Ducks Open Season at Home vs. George Mason Friday

Series History

Oregon and George Mason will meet on the diamond for the first time this weekend when the Ducks and the Patriots play a four-game series at PK Park.
While UO is meeting GMU for the first time, Oregon will be playing a member of the Atlantic 10 Conference for the second consecutive season.
The Ducks went 3-1 vs. Rhode Island last season in Eugene (Feb. 21-23).

Winning Out West

Heading into its second season in the Big Ten Conference, Oregon is riding recent success that ranks among the best on the West Coast.
Since 2021, the Ducks have the fourth-most wins (198) among teams in the West while boasting the fourth-best winning percentage (.662).
UO trails just Oregon State, UC Santa Barbara and UC Irvine in both categories.

Rivalry Game In Hillsboro

It was announced earlier this week that Oregon and Oregon State will meet in the Northwest Elite Baseball Classic at the new Hillsboro Hops stadium on Tuesday, April 14 in Hillsboro, Ore.
The game between the two teams is the first in the Portland metro area since May 26, 2010.
Tickets can be purchased through the Hops ticket office.

Experience around the infield for the Ducks

While Oregon lost a number of key contributors off of last year's Big Ten Conference championship team, the 2026 squad boasts significant experience in the infield.
Oregon's infield roster has played in 552 Division I games while making starts in 449.
The Ducks' middle infielders -- JR SS Maddox Molony and JR 2B Ryan Cooney -- have combined to make 172 starts with Molony starting 93 of his 113 games played and Cooney adding 79 starts in his 104 games played.
Neither of those two are Oregon's most experienced player, with SR 3B Drew Smith making 111 starts while playing in 121 games with career starts at third base, second base, center field and right field.
Oregon has a pair of experienced first basemen on the roster who have combined to make 123 career starts, with SR DH/1B Dominic Hellman starting 67 of his 85 career games played.
A transfer from Northern Kentucky via TCU, JR 1B Gabe Miranda started all 55 games he played at NKU last season while adding a 56th start his freshman season for the Horned Frogs.
Behind the dish, SO C Burke-Lee Mabeus is coming off a true freshman season that resulted in him being named to the Big Ten Conference All-Freshman Team after playing in 41 games and making 30 starts.

D1 inexperience in the outfield heading into season

While the Ducks are a veteran group around the infield, Oregon lacks experience roaming the outfield -- at least at the Division I level.
Between the five outfielders listed on the roster, UO has just 13 D1 starts with five of those coming at second base.
Those five starts at second base belong to JR OF Jack Brooks and SO OF Jax Gimenez who have both converted to being full-time outfielders.
In 2025, Brooks started five games in left field and Gimenez made a pair of starts in left field.
The only other D1 start among the outfielders belongs to SR OF transfer Elijah Cook who started one game as a freshman at Cal State Northridge before transferring.
He started 49 games at D2 Azusa Pacific last season winning an ABCA/Rawlings Gold Glove.

Going, Going, Gone

For the fourth time in the last five years, Oregon set a new program record for home runs in 2025.
The Ducks broke the previous record on May 16 at Iowa when LF Anson Aroz hit the teams 102nd of the season, breaking the record set in 2023.
The Ducks' top five home run seasons have all come since the 2021 season.
The Ducks have increased the home run record by 67 long balls in the Mark Wasikowski era.
Heading into his first season at the helm in 2020, the Oregon team record for home runs in a season was 48.
The 2024 team fell just three home runs shy of matching the record set by the 2023 squad.
The 2025 club averaged 1.98 home runs per game.

Records are made to be broken

During head coach Mark Wasikowski's tenure at Oregon, the Ducks have rewritten the program's record book on offense.
The Ducks continued that assault in 2025 breaking three records that the Ducks had previously broke during the Wasikowski era.
Oregon belted 115 homers topping the 101 set in 2023, drove in 438 runs, breaking the RBI record set in 2022 and scoring 465 runs breaking the record set in 2022.
The 2022 season ended with the Ducks setting records in eight major statistical categories: batting average, hits, runs, home runs, RBI, doubles, total bases and at-bats.
Of the eight records, three broke school records set in 2021 when the team broke long-time records for runs (376 in 2010), home runs (48 in 1974) and RBI (332 in 2010).
In 2023, Oregon re-set four of the records with 101 HR, 142 doubles, 1,057 total bases and 2,167 at-bats.
While the 2024 team did not break any of the previous teams' records, the Ducks did finish second in home runs (98), third in runs (420), RBI (383) and total bases (996), fourth in hits (575) and sixth in doubles (107).
While increasing the home run record by 59 during the Wasikowski era, the Ducks have increased the runs scored record by 89 and the RBI record by 106.

