Mark Wasikowski shares what he's most happy with during Oregon's postseason run

After leading Oregon baseball back in Super Regionals for the first time since 2012, coach Mark Wasikowski is grateful for the support he received along the way. The Ducks breezed through Regional action this past week, reeling off three straight wins, including one against host school Vanderbilt, to reach the next round.

Former Oregon coach George Horton, Wasikowski’s predecessor, was among those in attendance in Nashville to watch the Ducks advance. Following an 11-2 victory against Xavier on Sunday to clinch the Regional, Wasiskowski explained what it meant to have in and others on-site to watch the moment in person.

“Just happy for the players, coaches and for Pat Kilkenny and the people that gave us this opportunity,” the coach said. “Pat Kilkenny, Joe Giansante, Renee Baumgartner. To be able to have George Horton here in attendance was huge. We love coach Horton. I think it was a five-year stretch there were only two teams that won more college baseball games than coach Horton’s Oregon program did. He took a leap of faith to come here with the people that I mentioned. Pat Kilkenny and Joe Giansante and the others. With Rob Mullens and Eric Roedl and that whole crew.”

Horton coached at Oregon from 2009-19, leading the Ducks to a 378-281-1 record in that span. He is the last coach to take the team to a Super Regional in 2012, though they ended up losing to Kent State.

Now Wasikowski’s Oregon team has the chance to do what the 2012 team couldn’t and get to the College World Series in Omaha. If they can pull that off, it would be just the second CWS appearance in school history and the first since 1954. That would certainly be a special moment for Horton and everyone else who helped build the program.

“His reason why he came to Oregon was to get Oregon to Omaha,” Wasikowski said. “It was probably one of the things that just was left on the table for him that I know still bugs him to this day. We love coach dearly. Coach flew in with Pat and a couple others for this Regional. For them to watch these kids play their hearts out with a lot of adversity going on and still be able to pull that off, that’s really special. It’s just a little bit closer to what they envision for this program.”

After going on the road for Regional play, the Ducks will return home to host Super Regional action against Oral Roberts, which made it out of the Stillwater Regional as a four seed. The time and date for the first game of that series have still yet to be announced, though Super Regional play will begin either Wednesday or Thursday.

Mark Wasikowski explains what it means to have former Oregon players on staff

The run to the Super Regional is made even more special given the makeup of Oregon’s staff. Three former Ducks players are currently assistant coaches for the team.

That includes Brett Thomas, who was a member of the 2012 team that last advanced to Super Regionals. Wasikowski opened up on how having him, along with other former players like Jack Marder and Brett Thomas, is a “surreal” moment for the program.

“To get the opportunity to be the head coach — and I know Jack Marder and Brett Thomas, Darrell Hunter, these guys played at Oregon and came back and had job offer after job offer to go and be at other schools,” Wasikowski said. “They chose to stay. Then to have Northwest guys like Jake Angier and Marcus Hinkle on my staff, it’s just surreal. It’s good for the Northwest, good for people at Oregon and it’s good for the people that had the vision to do what they want to see done. We’re that much closer. We get on opportunity to pull that off here this weekend, which is surreal for me.”