Ducks Host USC In Crucial Top 20 Showdown

B1G Series

The final series of the season has B1G implications for both clubs. UO trails USC by one game in the standings heading into game one.
Both teams are battling to stay in the top four in the B1G and claim a spot in the single-elimination bracket.

Home Cookin'

Oregon winning series at PK Park has become the norm over the last few seasons.
The Ducks have won 21 consecutive home series dating back to March of 2024.
Of those 21, 14 have been conference series with nine coming as members of the B1G.

Postseason Picture

Heading into the final week of B1G play, Oregon can be as high as the second seed in next week's league tournament or as low as the six seed.
A 3-0 series would guarantee Oregon no worse than the three seed.

Big Ten Tournament Scenarios

Entering the final weekend of the regular season, Oregon can be as high as the second seed in next week's Big Ten Tournament and as low as the sixth seed.
UCLA has clinched the top seed while Nebraska, USC, Oregon, Purdue, Michigan, Ohio State, Illinois and Iowa have all locked up spots in the tournament.
With the Bruins clinching the No. 1 seed, five teams (Nebraska, USC, Oregon, Purdue, Michigan) are battling for the other three spots that advance directly to Friday's single-elimination portion of the tournament.
If Oregon sweeps USC, the Ducks will be either the two-seed or three-seed, depending on how Nebraska fares at Minnesota.
If the Ducks go 2-1 against the Trojans, Oregon will qualify for the single-elimination tournament as a top-four seed with possible two-way, three-way, four-way and even five-way ties.
The Ducks would own head-to-head series wins over Nebraska, USC and Purdue, but a series loss to Michigan.
If the Ducks drop the series 2-1, Oregon will need Iowa to win at least two of three over Purdue at home and Ohio State to win two of three at Michigan.
If Oregon goes 0-3 vs. USC, the Ducks will need Purdue and Michigan to both get swept as well to remain in the top four.

Success in all three phases of the game

The Ducks head into this week ranked in the top 25 in the nation in eight different statistical categories, including five top 15 rankings and two that rank in the top five.
On the mound, Oregon is second in the nation in shutouts (7) and fifth in hits allowed per nine innings (7.28), while ranking 11th in WHIP (1.26) and strikeouts per nine innings (11.0), and 20th in strikeout-to-walk ratio (2.69).
Offensively, UO ranks 15th in home runs per game (1.76) and 17th in home runs (88), while defensively ranking 22nd in fielding percentage (.979).

Going, Going, Gone

For the fourth time in five years, Oregon set a new program record for home runs in 2025.
The Ducks' top six 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.
Oregon has hit 88 home runs (1.76 per game) in its first 50 games of the 2026 season.
With three games left in the regular season, Oregon is on pace to hit 93 long balls before the postseason starts.

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 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.

Smith added to Golden Spikes midseason watch list

In his fourth season at Oregon, SR 3B Drew Smith has put together a strong season while ranking in the top 11 in the Big Ten in batting average, slugging percentage, OPS, RBI and home runs.
A versatile player who has made starts at four different positions plus DH, Smith heads into this week with a .329/.423/.527 career slash line.
He has reached base at least once in 146 of his 161 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.

Cooney claims third career B1G Player of the Week, 8th in nation in hits

2B Ryan Cooney ended the 2025 season as one of Oregon's top players and he has done nothing to change that outlook in 2026.
In 2026, Cooney has continued to be one of Oregon's best hitters slashing .343/.426/.552 with a .978 OPS while batting leadoff in 35 games and hitting third in 14 games.
He heads into this week eighth in the Big Ten in hits (69).
He is also fourth in the league in doubles while ranking 14th in the Big Ten in batting average, 30th in on-base percentage, OPS and slugging percentage.
The Portland native had a ridiculous series at Illinois slashing .692/.750/1.308 with a 2.058 OPS while reaching base in 12 of his 16 plate appearances including a 5-for-5 game on Friday and a two-home run game on Sunday.
The Ducks' second baseman was named the B1G Player of the Week for the third time during his career.
He is the first Ducks' position player ever to be named conference player of the week three times.

Molony heating up

SS Maddox Molony put together a superb series at Illinois homering in all three games while slashing .462/.563/1.231 with a 1.794 OPS with a team-high eight RBI.
The junior opened the series by driving in four runs in a 16-6 win while going 2-for-5 with the home run.
In game two, he reached base four times (2-for-4, BB, HBP) with a home run, two RBI and three runs scored.
In the series-clinching win on Sunday, Molony drove in two more runs while reaching base three times (2-for-4, HBP) with the home run and two RBI.
It marked the second time during his career that Molony has belted home runs in all three games of a series (Ohio State - 2025).
He added his seventh career two-run home run game at Washington.

