Oregon baseball set for showdown with No. 2 Stanford in Pac-12 opener
In its first conference series of the season, Oregon will get a shot out one of the best teams in the nation.
The Ducks (8-5) are set to open Pac-12 play on the road Saturday when they travel to face No. 2 Stanford (8-3) for a three-game set in Palo Alto.
Oregon is coming off a four-game split against a quality UC Santa-Barbara squad that was followed by an 18-2 home win over Portland last Tuesday.
Now, they will get their first major test of the year.
“They were picked to win our league. They’re a team that was in Omaha last year.,” Oregon coach Mark Wasikowski said. “We fought them like crazy at the end of last year to win a Pac-12 championship and I think all the games last year against Stanford were really great baseball games.
“I would anticipate… That it’s gonna be a great baseball weekend on their turf. I’m looking forward to it and I know the guys are too.”
The Cardinal already own one resume bolstering win this season as they topped then-No. 2 Arkansas 5-0 at the Karbach Red Rock Classic on Feb. 27.
“A couple of weeks back they had a heck of a weekend against Arkansas in a tournament out there,” Wasikowski said. “I think they won the tournament and were fantastic.”
Stanford is led by star outfielder Brock Jones, a left-handed five-tool player who is one of the top college prospects in the country. Keith Law of The Atheltic currently lists Jones as the No. 6 overall prospect in his 2022 MLB Draft rankings and the second-best college prospect.
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Jones is hitting just .250 on the year and has been the Cardinals’ lead-productive everyday player thus far. But he’s still the most dangerous bat in the conference and is a threat to bust out of his slump at any time.
Oregon will try to keep its bats hot after an outstanding couple of weeks offensively. The Ducks are hitting .339 as a team, good for seventh in the nation. Their slugging percentage of .548 is 12th in the nation.
They have been led by third basemen Drew Cowley, whose .512 batting average is the eighth-best in the country among Division I players.
It is still unclear if the Ducks will be at full power on the mound, though. Friday night starter Adam Maier left his last start with an apparent injury. Maier is not listed as a projected starter at this point.
“I don’t have any updates on Adam,” Wasikowski said after Tuesday’s win. “We haven’t determined the rotation quite yet. We’ll probably meet after (Wednesday) morning and then release the rotation for the weekend.”
In the game notes that were released Wednesday evening, Caleb Sloan is listed as the Ducks’ Friday starter and Isaac Ayon as the Saturday starter, with the Sunday starter yet to be determined.
