Ducks in College Station for Super Regionals (2024)

by GoDucks.com

Super Duper

• For the second consecutive season and the third time since baseball returned to Oregon before the 2009 season, the Ducks will play in a Super Regional.
• Oregon hosted Kent State in 2012 and came within one out of advancing to the College World Series.
• Last season, Oregon was two outs away from a CWS berth before Oral Roberts scored two runs in the ninth of game two.

Regional Wrap

• Oregon advanced to the Bryan-College Station Super Regional after going 3-0 at the Santa Barbara Regional.
• It marked the second consecutive season that the Ducks swept a NCAA Regional on the road.
• Last year Oregon won the Nashville Regional at Vanderbilt. Oregon won the regional at UCSB with outstanding pitching, finishing with a 1.55 team ERA.

Garate Is Regional MVP

• Despite Oregon's fantastic pitching at the Santa Barbara Regional, it was Oregon third baseman Carter Garate who took most valuable player honors home after the tournament.
• In addition to playing fantastic defense at the hot corner, Garate batted .500 (5-for-10) with a home run, double, four RBI, a run scored and a stolen base.

Oregon making 11th postseason appearance

• Oregon's selection to participate in the NCAA Tournament marks the 11th time the Ducks have qualified for the postseason.
• The Ducks are making their fourth consecutive appearance, which matches the longest streak in school history.
• The Ducks previously played in the postseason four straight years from 2012 to 2015.
• Oregon has qualified for postseason in all four full years of the Mark Wasikowski era.
• The Ducks have won three regional tournaments (2012 Eugene Regional; 2023 Nashville Regional; 2024 Santa Barbara Regional).

Home run record within reach of being broken again

• Heading into Super Regionals, there is a chance Oregon could once again break the program's home run record.
• Oregon has set a new school record for home runs in each of the last three seasons.
• This year's team has already moved into second all-time with 93 homers and is hitting home runs at a 1.6 HR per game rate.
• If the Ducks continue to hit homers at that rate, they would need to play six more games to set a new record.
• The Ducks have increased the home run record by 53 long balls during the first three full seasons of the Mark Wasikowski era.
• Last season, Oregon broke the school record of 75 home runs set during the 2022 season, which came a year after hitting 56 to break the old record of 48 that was set in 1974.

Another assault on record books?

• During head coach Mark Wasikowski's three full seasons at Oregon, the Ducks have rewritten the program's record book on offense.
• Oregon's record-breaking offensive season ended in 2022 with the Ducks setting records in eight major statistical categories.
• In 2022, UO set school bests in average, hits, runs, home runs, RBI, doubles, total bases and at-bats.
• Of the eight new records, three broke school records set in 2021 when the team broke long-time records for runs (376 in 2010), home runs (48 in 1974) and RBI (332 in 2010).
• In 2023, Oregon re-set four of the records with 101 HRs, 142 doubles, 1,057 total bases and 2,167 at-bats.
• Oregon had also cracked the top 10 in RBI (2nd), runs (2nd), stolen bases (2nd) and hits (2nd).
• Oregon had a .298 team batting average, which ranked fourth all-time.
• While increasing the home run record by 53 during the Wasikowski era, the Ducks have increased the runs scored record by 76 and the RBI record by 84.

Ducks close Pac-12 era with multiple series wins over every team in Wasikowski era

• Oregon's series win at Washington State in 2023 allowed Oregon head coach Mark Wasikowski to check the last box in regard to winning a series vs. the other teams in the Pac-12 Conference.
• The Ducks had at least one series win over the other nine Pac-12 teams during his first two seasons at the helm of the Ducks.
• Oregon had four series wins over Arizona State. California and Utah, three over Arizona, USC and Washington, and two over Oregon State, Stanford, UCLA and WSU during the Wasikowski era.
• The Ducks were 82-56 (.594) in games vs. Pac-12 teams under Wasikowski including nonconference games vs. Oregon State and Pac-12 Conference Tournament games vs. Arizona (2), Arizona State, California, Stanford, USC, Utah and Washington.

