First Pitch Times vs. Youngstown State on Thursday and Friday Moved Up An Hour

Series History

UO and Youngstown State meet on the diamond for the first time when the Ducks and the Penguins play a four-game series at PK Park.
YSU battled Auburn in the first two games of their series last weekend losing 2-1 twice.
Auburn scored the go-ahead run in the eighth in game one and the tying run in the ninth and winning run in the 10th in game two.

Laya Earns Freshman Honors

Make it two freshman of the week honors for Angel Laya.
The Ducks starting right fielder during opening weekend added Perfect Game Freshman of the Week honors to his resume after being named the Big Ten Freshman of the Week.
Laya slashed .538/.600/1.077 while finishing with three extra-base hits (2 HR, 1 2B) with multiple hits in two of the four games.

Rivalry Game In Hillsboro

It was announced earlier this month 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 574 Division I games while making starts in 465.
The Ducks' middle infielders -- JR SS Maddox Molony and JR 2B Ryan Cooney -- have combined to make 180 starts with Molony starting 99 of his 103 games played and Cooney adding 83 starts in his 108 games played.
Neither of those two are Oregon's most experienced player, with SR 3B Drew Smith making 115 starts while playing in 125 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 131 career starts, with SR DH/1B Dominic Hellman starting 71 of his 89 career games played.
A transfer from Northern Kentucky via TCU, JR 1B Gabe Miranda started all 55 games he played at NKU last season, adding a 56th start his freshman season for the Horned Frogs and four already at Oregon.
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 (43 games played and 32 starts after opening weekend).

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 25 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 starts among the outfielders belongs to SR OF transfer Elijah Cook who started one game as a freshman at Cal State Northridge before transferring (he added one vs. George Mason).
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 team's 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 2025 club averaged 1.98 home runs per game.
Oregon hit eight home runs in its four-game series against George Mason.

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.

Freshman Impact

During Oregon's season-opening four-game series against George Mason, a pair of Ducks' freshmen made major impacts on UO's sweep.
RF Angel Laya and C Brayden Jaksa combined to go 12-for-22 (.545) with five extra-base hits (3 HR, 2 2B) with six RBI and nine runs scored.
The two combined for a .583 on-base percentage and a 1.045 slugging percentage with a 1.628 OPS.
Starting all four games in RF, Laya earned both Perfect Game and Big Ten Conference Freshman of the Week honors after slasing .538/.600/1.077 with a 1.677 OPS, while finishing with three extra-base hits (2 HR, 1 2B) and finishing with multiple hits in the first two games.
He went 3-for-4 in the season opener with a double and two runs scored.
In Saturday's doubleheader, Laya homered twice and drove in three runs in the first game before going 1-for-2 with a run scored and a HBP in the nightcap.
He capped the weekend reaching base twice and driving in a run in a win on Sunday.
Making two starts behind the plate, Jaksa slashed .556/.556/1.000 with a 1.556 OPS and two extra-base hits (HR, 2B).
In his first career at-bat in his first start in the first game of a doubleheader, Jaksa followed a Laya home run with a double off the left-field wall before following Laya's second homer with a single in the eighth to finish 2-for-4.
In game two of the DH, Jaksa belted a two-run home run as a pinch hitter in the bottom of the eighth.
In his second start on Sunday, Jaksa went 2-for-4 and scored a run.

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 first two seasons at UO, Molony slashed .311/.403/.566 with a .969 OPS.
He 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

In 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 entered his senior season with a .325/.424/.484 slash line.
He had reached base at least once in 101 of his 111 career starts (now 102 in 112 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.

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 then 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

Will Sanford joined some impressive names as opening-day starter when he took the mound last Friday.
The previous names of pitchers who have taken the mound on opening day are impressive with future Major League Baseball pitchers, two MLB all-stars, 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.