Molony on preseason watch lists and All-America Team

USA Baseball announced that JR SS Maddox Molony is one of 55 players on the Golden Spikes Award preseason watch list, which begins the process of identifying the best amateur baseball player in the nation for the 2026 season.
It was the second player of the year watch list that Molony was named to joining Baseball America's player of the year, which will be awarded for the first time this season.
He also was named a preseason All-America pick by Perfect Game (3rd Team) and the NCBWA (4th Team).
His inclusion on the Golden Spikes Award list marks the second consecutive season a Ducks' player has been on the preseason list.
Starting pitcher Grayson Grinsell got the nod before the 2025 season.
The Ducks' shortstop is the eight Oregon player all time to be included on the preseason watch list, joining Grinsell, Kenyon Yovan (2019), Matt Krook (2016), Shaun Chase (2015), Tommy Thorpe (2014), Jimmie Sherfy (2013) and Tyler Anderson (2011).
A two-time all-league selection in his two seasons at Oregon, Molony slashed .309/.403/.565 with a .968 OPS during his sophomore season.
The 2025 third-team All-Big Ten Conference selection belted 15 home runs, good for 10th all-time in a single season at Oregon, while driving in 45 runs, scoring 41 times and swiping 10 bags in 10 attempts.
During league games, Molony hit eight of his homers while batting .297 with 24 RBI and 19 runs scored. He reached base at a .378 clip while slugging .550.
During his two seasons at UO, Molony has slashed .311/.403/.566 with a .969 OPS.
He has slugged 25 home runs, which is already tied for sixth in program history, with 76 RBI, 73 runs scored, 12 doubles, a triple and 12 stolen bases in 95 career starts.
In 2024, he became just the second Oregon freshman to be named first-team All-Pac-12 since the return of the program while also earning second-team freshman All-America honors.

Cooney closed strong culminating in first-team All-B1G honors

It was quite the last three weeks of the regular season in 2025 for 2B Ryan Cooney.
The Portland native was named the B1G Player of the Week twice during that time, before being named first-team All-Big Ten before the conference tournament.
The Ducks' second baseman closed the season on a tear, improving his batting average by 64 points from March 29 to the end of the regular season.
In Oregon's series sweep of Iowa, Cooney earned POW honors after slashing .556/.692/1.444 with a 2.136 OPS to go with two home runs, six RBI and four runs scored.
Two weeks earlier, Cooney earned his first POW award after slashing .462/.533/.846 with a 1.379 OPS while leading the Ducks to a 3-1 record in a midweek win at Oregon State and a weekend series win at Michigan State.
He homered once and doubled twice during the week while going 6-for-13 with four RBI, three runs scored, two walks and a stolen base.
Against Oregon State, Cooney went 2-for-4 with a home run, three RBI and a stolen base while leading Oregon to its first season sweep of the then-No. 7 Beavers since 1972.
In the series win over the Spartans, Cooney led the Ducks batting .444 (4-for-9) with a pair of doubles, one RBI, two runs scored and two walks.
In Oregon's win on Saturday, Cooney went 3-for-5 with a double, an RBI and two runs scored.

Smith's steady production highlights career

Heading into his fourth season at Oregon, SR 3B Drew Smith has put together an under-the-radar good career.
A versatile player who has made starts at four different positions plus DH, Smith enters his senior season with a .325/.424/.484 slash line.
He has reached base at least once in 101 of his 111 career starts.
Excelling in big moments, Smith has been named to the all-tournament team in Oregon's last two postseason appearances.
He earned a spot on the Santa Barbara all-tournament team in 2024 at second base, before being named to the 2025 Eugene Regional all-tournament team as an outfielder.
As a true freshman, he earned ABCA/Rawlings second-team All-West Region honors after reaching base in all 26 games with a plate appearance and setting Oregon's modern-era program record with a 20-game hitting streak.

Hellman provides punch to Ducks lineup

Oregon heads into the 2026 season looking for SR 1B/DH Dominic Hellman to be the heart of a powerful lineup after the Ducks lost a number of big bats to graduation or the Major League Baseball draft.
Oregon got 74 of its 115 home runs (64.3 percent) from players no longer on the roster.
Serving mostly as the team's designate hitter, Hellman slugged 13 home runs in 187 at-bats as a junior, a homer every 14.4 at-bats.
He earned a spot on the Big Ten all-conference team claiming third-team honors after slashing .326/.426/.567 with 13 home runs and 44 RBI while usually hitting in the two-hole.

