Tag: Mark Wasikowski

Oregon uses a 10-run first inning to cruise past San Francisco

Oregon exploded for 10 runs in the first innings and went on to win 15-5 over San Francisco.

Oregon Ducks baseball coach Mark Wasikowski’s arm might have been tired of waving runners home in the first inning.

A total of 10 Ducks scored in that initial frame as Oregon went on to cruise past San Francisco 15-5 in the first game of a brief two-game midweek series with the Dons.

With the win, Oregon moves to 17-7 overall, while USF out of the West Coast Conference fell to 14-13.

In the previous series with USC, the Ducks fell victim to a lot of hard-hit outs. But in baseball, things tend to even themselves out a bit. Oregon didn’t exactly pound the ball off of USF starting pitcher Weston Lombard. The Ducks had eight hits, all singles, in the first inning.

Brennan Milone had two hits and drove in four in the first where Oregon led 10-1. But unfortunately, Duck starting pitcher Jacob Hughes couldn’t stand the prosperity as he gave up three runs in the second and was pulled from the game.

The bullpen restored some order and the combination of Stone Churby, RJ Gordon, Christian Ciuffetelli and Rio Britton allowed just one run in their 7 2/3 innings.

Meanwhile, Josh Kasevich belted his third home run of the season, a two-run shot in the third to make it 12-4. Oregon scored three more in the fourth with the big blow coming from Sam Novitske’s double into the left-center field gap.

These two teams will finish out the series Wednesday afternoon with a 1 p.m. scheduled first pitch at PK Park. Neither Oregon nor USF has announced a starting pitcher.

 

Around the horn: Oregon upsets No. 2 Stanford to open weekend series

Oregon baseball starts the Pac-12 season off with a bang with a 4-3 upset win over No. 2 Stanford.

If Oregon Ducks coach Mark Wasikowski had fingernails before the game tonight, he probably doesn’t have many left now.

Closer Kolby Somers flirted with disaster in the ninth by walking two batters, but he eventually earned his first save of the season and the Ducks upset No. 2 Stanford 4-3 in the opening game of a three-game weekend series down on The Farm.

Oregon moves to 9-5 overall and 1-0 in conference action. Stanford fell to 8-4 and 0-1.

The Cardinal jumped on the Ducks early with two runs in the first due to a couple of fielding errors. But Oregon settled down and starter Caleb Slaon, who was filling in for injured Adam Maier, pitched two innings before giving way for RJ Gordon. He pitched 4 and 2/3 innings, allowing no runs on three hits and 5 strikeouts. But more importantly, he kept Oregon in the game in order to let the offense get on track.

They got on that rack in the fifth with two runs in the fifth. It stayed 2-2 until the eighth when Colby Shade’s bases-loaded walk gave the Ducks a brief 3-2 lead. Stanford managed to tie the game in the bottom half on the inning, but Tanner Smith’s lead-off homer in the ninth gave Oregon the 4-3 lead and eventual win.

Around the horn: Gauchos edge the Ducks 7-5 to earn a series split

UC-Santa Barbara defeated Oregon 7-5 to earn a series split this weekend at PK Park.

Oregon Ducks baseball coach Mark Wasikowski would have probably signed up for a four-game split with UC-Santa Barbara before the weekend. But after winning the first two games, a split doesn’t seem so great.

The Gauchos won the final two games, including today’s 7-5 decision from the Ducks, who fell to 7-5 on the season.

UCSB scored three in the first inning and seemed to have an answer for every Duck rally throughout the day. Oregon did eventually tie the game 4-4 in the fifth, but the Gauchos homered in the next frame.

It was also the second game in a row where the Oregon starting pitcher didn’t have a stellar afternoon. Tommy Brandenburg could just get through two innings, walking two and plunking two others. The bullpen did their best to hold the Gauchos down as much as possible, but they have to cover 15 innings over the last two contests and it finally caught up with them.

Around the horn: Gavin Grant’s walk-off homer gives Oregon a 3-2 win over UCSB

Oregon’s Gavin Grant sent Duck fans home happy with a walk-off homer to give Oregon a 3-2 win over UCSB.

Neither team deserved to lose this one.

Oregon and UC-Santa Barbara battled for eight and a half innings until Gavin Grant had enough. The Ducks second baseman belted the first pitch of the bottom of the ninth over the left-field wall and Oregon walked off with a 3-2 win over the Gauchos.

UCSB’s starting pitcher Cory Lewis shut the Ducks down for six innings and Oregon starter Adam Maier went five strong innings. But in the end, it took just one swing of the bat to give the Ducks their sixth straight victory.

It looked bleak in the top of the ninth as the Gauchos managed to have runners on first and third with no out. Fortunately, Oregon closer Kolby Somers proceeded to strike out the next three Gauchos.

