Ducks Open Big Ten Play with Penn State

ON DECK
Big Ten Conference play starts this week when defending champion Oregon hosts Penn State Friday-Sunday at Jane Sanders Stadium. The Nittany Lions are receiving votes in the latest national polls. This will be Penn State's first-ever trip to Eugene. The two teams last played in Chapel Hill, N.C., in 2022. That game was part of North Carolina's tournament where Vallery Wong won Pac-12 and national player of the week honors after belting five home runs. She went 9-for-17 at the plate (.529) with nine RBI and slugged 1.412. Half of the six previous meetings between the Ducks and Penn State have come in the NCAA Tournament.

NUMBERS
* 15 - Oregon is No. 15 in the current RPI rankings.
* 18 - Oregon has played the 18th most difficult schedule among Power 4 teams.
* 25 - All 25 games Oregon has played this season have been against teams in the top 125 of the RPI and 18 of those games have come against teams in the top 75.
* 22 - 22 of Oregon's 26 remaining games are against teams currently in the top 75 of the RPI.
* 7 - The Ducks will play seven Big Ten series against teams in the RPI top 100 (four top-100 series last year).
* 1,994 - Oregon is seventh nationally in average attendance per game (1,994).
* 8.19 - The Ducks rank seventh nationally at 8.19 strikeouts per 7 IP. They are second in the Big Ten with three of the top 11 K/7 pitchers (Lyndsey Grein, Maddie Milhorn and Taylour Spencer).
* 6 - By defeating Oregon State twice last week, the Ducks have won the Rivalry Series for the sixth year in a row.

HARPER HAS THE HOT HAND AT THE JANE SANDERS CLASSIC
Amari Harper extended her hitting streak to seven games by going 8-for-15 (.533) at the Jane Sanders Classic. She had two doubles, a home run and six RBI. A walk and two hit-by-pitches gave her a .611 on-base percentage.

CONSISTENT K-DUB
Kaylynn Jones - aka K-Dub - has been Oregon's most consistent hitter this season. She hit .350 or better in all five tournaments - Week 1 - .400 (NFCA Leadoff Classic), Week 2 - .462 (Cardinal Classic), Week 3 - .353 (Mary Nutter CLassic), Week 4 - .364 (Oregon Classic) and Week - .375 (Jane Sanders Classic). She's hitting. 377 for the season and is third on the team in both doubles (5) and RBI (16).

MILHORN THROWS SIX STRONG AGAINST SACRAMENTO STATE
Though she didn't get credited with the win, Maddie Milhorn started and threw 6.0 strong innings March 7 versus Sacramento State. She gave up one run on two hits, struck out eight and walked one as the Ducks scored in the bottom of the seventh for a 2-1 win.