An electric opening day win for the Oregon Ducks baseball team did not carry over to Saturday as Toledo took Game 2 of the series 5-3.

Oregon certainly had its chances in this one. In the bottom of the eighth with one out, Toledo held a 4-3 lead but the Ducks had the tying run on third. With junior designated hitter Dominic Hellman at the plate, this seemed like Oregon’s chance as almost anything in play would’ve scored the tying run. Unfortunately, Hellman struck out on a nasty pitch from Toledo reliever Logan Jones. Jones killed the Ducks’ momentum by grounding shortstop Maddox Molony out to third, and Oregon’s best chance at getting back into the game was shut down.

Oregon was coming off a clean 9-2 opening-day win against the Toledo Rockets the night before. Strong pitching held the Rockets to three hits and a late outburst from the offense sealed the win.

The first half of Saturday’s game was a pitchers' duel similar to the day before. Pitchers on both sides…

Has Collin Clarke arrived? It sure feels like it, Oregon’s true sophomore RHP delivered a gem in his 2025 season debut. This season brought questions about the Ducks’ pitching staff this year and whether they could improve from last year despite losing two of their best starters, RJ Gordon and Kevin Seitter.           

During Clarke’s freshman season at Oregon a year ago, he appeared just 13 times and started just once. His freshman year was moderately successful for a young pitcher, allowing 17 runs (14 earned) and striking out 14 batters in 19.2 innings. After his first outing of the 2025 season and just his second career start, he’s already amassed half his strikeouts from last season.

Clarke pushed on strongly despite the lack of run support early in the game. Partially in credit to Toledo’s Luke Walton in left field, who had two jaw-dropping diving catches to end the third and save runs in the fourth inning.…

Early-season jitters are typical, especially in baseball. Batters start off sluggish, pitchers may get hit around a little bit and the manager may still be working the kinks out of the lineup. Oregon first baseman Jacob Walsh completely ignored that norm in the Oregon Ducks’ 9-2 season opener against the Toledo Rockets.

In the bottom of the sixth, the score was tied at one apiece with both teams failing to plate a run in their last four innings of work. After a fielding error put leadoff batter Drew Smith on first, Walsh came to the plate with a chance to put Oregon back in front. Walsh fell behind in the count 1-2 but felt no pressure. On the next pitch, he cranked an opposite-field two-run blast to give the Ducks the lead 3-1.

This blew the Ducks’ offense open. In the last three innings on offense, they scored in every single one. When the dust settled and closing pitcher Seth Mattox sealed it, Oregon took down Toledo 9-2 to cap off a strong opening day at PK Park.…

The University of Oregon Baseball team had a fantastic opening-day game against Toledo. After an initially slow start to the game, the Ducks turned it on in the final three innings winning 9-2. 

This was the result of a fantastic team effort on all fronts. The hitters, pitchers and defense stepped up enormously in Friday’s game. 

Things that went right

Pitching: 

Grayson Grinsell put together a phenomenal demonstration of Division I college baseball pitching on Friday. In the five innings he pitched there was only one run and one hit each. 

When asked about his performance after the game he stated his goal was to “set the tone” for what should be expected out of the teams pitching for the rest of the series. 

Oregon used three pitchers in total for the game, as opposed to Toledo's five. This could affect the Rockets’ pitching for the rest of the series since Oregon has more rested pitchers. 

Risk-taking:…

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…

After an unexpected five-game losing streak, the Oregon Ducks needed to get back on track. Tuesday’s 81-75 home win over the Northwestern Wildcats might be what they needed to find their groove.

The Ducks showed a sense of urgency from the opening tip. In the fifth minute, Jackson Shelstad paired a 3-pointer with a fast-break layup to give Oregon an 11-4 lead. Northwestern fought back and tied the game, but then Oregon went on an extended scoring run that lasted the rest of the first half. The Ducks led by 17 around the one-minute mark and went into the locker room up 14. 

Both teams traded points for the majority of the second half. However, things started to get interesting around the eight-minute mark. Oregon led by 13 after a pair of Nate Bittle free throws, but then Northwestern went on an 11-3 run over the next few minutes. Oregon called a timeout to regroup with five minutes remaining and guard Keeshawn Barthelemy immediately sank a 3 to halt the Wildcats’…

Before the fans at Papé Field could even enjoy a halftime intermission, the Oregon Ducks women’s lacrosse team had put their season opener on ice, leading Butler 14-0 at the break and eventually coming out on top 18-6.

Early in that second quarter, the Ducks lead was already 11-0, including a first-half hat trick from junior midfielder Anna Simmons. Her first-half work wasn't done yet, though. 

At the 5:35 mark in the second quarter, Simmons found herself centered to the goal with one defender in her sights and the ball in her possession. She scanned the field but called her own number, planted her left foot and exploded for a vortex-esque spin move that cleared the lane for her to finish the goal.

“It was awesome. Tonight, we just had a spark in us,” Simmons said after the game. “We went out, and we gave it 100 percent. It was a great way to start our season, and it really set the tone.”

The Ducks entered this game looking to build off a solid 8-7…

Hosted by Saul Galvan, Isaac Dubey, Jonah Bruneau, Elliot Hunt 

Oregon softball season opener on Friday (6:00)

• General thoughts heading into the first game
• What areas does this team need to depend on to win games?
• Players you're looking forward to watching 

Oregon Women's basketball is back in action on Thursday (6:20)

• Touch game against Michigan
• What does Kelly Graves's team need to do to bounce back against Maryland
• What is the ceiling for this team?

Men's basketball heads to East Coast (6:40)

• What must this team do to get out of this rut?
• Who needs to surge amidst the struggles?

Super Bowl Talk (6:50)

As the climate begins to cool and winter swings into full force, the chill in the air marks the nearing of the NCAA softball season. And for the Oregon Ducks, they come into the season ranked as the No. 23 team nationally, one spot higher than they ended the 2024 season after sporting a 30-21 overall record and a 13-10 record in the since-departed Pac-12. 

B1Gtime

This year, the Ducks are one of the four West Coast newcomers to the Big Ten. They are primed for more miles and similar on-field challenges with the Big Ten, clocking into the 2025 season with four other top-25 programs (the Pac-12 finished 2024 with four others as well). 

UCLA also made the move to the Big Ten, which will preserve a thorn on the Ducks’ side, as the 2024 Pac-12 champions will provide top-5-worthy competition and thus an obstacle in the way of the top step of the conference. The Bruins swept the Ducks last year, going 2-0 in a late-March series in which the third game was…

The Oregon Ducks men’s basketball team came out swinging this season, posting a 9-0 record to start the year. While the defense did its job in those games, the offense was what shined for Oregon, putting up 80 or more points in five of the nine games and 70 or more in three games. The undefeated streak was eventually broken and more losses were sprinkled in, but the Ducks kept winning for the most part and that offense kept clicking with four more 80-plus point games including an 89-point burst against Weber State. 

The Ducks have completely lost this. After putting up 82 in a gritty win against Penn State, they have sputtered with four losses in five games. In those four losses, the Ducks totaled 58 against Purdue, 69 against a bottom tier of the Big Ten Minnesota team, 52 against UCLA and now 71 points against lowly Nebraska.

“We haven’t made the progress that we need to make, offensively and defensively. We are kind of in a rut now…