Molony making his mark

• It has not taken Maddox Molony long to put his name in the Oregon record books.
• The Ducks' shortstop became just the second Oregon freshman, and first position player, to ever be named first-team All-Pac-12 Conference.
• He joins Kenyon Yovan who was named All-Pac-12 in 2017 as a relief pitcher following his freshman season.
• The all-league honor came after Molony etched his name in Oregon's record books earlier in the season.
• The freshman from Springfield, Ore., belted his seventh career home run in his 93rd career at-bat and 26th career start to set a new Oregon freshman home run record.
• The record did not stay at seven for long as Molony homered in each of his next two games at Washington and then homered again vs. Washington State pushing the record to 10.
• The Ducks' shortstop has played in just 41 of Oregon's 58 games after suffering an injury weeks before the season started.
• He did not play in his first game until March 3 or make his first start on March 10.
• The freshman home run record Molony broke, marked the second time this year a Ducks' freshman etched his name at the top of the freshman home run list.
• Earlier this season, with Molony out with an injury, Ryan Cooney tied the freshman record in just his 18th career start (8 SS, 10 2B).
• The six bombs equaled the previous record set by Jonny DeLuca in 2018 and matched by Jacob Walsh in 2022.
• Walsh played in 58 total games (55 starts) and hit his sixth home run in his 49th start, while DeLuca played in 55 games (54 starts) and hit his sixth home run in his 50th start.
• Combined, Molony and Cooney have batted .286 (61-for-213) with 16 HR, 5 2B, 2 3B and 43 RBI while starting just two games together.

Walsh adds single-season home run record to career mark

• Heading into Super Regionals, JR 1B Jacob Walsh needs just one home run to set a new single-season program record for home runs.
• He hit his 18th homer on Sunday at the regional tournament to tie the record set by Sabin Ceballos last year.
• The Ducks' first baseman already owns the career home run record at Oregon with 40 long balls, nine more than former record holder Tanner Smith (2019-23) hit during his career.
• He has also cracked the top 10 in RBI (3rd), multi-RBI game (3rd), doubles (T4th), at-bats (5th), hits (7th) runs (T7th), games started (8th) and multi-hit games (10th).
• A three-year starter at first base, Walsh is a career .267 hitter with 43 doubles and 131 RBI.
• In addition to tying the single-season home run record, Walsh has moved into the top 10 on the single-season RBI list with 56 (T5th).
• In 2022, Walsh became just the 10th Ducks' freshman All-American after setting freshman program records for doubles (18) and total bases (103), while tying the record for home runs (6).

Neville also closing in on home run record

• Don't look now, but SO OF Mason Neville is swinging a hot bat and is closing in on both Jacob Walsh and Oregon's single-season home run record.
• A transfer from Arkansas, Neville is slashing .254/.355/.669with a 1.024 OPS while slugging 16 home runs with 42 RBI and seven stolen bases.
• He has homered in 16 of 34 starts this season and has 13 bombs in his last 27 starts.
• The Las Vegas native is hitting a home run every 8.9 at-bats on the season.
• He is two home runs behind Walsh and Sabin Ceballos (2023) and three shy of setting a new program record.
• A starter over the last 21 games, Neville is batting .296 (24-for-81) with 10 HR, 22 RBI, two doubles, two triples and 19 runs scored since April 20.
• During that stretch, he is slugging a homer every 8.1 at-bats.
• Since the Gonzaga game on April 16, Neville has started 22 of 23 games for the Ducks batting .310 (26-for-84) with 11 home runs, three doubles, and a triple with 24 RBI and 21 runs scored.

Bryce is right

• Playing both baseball and football at Oregon, SR OF Bryce Boettcher is one of just 13 players nationwide playing both sports.
• The Ducks outfielder and inside linebacker has made starts in both sports during his time doing double duty.
• He has started 52 of Oregon's 58 games this season, after starting all three of the Eugene Super Regional games and the Nashville Regional Tournament championship game last year.
• Overall, Boettcher has started 80 games during his baseball career while playing in 186 games.
• In football, Boettcher played in all 14 games for Oregon's Fiesta Bowl winning team while making two starts at inside linebacker.
• He finished fifth on the team with 37.0 tackles while finishing with a sack, 2.5 tackles for loss, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery.

