, Stanford and Arizona State are also set for a three-game slate against one another this weekend in which does not favor Oregon all that much. The best case scenario for the Ducks is a two of three wins for the Sun Devils over Stanford, as that would put Oregon a game ahead of the Cardinal and a half back of Arizona State (of course that is with the thinking of Oregon sweeping USC). Looking at USC, the Trojans see themselves currently four games behind Stanford. Simply put, they are within striking distance, meaning each of these four squads are in an intense dog fight as the regular season nears final.
USC-Oregon Trends
Heading into this weekend, Oregon has dropped their last two games, one from Oregon State on Tuesday and the series finale against Arizona State last Sunday. However, the Ducks have still won five of their last seven meetings thanks to five straight victories between Cal, Gonzaga, and Arizona State. The achilles heel for Oregon over the last three has been the pitching staff as they have combined to give up 30 runs in this span. Look for that to turnaround once Junior Jace Stoffal takes the mound against the Trojans. As for USC, they are battling a significant dry spell as they have dropped five straight ball games, including being swept by Washington last weekend in Seattle which put the Huskies ahead of them in the conference standings. Now between Oregon and USC over the last three full seasons, there have been nine games played between these two schools. Oregon has the slight advantage with five wins in those contests. Generally speaking, these two are equally matched in recent history.
2023 Matchup Preview
At 25-19-1, the Trojans have had their ups and downs this season. They have had moments such as taking two out of three from the then No. 2 Stanford Cardinal back in March, but those moments have been balanced out by the aforementioned five game skid that they are currently going through. Yet the talent and play-making ability is clearly present in this roster. Players such as Freshman Austin Overn, who has taken the Center Field position by storm, stand out in this USC lineup. The usual lead-off batter, Overn leads USC in batting average at .344, and is the only Trojan to start every game this season. On the pitching side, well it has somewhat been a mixed bag. Both Junior Tyler Stromsborg and and Redshirt Freshman Eric Hammond each have 11 starts this season, with Stromsborg having the only complete game thrown for the Trojans. However, his north of five ERA shows the inconsistency that has been a concern most of the campaign. In his last start against Washington, Stromsberg only went three innings while giving up six hits, three runs, and two walks to help tally up the 66 total pitches in those frames. On the Oregon side, of the ten Top-25 games they have played this season, the Ducks are right at .500 with the most recent being the two out of three wins from Arizona State and the Tuesday loss to the Beavers. This acts as a sign optimism as they have shown time and time again that at the very least, the Ducks can fight with the best of the best and even come out on top on multiple occasions. One of the key factors in this has been the pitching staff which may come as a surprise to some. As mentioned before, the last three games for Oregon off the bump has been a struggle, yet the overall campaign has actually shown otherwise. In fact, Oregon is 42nd in the nation in team ERA. Keep in mind there are 299 Division One programs. The man heading the charge has been Jace Stoffal. Leading Oregon with ten starts this season, Stoffal is 6-2 with a 2.83 ERA, good for 46th in the country. In his most recent appearance in game one against Arizona State, Stoffal went six and two thirds giving up two runs on four hits while racking up a solid seven strikeouts.
Lineup Predictions
USC
- CF #10 Austin Overn
- 2B #27 Bryce Martin-Grudzielanek
- LF #9 Carson Wells
- 3B #4 Johnny Olmstead
- C #5 Connor Clift
- RF #6 Cole Gabrielson
- DH #21 Adrian Colon-Rosado
- 1B #15 Ethan Hedges
- SS #13 Ryan Jackson
P. (G1) #24 Tyler Stromsborg
P. (G2) #12 Caden Aoki
P. (G3) #47 Blake Sodersten
Oregon
- RF #56 Rikuu Nishida
- CF #26 Colby Shade
- SS #15 Drew Cowley
- 3B #21 Sabin Ceballos
- LF #31 Tanner Smith
- 1B #25 Jacob Walsh
- C #27 Josiah Cromwick
- DH #28 Bryce Boettcher
- 2B #5 Gavin Grant
P. (G1) #9 Jace Stoffal
P. (G2) #20 Logan Mercado
P. (G3) #46 Matthew Grabmann
Series Prediction
It has been well documented that since the start of the Mark Wasikowski era, Oregon Baseball has been rebranded and rejuvenated in an astounding way, competing for conference titles and being a constant Top-25 position holder. The Ducks have not held a conference trophy in 66 years; this squad led by Coach Wasikowski is as determined as ever to make it happen for Eugene.
Prediction: Oregon Sweeps USC, improves to 33-14 on the season