Oregon will now try and make it seven or maybe eight straight as the Ducks and Gauchos will play a doubleheader beginning at 2 p.m.

PK Park gets a facelift with new FieldTurf and shorter fences

The Oregon Ducks baseball team will get to test drive PK Park 2.0 on Friday with new turf, shorter fences and new graphics around the 13-year old stadium.

PK Park 2.0 is set to debut on Friday with new turf, shorter fences, and a soon-to-be new video board.

This is the first major renovation of the stadium since the Oregon Ducks brought the baseball program back in 2009.

“Through the tremendous commitment of athletic director Rob Mullens and associate athletic director Eric Roedl, and the incredible donations by Pat Kilkenny and numerous other huge supporters of our program, PK Park has never been a more ‘state of the art’ facility,” Oregon head coach Mark Wasikowski said.

The first noticeable difference will be the new turf that has a new PK Park logo behind home plate, the Oregon O in centerfield and outlines of flying ducks in left and right fields.

The center-field fence and the power alleys in left-center field and right-center field have been moved in 10 feet from the original design and lowered in height from eight feet to six-and-a-half feet from the left-field line to the right-center field gap. The fence in front of the Ducks’ bullpen in right field has been raised from four feet to six-and-a-half feet to match the rest of the outfield wall.

Moving the fences in should help Oregon’s offense and recruit more power hitters. Before, with the wind patterns, it took Herculean strength to hit a home run. It was more of a pitcher’s park, but now Oregon hopes it’s more of a fair park that’s equal for the pitchers and hitters.

Fans will get to enjoy a state-of-the-art 60-feet by 26.4-feet video board featuring the latest video technology from Daktronics, which is in the process of being installed behind the left-center field wall and will be finished and operational in late March.

The Ducks will get to officially test everything out Friday in the home opener against St. John’s in Game 1 of a four-game set. First pitch is scheduled for 4 p.m.

[listicle id=20308]

Around the horn: Ducks drop third straight in San Diego

Oregon baseball battled right up until the end, but an eighth-inning run gave San Diego a 5-4 win.

This wasn’t how Mark Wasikowski envisioned his baseball team starting the season. Oregon is on the verge of being swept out of San Diego as the Toreros took Game 3 by the score of 5-4.

It’s the Ducks’ third straight loss to open the season and if they want to come back home with one win in their pocket, they’ll have to rely on freshman Tommy Brandenberg to get the job done on the hill.

Unlike in the first two games, Oregon managed to score first in the initial inning, but San Diego answered with two in the third and two in the fourth to take a 4-1 lead.

But to the Ducks’ credit, the visitors scratched out runs in the fifth, sixth and eighth to knot the game at 4-4. The Toreros took the lead for good in the bottom half of the eighth on a Kolby Somers bases-loaded walk. The Ducks got a runner on in the ninth but couldn’t score.

Coaches say Duck baseball is slated for a fifth place finish

The Pac-12 baseball coaches picked Oregon to finish fifth in the conference for the 2022 season.

Year 3 of the Mark Wasikowski Era of Oregon Ducks baseball is just about here and the Pac-12 coaches say Oregon should be around the middle of the Pac.

In the pre-season poll, Wasikowski’s fellow conference coaches picked the Ducks to finish 5th in one of the best baseball leagues in the country. Oregon was 39-16 last season and was one win away from its first-ever College World Series appearance.

Stanford was picked to win the conference with 98 total votes and eight first-place votes. Oregon State is expected to continue with its winning ways with a second-place finish. Arizona and UCLA were selected to finish third and fourth, respectively, with the Bruins receiving two first-place votes.

In the first USA TODAY Sports coaches poll, Stanford is the highest-ranked conference team at No. 5. Arizona at No. 15, Oregon State at No. 20 and UCLA at No. 22 were also in the poll.

Oregon just missed the first Top 25 as the Ducks received 31 votes. They open up the season Feb. 18 with a four-game series at San Diego.

Oregon Ducks baseball earns pre-season Top 20 ranking

Oregon baseball is set to open the 2022 season with a Top 20 ranking as Perfect Game USA ranks the Ducks 19th in the nation.

 

It’s hard to believe that baseball season is right around the corner. But here we are.

Basketball is had trouble finding their footing this year with the cancellations, but hopefully with baseball being an outdoor sport, they won’t have as much trouble.

That answer will be found out in a little over a month.

Mark Wasikowski’s Oregon Ducks baseball team will see the diamond in 41 days when they open the 2022 season Feb. 18 with a four-game series at San Diego.

The Ducks will be a Top 20 team when the season begins as Perfect Game USA ranked Oregon No. 19 in their pre-season ratings.

Oregon’s ranking is deserving as the Ducks were just one game away from advancing to the program’s first College World Series last year before LSU eliminated the Ducks in the Super Regionals.

