#13 Oregon visits #1 UCLA in B1G Series

Tight Games

UCLA holds a 28-19 lead in the series since baseball returned to Oregon in 2009.
Of those 47 games, 25 have been decided by 3-or-fewer runs with 17 1-run games.
Seven of those 1-run games have come during the Mark Wasikowski era.

History vs. No. 1

Oregon holds a 3-7 record against the nation's top-ranked team in program history, with all the games coming since 2009.
The Ducks are 2-1 vs. UCLA when the Bruins have been ranked first.

Weekend Winners

After having its series winning streak snapped at 13 five weeks ago, Oregon has returned to its winning ways with series wins the last four weeks.
The Ducks have piled up series wins since joining the Big Ten, winning 23 of 25 series.

Ducks start to season among best in school history

With nine straight wins to start the season, Oregon got off to one of its best starts in school history.
The nine-game winning streak was the longest in the modern era of Oregon baseball, one better than the 2014 squad.
Oregon had its streak snapped on Feb. 28 when UC Irvine rallied from a 5-3 eighth-inning deficit to win 8-6.
The 1963 team holds the program record for most wins to start a season with 12.
Heading into this weekend, Oregon's 35-12 record through 47 games is the second best since at least 1963, trailing only the 2013 team.
A sweep this weekend would keep the team one game behind the 2013 team for the best record through 50 games while a series win would tie last year's team for the second-best record.

Success in all three phases of the game

The Ducks head into this weekend ranked in the top 25 in the nation in 10 different statistical categories, including six top 15 rankings and two that rank second in the nation.
On the mound, Oregon is second in the nation in hits allowed per nine innings (7.03) and shutouts (7), while ranking seventh in WHIP (1.20), 11th in strikeouts per nine innings (10.9), 20th in strikeout-to-walk ratio (2.69) and 24th in ERA (4.19).
Offensively, UO ranks 12th in home runs (86) and home runs per game (1.83) and 17th in slugging percentage (.520) while defensively ranking 16th in fielding percentage (.980).

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 86 home runs (1.83 per game) in its first 47 games of the 2026 season.
With six games left in the regular season, Oregon is on pace to hit 96 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 is 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 weekend with a .332/.425/.534 career slash line.
He had reached base at least once in 144 of his 158 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.
Twelve weeks into 2026, Cooney has continued to be one of Oregon's best hitters slashing .358/.442/.579 with a 1.021 OPS while batting leadoff the first 32 games before hitting third in his last 14 played.
He heads into this weekend tied for fourth in the Big Ten in hits (68) while ranking 46th in the nation.
He is also second in the league in doubles while ranking eighth in the Big Ten in batting average, 20th in on-base percentage, 21st in OPS and 24th in 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 last weekend.

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 15 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 .293/.404/.530 with a .934 OPS and 59 extra-base hits (30 HR, 25 2B, 4 3B).
During those 15 games, the three freshmen have combined to hit 14 home runs with Lauaki leading the way with seven homers while Laya has hit four and Jaksa has added three.
Over the last 15 games, Lauaki is slashing .379/.431/.810, while Jaksa is at .364/.447/.545 and Laya has a .314/.462/.608 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 116-for-356 (.326) with 43 extra-base hits (26 HR, 15 2B, 2 3B) and 83 RBI.

On-base machine

With a .469 on-base percentage, LF Jax Gimenez leads Oregon in OBP heading into the Ducks' series at UCLA.
Heading into the weekend, he has reached base in 31 consecutive games (the longest streak by a Duck this season) while also getting on base in 40 of the 41 games that he has made a plate appearance.
The 31-game streak is tied for the second longest in program history in the modern era.
The sophomore is fifth on the team with a .285 batting average with 16 extra-base hits (10 2B, 3 3B, 3 HR).
After batting in the two-hole for most of the season, Gimenez was moved into the leadoff spot because of his ability to get on base.
He leads the Ducks in both walks (30) and hit-by-pitches (21) reaching base on 51 free passes.
He leads the Big Ten in HBP (17th in the nation) and is tied for 16th in walks despite missing the last four games.

Ducks lead nation in a pair of pitching categories

Heading into the UCLA series, Oregon is second in the nation in two pitching categories and is seventh in another, while boasting three more top 25 rankings.
The Ducks have held opposing teams to a national-second best 7.03 hits per nine innings with seven shutouts, while sporting a 1.23 WHIP which is sixth best in the country.
The Ducks also rank 11th in Ks-per-9 innings (10.9), 20th in strikeout-to-walk ratio (2.69) and 24th in ERA (4.19).

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.