Tag: Bryce Boettcher

Bryce Boettcher awarded with the collegiate Gold Glove

Oregon centerfielder Bryce Boettcher was awarded with the collegiate Gold Glove for the 2024 season.

On the day after the greatest centerfielder that ever played the game, Willie Mays, passed away at the age of 93, Oregon’s own centerfielder was recognized for having a little of Mays inside him.

Bryce Boettcher was awarded with the Division I Collegiate Gold Glove.

Oregon fans are used to watching Boettcher run through running backs as a linebacker on the football field, but on the diamond, he runs though and goes above walls to rob home runs and make diving catches.

Boettcher was most recently seen in Arizona showing off his skills at the MLB combine where he hopes to catch some eyes in order to be drafted later this month. He had a fielding percentage of 1.000 as Boettcher didn’t make an error all season and had six assists in the outfield.

At the plate, the senior from Eugene hit .276 with 12 homers and 35 runs batted in.

Jerry Allen names most likely breakout candidates for Oregon Football in 2024

A look at the biggest breakout candidates for the Oregon Ducks, according to Voice of the Ducks Jerry Allen on the Bleav in Oregon podcast.

The Oregon Ducks roster is as talented as we’ve ever seen on paper going into the 2024 season, and the team is expected to compete at the top of the nation, vying for a Big Ten Championship and a spot on the College Football Playoff.

Because of that talent that’s present, we tend to spend a lot of our time focusing on the stars, and the players who have become household names over the past few years.

For that success to be attained, though, some unheralded players are going to need to step up.

This past week on the Bleav in Oregon podcast with Zachary Neel and Jonathan Stewart, the legendary Voice of the Ducks Jerry Allen stopped by to talk all things Oregon, and they got into a discussion about who those breakout players could be.

Allen, who has been the play-by-bly analyst for the Ducks since 1987, highlighted a pair of young defenders who have a big chance to step up.

“Devon Jackson is a guy who I think is going to be really, really good,” Allen said. “I think he’s going to cause people problems and make people around him better.”

In his two seasons at Oregon, Jackson has played in 17 games with 18 total tackles and 1.5 tackles for loss. This offseason, he’s drawn rave reviews from coaches and players alike who claim he will be a major piece of the defense going forward.

“How about (Bryce) Boettcher?” Allen continued. “He just is a disruptor. He was a disruptor in baseball, and he had his moments last year. But I think this year that will be a name that we are calling a lot.”

Boettcher has had a bit more production than Jackson so far, totaling 39 tackles in his 26 career games, with 2.5 tackles for loss, 1 sack, and 1 forced fumble.

The leaders at the linebacker group are veterans Jeffrey Bassa and Jestin Jacobs, but as far as depth goes behind them, it is a bit unknown. Because of that, it isn’t at all hard to see either Jackson or Boettcher stepping up in 2024.

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Photo Gallery: Duck baseball advances in the NCAA tourney with 5-4 win

Photo Gallery: Duck baseball advances in the NCAA tourney with 5-4 win over San Diego.

It was one of the better games of the opening round of the NCAA baseball tournament and the Oregon Ducks were able to come out on top.

The Ducks defeated San Diego 5-4 in the Santa Barbara regional in 11 innings. It was a back-and-forth affair that saw the Ducks take a 4-1 lead late only to watch the Toreros storm back with a three-run home run in the bottom of the eighth inning.

Closer Logan Mercado threw four scoreless innings to hold San Diego off the scoreboard in time for Bryce Boettcher to homer in the top of the 11th to give Oregon the lead and eventual win. The Ducks now play Santa Barbara Saturday night.

Here are the best pictures from the Ducks’ dramatic win over the Toreros.

Ducks outlast San Diego 5-4 in 11 innings to advance in NCAA tourney

Bryce Boettcher’s 11th-inning home run propels Oregon to a 5-4 win over San Diego in the Santa Barbara regional.

The Oregon Ducks baseball team put the saying “survive and advance” to its limit Friday afternoon.

They watched a 4-1 eighth inning lead evaporate with one swing of the bat, then hold on with runners on the corners with one out in the 11th inning to eventually hold on and defeat San Diego 5-4 in the Santa Barbara regional.

With the win, the 3-seeded Ducks will play the winner of the UCSB-Fresno State game to be played later on Friday.

This wasn’t what coach Mark Wasikowski would have drawn up in order to advance to the winner’s bracket, but a win is a win and the Ducks will happily take it.

