Ducks to play Xavier
UO release – As the NCAA baseball championship selection show progressed Monday morning, several Pac-12 teams were on the edge of their seats, waiting to see if their names would be called. The Oregon baseball team was assembled at PK Park to watch the show on the stadium’s video board. Along with teams like Arizona, USC and Arizona State, tension was rising for the Ducks as matchups for the final few regional sites were announced. But unlike those other schools, it wasn’t a matter of “if” Oregon would make the field, but simply where the Ducks would be playing, after they clinched a berth in regionals by winning the Pac-12 Tournament on Saturday. Though USC and Arizona State ultimately were left out of the field, the UO baseball team opens NCAA Regionals on Friday against Xavier, in a regional hosted by Vanderbilt. “That’s the key, is knowing that you’re gonna see your name,” UO coach Mark Wasikowski said. “In order to do that we needed to win the Pac-12 tournament. There’s some others that — I think probably rightfully so — are probably pretty pissed off today. The only way you can avoid that is by handling your business to the best of your ability on the field. And specifically for us, that meant Pac-12 Tournament champions.” The Ducks will face the Musketeers on Friday at 10 a.m. PT, in a rematch of a four-game series Oregon swept to open the season in February. Veterans of the UO baseball program will be playing in an NCAA Regional for the third straight year. Others will be making their tournament debuts, including senior closer Josh Mollerus, who transferred to Oregon for opportunities just such as this. “Yeah, a hundred percent,” said Mollerus, the winning pitcher in Oregon’s Pac-12 Tournament upset of Stanford that put the Ducks into the semifinals. “That was one of the reasons I came here, to get a shot to do this. And that’s step one, checked off.” The Ducks are going on the road for regionals for the second year in a row. They hosted a regional in 2021 before playing in Louisville last spring. This year’s Nashville Regional looks remarkably similar to how it did in 2014. That year Vanderbilt also hosted Oregon and Xavier, along with Clemson; this year the Commodores, Ducks and Musketeers are joined by Eastern Illinois. “This is an opportunity for us to really show what that Pac-12 Championship means to us,” UO senior outfielder Tanner Smith said. “I think everybody in our regional won their conference titles, so I think it’s gonna be a really good matchup and I think it’s gonna be a really exciting weekend.” Oregon is looking to advance to Super Regionals for the first time since 2012. Wasikowski said Monday he remained unsure of the availability this week of pitchers Jace Stoffal and Isaac Ayon, who have been sidelined by injuries. The Ducks overcame their absences last week with depth — of the 15 total relief appearances by the UO staff across four games in the Pac-12 Tournament, 13 were scoreless. “It’s gonna be the same mentality that we had going back to the lessons we learned from the tournament — it’s gonna be next guy up, just pass the torch,” Mollerus said. “Get whatever you can out of a guy at the time, and then pass the torch.” The Ducks enter NCAA Regionals in a much different place compared to a year ago. In the 2022 Pac-12 Tournament, they went 0-2; this year, they bring a six-game win streak into regionals, capped by the conference tournament title. “I think it’s a big momentum piece,” Smith said. “Accomplishing that together as a team is not only something to be excited about, but something we can learn from. Keep that fire burning.” Now, the challenge is to ride the wave of positive momentum, while also turning the focus to a new challenge this week. “I told them to enjoy winning the championship, for sure — and I think they did that,” Wasikowski said. “I’m pretty confident that they enjoyed that pretty well. And now it’s just, you know, back to the day. It’s about today, and improving today and getting better today. The best thing they can do today with our travel yesterday is rest, get in and see the treatment folks, and do the things that they need to do to help get them prepared for the regional this weekend.” Given how USC and ASU were denied NCAA Regional bids Monday, watching the selection show might have been a scary proposition for the Ducks had they not won the conference tournament. In his message to the team after the field was announced, Wasikowski reinforced the importance of last week’s success, and the need to play with the same mindset this week. “Maybe even losing the final game of the Pac-12 tournament, what if all of a sudden we were left out — how would you feel about that?” Wasikoski said. “Because there’s a lot of really good baseball players right now in our awesome conference that are not going to a regional, and probably pissed. And that could easily have been us if we didn’t handle our business. “The way we did it is by having a back-against-the-wall mentality, and playing that way. And I reminded the guys of that, to where they take that same mentality into the next round.”
OSU Baseball
OSU release – CORVALLIS, Ore. – The Oregon State baseball team has been selected to participate in the NCAA Baton Rouge Regional, hosted by LSU. The second-seeded Beavers get underway Friday when taking on No. 3 seed Sam Houston. First pitch is scheduled for 5 p.m. PT (7 p.m. in Louisiana). Host LSU is the No. 1 seed and takes on No. 4 Tulane to open. The Tigers and Green Wave play at noon PT (2 p.m. in Baton Rouge). Oregon State is making its 22nd all-time trip to the NCAA’s postseason event, and sixth straight, the second-longest streak behind seven straight from 2009-15. The Beavers are 76-44 (.633) in the postseason, with a 42-26 (.617) mark in regional games. The 2023 Beavers enter the postseason with a 39-18 record. Oregon State heads to the postseason having won 27 of its last 37 games after sporting a 12-8 record after a loss to Stanford on March 19. OSU, meanwhile, took second in the Pac-12 Conference with an 18-12 mark, going 17-7 in its last 24 games after opening league play with a 1-5 record. The Beavers will be making their third trip to an NCAA Regional under Mitch Canham, the Pat Casey Head Baseball Coach at Oregon State. Canham is 7-5 in the postseason. LSU enters the postseason with a 43-15 record and the Tigers finished the regular season with a 19-10 record in Southeastern Conference play. LSU is hitting .311 on the year with a 4.64 earned run average. Sam Houston advanced to the postseason by way of winning the Western Athletic Conference Tournament Championship this past weekend. The Bearkats are 38-23 overall, finished with a 21-8 WAC record, bat .319 and have a 5.26 ERA. Tulane also won its conference tournament, defeating East Carolina Sunday to claim the American Athletic Conference auto-bit. The Green Wave are 19-40 overall and finished AAC play with an 8-16 record. Tulane is batting .250 this season and has a 7.00 ERA. OSU and LSU have met seven times, all since 2012, with the Tigers holding a 4-3 advantage. The teams last met at the 2018 Corvallis Regional, with the Beavers winning both. The Beavers have never met Sam Houston and have played Tulane three times, with the Green Wave holding a 3-0 advantage. The teams last met in the 2005 College World Series, a 3-1 Tulane victory.