Strikeout record falls while the Ducks' staff racks up wins

• Heading into this weekend's Bryan-College Station Super Regional, the Oregon pitching staff has already set a school record for most strikeouts in a season.
• The 17 Ducks pitchers who have taken the mound this season have combined to fan 537 opposing batters.
• The 537 Ks in 58 games is 14 more than the 2021 team (55 games) and the 2010 team (64 games) struck out during the previous best season.
• The Ducks' hurlers are striking out 9.3 batters per game which is tied with the 2021 team for the second most in program history, behind only the 1950 squad (13.2 K/Game).
• The Ducks are led by LHP Grayson Grinsell who has fanned 97 hitters during the season, the sixth most in school history, while RHP Brock Moore leads the staff with 15.9 strikeouts per nine innings.
• Oregon's staff also has 40 wins, which is tied for the fifth most in program history.

Ducks' rotation dominant at Santa Barbara Regional

• Oregon starting pitchers JR RJ Gordon, SO Grayson Grinsell and SR Kevin Seitter put together back-to-back-to-back dominant performances at the Santa Barbara Regional leading Oregon to a 3-0 record and a championship.
• The three Ducks' starters combined to go 2-0 with a 1.17 ERA while allowing just three runs on 13 hits with 19 strikeouts and nine walks in 23.0 innings of work during the regional.
• In the opener, Gordon allowed three runs on six hits in 7.0 innings while leaving the game with a 4-1 lead with two runners on base.
• In game two, Grinsell allowed just three hits in 7.0 innings with nine Ks while limiting No. 18 UCSB to a .136 batting average.
• In the championship game, Seitter had his first career complete-game shutout with seven Ks while not allowing a runner past first until the ninth inning when the Gauchos got two of their four hits.
• The Ducks starters' ERA in the regionals topped all other regional champions.

Mercado, Mullan named to midseason stopper watch list

• Oregon relievers Logan Mercado and Bradley Mullan were named to the NCBWA Stopper of the Year midseason watch list.
• Mullan is tied with Mercado for the team lead in appearances (26) and leads the Ducks in ERA (1.66), while ranking second on the team in saves (4).
• He has 33 strikeouts in 38.0 innings of work and is holding opposing hitters to a .203 batting average.
• He is tied for seventh in the Pac-12 in both saves and appearances.
• Mercado is Oregon's team leader in saves (8), while also making 26 appearances.
• He has fanned 44 batters in 40.2 innings pitched and has a 3.98 ERA.
• The Ducks' right-hander is fourth in the Pac-12 in saves, as well as 33rd in the nation, and is tied for seventh in the league in appearances.
• Oregon is one of just six teams with more than one pitcher included on the watch list.
• The Ducks join Arkansas (3), Vanderbilt (3), Lamar (2), Louisiana (2) and North Carolina (2).

More of Moore

• Oregon's banged up pitching staff got some arms backs recently that has made Oregon's bullpen even more formidable.
• With Logan Mercado (40.2 IP), Bradley Mullan (38.0 IP) and Ryan Featherston (40.0 IP) pitching a bulk of the innings out of the bullpen, Oregon needed to add some arms as the season progressed toward postseason.
• Relievers Brock Moore and Jaxson Jordan both have returned after being sidelined, and both were impressive against Oregon State and Utah, with Moore adding an impressive outing at Washington and his first career start against Utah in the Pac-12 Tournament.
• A senior transfer from Menlo College, Moore pitched just once between March 29 and April 26.
• Since returning on April 27, Moore has made seven appearances going 3-0 with a 2.70 ERA and a save.
• During that stretch, he has allowed just six runs on 14 hits in 20.0 innings of work while striking out 31 and walking 10.
• He tossed a scoreless inning at Oregon State in game one of the series on Friday before giving Oregon three dominant innings in a 9-5 midweek win over the Beavers.
• In that game, after giving up a solo home run to the first batter he faced, Moore retired the next nine batters including the final eight on strikeouts (longest streak in modern era Ducks' history).
• He was equally impressive in his outing at Washington, picking up the win after tossing a career-high five innings while allowing no runs on three hits with eight Ks.
• Against Utah, Moore tossed three scoreless innings picking up his first career save, while Jordan didn't allow a run in 0.2 innings of work.