Lost in the late-game hoopla was the effort of starting pitcher RJ Gordon, who pitched his best game of the season. He went 7+ innings, allowing three runs on six hits, struck out three and walked four. He led his defense behind him make the plays and left throwing 115 pitched.

But Gordon ran out of gas in the eighth as he allowed the first two Toreros on before the Ducks went to the bullpen. Unfortunately, it wasn’t Brock Moore’s day as he gave up a game-tying three-run homer to San Diego’s best hitter Jakob Christian.

It was back to the bullpen where the Ducks went to Logan Mercado and that was ultimately the right call. The senior closer went the rest of the way, not allowing the Toreros to score in the next four innings to earn the win.

Oregon would eventually pull ahead in the 11th on a Bryce Boettcher blast down the left field line to give the Ducks the 5-4 lead and win.

The Ducks never trailed in the game as Carter Garate got the scoring off to a start with his fourth homer of the season, a 423-foot bomb to right-center field in the fifth.

After San Diego tied the game in the bottom half of the inning, Oregon managed to score on a Maddox Molony fielder’s choice and a safety squeeze pulled off perfectly by Garate. The Ducks made it 4-1 on Garate’s third hit, a double that went to the wall that scored Drew Smith all the way from first base.

Oregon will next play Saturday night at 7 pm PST on one of the ESPN networks.

Oregon grabs 2 of 3 from Arizona in Pac-12 weekend series

Oregon took 2 of 3 from Arizona to win the weekend series, but fell 15-4 in the finale.

For the third straight Pac-12 weekend series, the Oregon Ducks baseball team took 2-of-3 from the opponent. This time, it was Arizona, although the Wildcats managed to avoid a sweep with a 15-4 victory at PK Park.

It was actually a close affair through six innings with Arizona up just 3-2. But the Duck bullpen couldn’t keep the Wildcats at three as the visitors from the desert scored runs in the final three innings to blow the game wide open.

Reliever Logan Mercado, who is usually reliable, just didn’t have it on this rainy Sunday afternoon as he gave up six runs in just 2/3 of an inning. The game was almost over with the Cats leading 9-4 in the eighth, but a grand slam from Brendan Summerhill sealed Oregon’s fate.

Things turned out much better for the Ducks in the first two games of the series, however.

In Game 1, the Ducks won a rare pitchers duel 2-1. Bennett Thompson’s two-run single in the sixth was just enough for the win. Starter RJ Gordon pitched a gem with 6 1/3 solid innings of work. Mercado threw a scoreless ninth for his fourth save of the year.

Game 2 was even more exciting as the Ducks won the game in the bottom of the ninth 3-2. The game was tied when Bryce Boettcher laid down a perfect suicide squeeze bunt that scored Mason Neville to win it.

Despite the series finale loss, Oregon is still 6-3 in league play and 15-7 overall. Next the Ducks will stay home and host Seattle for a four-game series Wednesday through Saturday.

Oregon closes out Lafayette in a Sunday blowout

The Oregon Ducks beat the Layfayette Leopards 12-2 on Sunday afternoon.

The Oregon Ducks closed their four-game series against the Lafayette Leopards with a win on Sunday afternoon, 12-2.

Oregon’s offense got hot early. In the second inning, the Ducks were able to bat all the way through the order, scoring 5 runs to make the score 6-0. After that, Oregon scored 6 more runs, 4 of which came via the home run.

Oregon’s hitters came to the plate with good approaches, but they also got a lot of help from the Lafayette pitching staff. After nine innings, the Leopards had combined for 6 walks, 6 HBPs, and 3 wild pitches.

Oregon’s pitchers, on the other hand, were dominant. The first six innings were hosted by Kevin Seitter, who struck out 11 batters while only allowing 5 to reach base. For the last three innings, the Ducks leaned on Brock Moore, Jaxson Jordan, and Turner Spoljaric, who allowed no runs to close out the game. All combined, the Ducks struck out 16 of the 27 batters they faced.

Oregon’s right fielder Jeffery Heard posted another solid offensive performance on Sunday. In 4 ABs, Heard was 2/4 with a single and a double, with an RBI and a run scored. The only time Heard didn’t reach base was in the 7th inning when Leopards’ right fielder leaped to rob him of a 3-run home run. The season is young, but Heard already looks like a star on the rise.