Fab Frosh

Oregon has three freshmen -- Naulivou Lauaki Jr., Brayden Jaksa and Angel Laya -- who have been key contributors to the Ducks' success this season.
RF Laya made the biggest contribution early, being named the Big Ten Freshman of the Week twice (Week 1, Week 4) as well as the Perfect Game National Freshman of the Week once (Week 1).
In the Nebraska series-clinching win, Laya belted two home runs to set Oregon's freshman record for home runs in a season (11 / he added No. 12 vs. Gonzaga and No. 13 at Washington).
Both Laya and Jaksa were named to the Perfect Game Midseason Freshman All-America Teams with Laya earning a spot on the first team and Jaksa claiming a spot on the second team.
After splitting time at catcher with Burke-Lee Mabeus to begin the season, Jaksa has become a full-time starter over the last 19 games playing mostly first base while Lauaki has started at designated hitter during that time.
The lineup change adding Jaksa and Lauaki has sparked Oregon's offense with the team slashing .281/.388/.500 with a .888 OPS and 66 extra-base hits (32 HR, 30 2B, 4 3B).
During those 18 games, the three freshmen have combined to hit 16 home runs with Lauaki leading the way with eight homers while both Laya and Jaksa have added four each.
Over the last 18 games, Lauaki is slashing .358/.413/.791, while Jaksa is at .355/.443/.553 and Laya has a .302/.429/.556 slash line.
After the Nebraska series, Lauaki was named the Big Ten Freshman of the Week.
For the season, the three freshmen have combined to go 123-for-387 (.318) with 47 extra-base hits (28 HR, 17 2B, 2 3B) and 89 RBI.

Mabeus excelling as full-time backstop

Since Oregon made the move to add FR Brayden Jaksa into the everyday lineup at either first or in left field, SO C Burke-Lee Mabeus has flourished behind the plate with 16 starts in those 18 games.
For the season, Mabeus is slashing .304/.386/.563 with a .943 OPS with those numbers increasing to .333/.441/.649 with a 1.090 OPS over the last 18 games.
The Ducks' catcher has delivered 11 (7 2B, 1 3B, 3 HR) of his 20 (12 2B, 1 3B, 7 HR) extra-base hits during that stretch,
In the last 18 games, Mabeus has delivered four of his nine multi-hit games, including his only 3-hit game, and three of his six multi-RBI games.
Defensively, Mabeus has thrown out 10 of 22 runners attempting to swipe a bag during the season.

Ducks lead nation in a pair of pitching categories

Heading into the USC series, Oregon ranks in the top five in the nation in two pitching categories and is 11th in another, while boasting two more top 25 rankings.
The Ducks have a national-second best seven shutouts, while holding opponents to 7.03 hits per nine innings which is fifth in the nation.
The Ducks also boast a 1.26 WHIP which is 11th best in the country, while ranking 11th in Ks-per-9 innings (11.0) and 20th in strikeout-to-walk ratio (2.69).

Ducks post three shutouts in five-game California road trip

Oregon's pitchers stepped up in a big way on the Ducks' five-game California road trip shutting out UC San Diego in the first game of the trip before blanking UC Santa Barbara in games one and three of the series.
The two shutouts in a three-game series has only happened three times in program history with the 2013 team doing it twice -- games two and three vs. both Washington and at Ohio State -- and the 2021 squad doing it once -- games one and two at Oregon State.
The three shutouts in five games was the first for Oregon since the 1974 season when the Ducks had three shutouts in five games from March 30 to April 12 (the 1963 and 1964 teams also did it).

Back-to-back shutouts a rarity in program history

In a four-game series against Youngstown State, Oregon's pitching staff put together back-to-back shutouts beating the Penguins 3-0 on Friday and 7-0 on Saturday.
It marked just the seventh time in the modern era that Oregon has put together consecutive shutouts.
Since 1963, there have only been 12 back-to-back shutouts in program history with the first two making up the only three-game shutout streak.
Two seasons -- 1963 and 2013 -- had a pair of consecutive shutouts.

Doing it right on Friday night

When he took the mound on opening day, RHP Will Sanford joined some impressive names as opening-day starter at Oregon.
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.

University of Oregon Athletics

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Players Mentioned

Ryan Cooney

Grayson Grinsell

Brayden Jaksa

Naulivou Lauaki Jr.

Angel Laya

Burke-Lee Mabeus

Maddox Molony

Will Sanford

Drew Smith

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