Mabeus looks to build on freshman success

As a true freshman, C Burke-Lee Mabeus put together a solid season in 2025 earning a spot on the Big Ten Conference All-Freshman Team.
He finished the season slashing .257/.379/.376 while going 28-for-109 with a pair of home runs, 23 RBI, 27 runs scored and six stolen bases.
The Henderson, Nev., product made 30 starts with 26 coming behind the dish, two at DH and one at each of corner outfield positions.
In addition to being named to the Big Ten all-freshman team, Mabeus claimed conference co-freshman of the week honors after a breakout series vs. Rhode Island where he slashed .444/.500/.778 with a 1.378 OPS.

Versatile Umlandt returns in similar role

During his junior season, LHP Ian Umlandt carved out a unique role where the Ducks were able to use his out of the bullpen in high-leverage situations while also giving UO valuable midweek starts.
The Ducks lefty led the UO with a 2.55 ERA while finishing 6-2 in 18 appearances while striking out 44 hitters in 60.0 innings of work.
He made five starts with one complete game and a save.
His six wins were second on the team behind Friday night ace Grayson Grinsell, while his 18 appearances were tied for the fourth most on the team with fellow returner JR RHP Ryan Featherston.
Among returners, Umlandt had the lowest ERA and most wins.
During his three-year career, Umlandt boasts an 11-2 record with a 2.94 ERA while making 49 appearances with nine starts, two complete games, a save and 76 strikeouts in 107.0 innings pitched.

Clarke gives Oregon another veteran arm with starting experience

During his sophomore season in 2025, RHP Collin Clarke served as Oregon's Saturday starter for most of the season.
The right-hander made 13 starts finishing 5-2 with a 4.59 ERA.
He allowed 39 runs (35 earned) on 60 hits over 68.2 innings of work with 60 strikeouts and 21 walks while holding opposing hitters to a .236 batting average.
He finished the season with five quality starts.
In his first two-plus starts last season, Clarke did not allow a run over his first 18.0 innings pitched.
He earned Big Ten Pitcher of the Week honors on March 17 after a stellar outing in a win over Minnesota where Clarke held the Gophers to one unearned run on three hits over a career-long 7.0 innings pitched with a career-tying best eight strikeouts.
In his 13 starts as a sophomore, Clarke went at least 5.0 innings in nine of them with seven 6-plus inning outings and two 7.0 inning efforts.

Ducks add pitching coach and WCC Pitcher of the Year from San Diego

Oregon added pitching coach Matt Florer to its coaching staff in the offseason, and he was joined by one of his starting pitchers, SO RHP Cal Scolari, from San Diego.
Oregon is the third stop in Florer's career following nine seasons at a pair of West Coast Conference schools.
He spent two seasons (2017-18) coaching at his alma mater Loyola Marymount before moving to San Diego for seven seasons (2019-25).
During his nine seasons serving as a pitching coach in the West Coast Conference, Florer's pitching staffs led their teams to either regular-season or conference tournament championships in 2017, 2022, 2024 and 2025 while leading the league in ERA three times and boasting the conference pitcher of the year twice.
Eight of Florer's pitchers earned first-team All-WCC honors during his time coaching in the league.
As a redshirt freshman in 2025, Scolari earned West Coast Conference Pitcher of the Year honors as well as being named first-team All-WCC and claiming a spot on the All-WCC Freshman Team.
The right-hander went 5-3 with a 4.22 ERA in 15 starts while striking out 77 over 70.1 innings of work.
He struck out six or more batters seven times, including each of his last four outings that started with a career-high 11 K effort in a win vs. San Francisco.
He held opposing hitters to a .204 batting average.
The Reno native redshirted in 2024.

Doing it right on Friday night

Whoever gets the ball in the season opener will join some impressive names as opening day starter.
The previous names of pitchers who have taken the mound on opening day are impressive with future Major League Baseball pitchers, an MLB all-star, an eventual Pac-12 Pitcher of the Year and high MLB draft picks who have toed the rubber as series game-one starters.
Twelve of the 14 previous opening day starters have been drafted with four of them playing in the big leagues.
Four of the starters (Tyler Anderson, Alex Keudell, David Peterson, Grayson Grinsell) earned All-America honors the season they served as the "Friday Night" guy.
Of the 16 seasons played since the return of baseball at Oregon, the Ducks' opening day starter has earned first-team all-conference recognition seven times (2010, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2025).
The 14 pitchers who have served as opening-day starters have a combined 11 first-team all-conference selections on the mound during their careers