The Ducks will have a few days off before hosting the Santa Barbara Gauchos — who are 2-3 to start the season — for a three-game series starting on Friday. After that, Oregon will head to Phoenix for a two-game series against Grand Canyon University.

Oregon walks it off in the raindrops to take series from Ball State

The Ducks played through the rain and managed to beat Ball State 7-6 thanks to Tyler Ganus’ walk-off single.

It wasn’t the best of conditions with the rain coming down, but it didn’t affect Tyler Ganus.

The pinch-hit specialist came up in the bottom of the ninth with a chance to win the game and Ganus didn’t waste any time. He lined the first pitch he saw off of Ball State reliever Sam Klein down the left field line for a hit and Oregon walked off with the 7-6 win over the Cardinals.

With the victory, not only did the Ducks take three-of-four from the visitors from the Mid-American Conference, but they improved to 21-11 overall.

This game went back-and-forth and today was a good reason why hitting last can be a huge advantage. Oregon scored three in the second, but Ball State scored four runs in the fifth inning to take the 4-3 lead.

The Ducks tied it at 4-4 in the bottom half of the inning and then Gavin Grant gave Oregon the 5-4 lead with an opposite-field home run through the raindrops.

Oregon eventually took a 6-4 lead, but just like the entire weekend, the Cardinals wouldn’t go down without a fight. Ball State’s Adam Christianson and Ryan Peltier belted back-to-back homers to tie the game once again at 6-6 in the eighth.

It stayed that way until the bottom of the ninth.

Brennan Milone led the frame off with a walk and he was replaced with pinch-runner Taylor Holder. He went to second on a wild pitch. Slugger Jacob Walsh, who is capable of hitting balls 400 feet, instead hit a little dribbler down the first base line that stopped directly on that line about 40 feet from home plate.

With runners on the corners, Ball State intentionally walked Josh Kasevich to load the bases and set up a force play at home. It worked for one hitter as Bryce Boettcher grounded to third. But Ganus ended the game with his hit down the left field line to send everyone home happy. They were drenched, but they were happy.

Now the Ducks go back into conference action when they go up to Seattle to take on Washington for a three-game weekend series. The Huskies are 15-15 overall and 6-9 in Pac-12 play.

Oregon baseball goes for the sweep after defeating UCLA in extra innings

Sam Novitske’s single gave Oregon the 3-2 extra-inning win over UCLA at PK Park Saturday.

In what Winnie the Pooh would consider a blustery day, the Oregon Ducks baseball team had to go 10 innings to defeat UCLA for the second straight game.

Both Oregon and the Bruins had their chances to score throughout the day, but it was Sam Novitske’s single to left that scored Bryce Boettcher for the victory.

With the win, Oregon goes to 24-8 overall and 10-4 in conference play. The Ducks also moved ahead of Oregon State for first place, a half-game ahead of the Beavers, who aren’t playing conference games this weekend.

Kenyon Yovan got the 10th inning started the right way with a solid single to right. Boettcher replaced the Duck’s power hitter on the bases and moved up to second on an errant pick-off play. With first now open, Aaron Zavala was intentionally walked.

Josh Kasevich hit into a fielder’s choice, putting runners on the corners with one out. Gabe Matthews also received the intention pass as UCLA wanted to put a force on every base, hoping to wiggle out of the jam. But Novitske was able to rip a 2-0 pitch to left for the win.

Wiggling out of jams seemed to be the theme of the day for both teams. Oregon managed to get themselves in a major pickle in the top of the ninth as the Bruins managed to have runners on second and third with no out.

Duck pitcher Andrew Mosiello struck out Michael Curialle for the first out. Then the fireworks began.

Noah Cardenas grounded to Kasevich at shortstop, who processed to throw home, getting Mikey Perez in a run down. Catcher Jack Scanlon ran Perez back to third where UCLA had to runners at third base. Jack Filby, who was on second, was the runner that was out, but in the confusion, Bruins third base coach Rex Peters put his hands on Scanlon. This sent Oregon coach Mark Wasikowski bursting out of the dugout demanding what was going on.

After order was restored, Mosiello whiffed Kyle Karros to end the inning.

Kolby Somers, who earned his seventh save in the series opener, came on to pitch a perfect 10th inning and was credited with the win.

Oregon will go for the series sweep Sunday afternoon with Brett Walker (4-1, 3.53 ERA) on the mound where he will go up against Jesse Bergin (4-2, 4.29 ERA) for a noon start time at PK Park.

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