Oregon Ducks Baseball Faces San Diego Today in Santa Barbara Regional

The Oregon Ducks Baseball team is looking for redemption following a quick exit from the Pac-12 Conference Baseball Tournament. The first opportunity is today with a 12 p.m. PDT first pitch against the West Coast Conference regular season and tournament champion, San Diego Toreros.

Oregon pitcher Logan Olson tries to get the Ducks out of the final inning with the bases loaded as Oral Roberts adds more runs to their lead during the NCAA Super Regional at PK Park in Eugene Sunday, June 11, 2023. / Chris Pietsch/The Register-Guard / USA

The Oregon Ducks Baseball team is looking for redemption following a quick exit from the Pac-12 Conference Baseball Tournament.

The first opportunity is today with a 12 p.m. PDT first pitch against the West Coast Conference regular season and tournament champion, San Diego Toreros. The game will be televised on ESPNU.

In addition, Oregon could face two more west coast teams in Fresno State and UC Santa Barbara, the top seed and host of this regional. The geographic proximity of these teams adds a little extra incentive for the players.

“Figure out who’s king of the West Coast,” Oregon outfielder Bryce Boettcher said. “I like that; should be awesome.”

Oregon coach Mark Wasikowski is also aware of the level of baseball that will be on display in this regional.

“There was a couple of teams in the West Coast Conference, them (San Diego) and Portland, that were really high-end level teams,” Wasikowski said. “I think (San Diego coach) Brock (Ungricht)’s got a really quality pitching staff.”

Oregon pitcher Logan Olson tries to get the Ducks out of the final inning with the bases loaded as Oral Roberts adds more runs to their lead during the NCAA Super Regional at PK Park in Eugene Sunday, June 11, 2023. / Chris Pietsch/The Register-Guard / USA

The Toreros come into this game with a high degree of confidence after having won 10 straight and 18 of the last 19. Meanwhile, the Ducks realize they need to bring more offense to the game than what they showed in scoring a total of four runs in the Pac-12 tournament.

“That’s baseball; sometimes you’re hot and sometimes you go through a stretch that’s tough,” Boettcher said. “Last weekend was tough but we’ve had a lot of good stretches. You get your mind right on what you’ve done great throughout the season. Obviously, we didn’t perform the way we wanted to, but we know that our season is not over, so we still got a lot to look forward to.”

One bright note that is often overlooked is the depth of Oregon’s pitching staff.

Despite the two losses, there were signs that offer encouragement for the weekend. Hard throwing Brock Moore made his first start of the season in the loss to Utah. He allowed just two runs on seven hits and seven strikeouts over four innings. Wasikowski said Moore could be called upon again in a rotation that featured Grayson Grinsell, RJ Gordon, and Kevin Seitter all season.

“We know that this team’s success is going to run through us, and we take a lot of pride in that,” Seitter said. “We’re sweating the details every single day.”

Following the Oregon-San Diego matchup at noon, No. 1 seed Santa Barbara takes on No. 4 seed Fresno State at 6 p.m. PDT on ESPN+. This is a double-elimination format with the losers of games one and two facing-off in an elimination game at 1 p.m. PDT Saturday while the winners play Saturday at 7 p.m. PDT. Television coverage is yet to be announced.

Despite the season-long records and recent tournament results, this tournament is a whole new ballgame. Each team starts at 0-0 and that makes for some excitement and good baseball as teams compete for a chance to play at the College World Series in Omaha.