[listicle id=16112]

Oregon baseball signs Mark Wasikowski to contract extension

A source has confirmed to Ducks Wire that Oregon is giving baseball coach Mark Wasikowski a contract extension. Length or terms are yet to be disclosed.

Not only is it the right thing to do, but it’s the smart thing to do as well.

A source has confirmed to DucksWire that Oregon Ducks baseball coach Mark Wasikowski’s contract has been extended, but the length and terms of the new contract were not disclosed.

When Wasikowski was hired at the end of the 2019 season, the Ducks were barely mediocre, and in just two seasons, Oregon hosted an NCAA Regional and was oh so close to moving on to a Super Regional. It would have been the Ducks’ first Super Regional since 2013.

In 2019, Oregon fell to 27-29 overall and 10-19 in conference play. It was the Ducks’ fourth straight year without going to the post-season and the program wasn’t trending in the right direction. That was when Oregon decided not to renew George Horton’s contract and go in a different direction.

It didn’t take the Ducks long to find their guy as Wasikowski was hired three weeks after the 2019 season ended.

After just three seasons at the helm of Purdue’s baseball program, the former Oregon assistant turned the Boilermakers completely around and he did the exact same thing with the Ducks.

Wasikowski led Purdue to a 39-win season in 2018, leading the Boilermakers to just the third NCAA Regional appearance in school history and only the second since 1982. The Boilermakers finished second in the Big Ten regular-season while finishing as the conference tournament runner-up.

During his first season at Purdue, Wasikowski led the Boilermakers to 29 wins, a 19-win improvement from the 10-44 campaign the team had the year before his arrival.

At Oregon, Wasikowski’s team improved right away and it looked like they were going to have a nice season, but the 2020 pandemic hit, and the Ducks finished the year after only 15 games played. That improvement showed itself in a big way in 2021 as Oregon was just one game from winning its first conference title since the program’s resurrection in 2009.

The Ducks finished the regular season 39-16 and 20-10 in Pac-12 action. They featured the conference Player of the Year in Aaron Zavala and his fellow All-Americans Robert Ahlstrom and Gabe Matthews.

Wasikowski missed out on being named the Pac-12 Coach of the Year as that award went to Arizona’s Jay Johnson, who later left the Wildcats to go coach at LSU.

Along with his immediate success, Oregon didn’t want to see Wasikowski do something similar as Johnson, so the Ducks thought it would be prudent to extend his contract for another five seasons.

[listicle id=3382]

Oregon baseball takes a big step forward, but wants more in 2022

Oregon’s baseball season was a successful one, but the Ducks showed they are capable of a lot more in 2022 and beyond.

In the four seasons before Mark Wasikowski took over the Oregon Ducks baseball program, they were floundering around the .500 mark, and in college baseball, that’s mediocre.

Oregon didn’t bring baseball back in 2009 to just be mediocre.

The Ducks could see signs of the turnaround right away in 2020, but the pandemic hit and the season was canceled after just 15 games. In some strange way, it gave Oregon time off the field to go into the weight room, to recruit, and to build up everything it needed to be successful on the field.

Whatever they did, it worked. Oregon proved that the turnaround is nearly complete by being one game away from winning their first conference title and just one inning away from going to a Super Regional. Unfortunately, that one inning where a few mental lapses occurred ended the season with a 9-8 loss to LSU.

But those lapses shouldn’t define a season. Instead, Oregon should take solice in the fact it can be a successful program in many ways. Before the Ducks were offensively challenged and relied heavily on pitching and defense.

The 2021 Ducks proved there’s more than one way to skin a cat. The Ducks featured their best offensive lineup in the program’s history.

BRIAN HAYES – THE STATESMAN JOURNAL

Kenyon Yovan went from one of the best pitchers in the Pac-12 to one of the best power hitters in the country with his school single-season record of 17 home runs. The senior proved PK Park can be the home of a premier power hitter and Oregon has to hope that attracts more power hitters to consider the Ducks in the future.

Recruiting homegrown talent also paid dividends. Besides Beaverton’s own Yovan, Salem’s Aaron Zavala won the Pac-12 Player of the Year. First baseman Gabe Matthews turned into a MLB prospect as well as Eugene’s own Robert Ahlstrom, the ace of the pitching staff and closer Kolby Somers from Hillsboro.

Look for Wasikowski to keep mining Oregon high schools and the Pacific Northwest. It worked for Oregon State in its national championship seasons and Oregon proved homegrown talent can help with the program’s turnaround.

No one knows what 2022 will bring to PK Park, but this season showed that Oregon can be and should be a destination for top talent. Mediocrity won’t be acceptable any more and Omaha is finally within the Ducks’ reach.

[listicle id=2399]