Just over 11 months ago, Blue Bell Park in College Station, Texas, was the scene for a dramatic Super Regional rubber match between the Oregon Ducks and Texas A&M Aggies. The winner would head to the College World Series in Omaha, and the loser would head home empty-handed. After dropping a run to the Aggies in the top of the first, Oregon’s star catcher and third-place hitter, Chase Meggers, stepped up with Dominic Hellman on first. It was then that Meggers launched a belt-high, first-pitch fastball deep into the right field bleachers off of Aggies’ lefthander Shane Sdao.
The Ducks went on to lose that game 15-9 after a heartbreaking nine-run seventh, but it was Meggers’ big swing that lifted them to their hot start and 8-4 six-inning lead.
This was not an unfamiliar sight for the Ducks last year; the sophomore backstop anchored Oregon’s offense all season, carrying a team-leading .316 batting average, an .875 OPS, and 33 RBIs, both good for third on the team. The 2024 All-Pac-12 Conference Honorable Mention was primed for a big 2025 after his breakout, but a preseason injury took him out of his team’s first 16 games. While freshmen Burke-Lee Mabeus and Coen Niclai — as well as senior outfielder Anson Aroz, several times at the beginning of the year — filled in nicely in Meggers’ absence, his on-field presence was undoubtedly missed.
“You know, it suck[s] when you start the year and a guy’s not with you,” head coach Mark Wasikowski said about Meggers. “You’ve got a guy as good as he was a year ago, and he was our best hitter, especially down the stretch… You know, we missed him. To have him back now — and it appears like he’s at one hundred percent now — the experience, I feel, should help the ballclub.”
And help the ballclub he certainly did. In the bottom of the second inning against Washington on Sunday, Meggers stepped up to the plate with no outs, a run already home, and sophomore shortstop Maddox Molony standing on second base after a double. He swung wildly at two offspeed pitches, quickly falling into an 0-2 hole.
“I don’t really sit on pitches when I have two strikes, especially. I was just trying to compete, and he hung a pitch, and I just got out in front,” Meggers said, reflecting on the pitch that he stung out over the right-center field wall, giving the Ducks an early 4-0 lead.
For Meggers, this was his first home run in 336 days since the aforementioned and dreaded 2024 Super Regional, a factoid that not many would have predicted after the junior catcher’s breakout campaign a year ago.
On top of that, not many would have predicted Meggers’ struggles upon returning. Until the Saint Mary’s series this past week, Meggers was hitting at a measly clip of .214 and striking out at a rate of 19.7 percent. In his last three games, though, he’s caught fire, going 5-for-11 with the one home run and four RBIs, only striking out once in that span.
“I’ve just been working really hard to get comfortable in the box,” Meggers said about his struggles returning to success. “When I’m in the cages, I know what I’m gonna hit well. You start seeing the ball well when you feel comfortable, you swing at less bad pitches. All that comes together for a successful at-bat, and I think that this weekend was super beneficial for me and my comfortability to go into the next series.”
While Meggers’ offense was a highlight on Sunday afternoon, it was perhaps upstaged by his brilliant defense behind the plate. In the top of the second, he unleashed a pinpoint accurate throw to second base to nab Washington right fielder Jackson Hotchkiss, who tried to move into scoring position against Oregon starter Jason Reitz.
The best of it all, though, came in the ninth inning with two outs, as the Ducks were holding onto a slim two-run lead with runners on the corners and a dangerous hitter in shortstop Sam DeCarlo — who was 3-for-3 on the day — at the plate. The 1-2 pitch came, and pinch runner Matthew Henning bolted for second, only to be met by an absolute rocket of a throw by Meggers that had him out by a foot and clinched the Ducks’ fifth sweep of the season.
“We figured that they might run in the 1-2 count right there, with two outs,” Wasikowski noted. “[Pitching] coach [Blake Hawksworth] elevated a fastball to give Chase [Meggers] a good chance to throw on it, and he gunned him, right?”
Yes, Coach Wasikowski, he certainly did.
Since 2024, the Ducks are now 5-1 in games that Meggers has homered, as well as 5-1 in games that he has caught a runner stealing this year. While 2025 overall has been an unusual struggle for Meggers, this past week has no doubt been an indicator that he has found his legs, and it is just in time for Oregon as it barrels towards postseason play. Oregon is a dangerous unit when its best weapon from a year ago is feeling right.
Oregon has four sweeps in its last five series, and will look to do damage against the Big Ten-leading Iowa Hawkeyes (32-17, 21-6 Big Ten) next weekend in Iowa City. This series will be the finale of Big Ten regular-season play, as the two teams will duke it out for seeding within the top three spots.