Ducks host Ball State in four-game series

Series History - vs. Ball State

• The Ducks and Cardinals will meet on the baseball diamond for the first time this weekend when the teams play a four-game series at PK Park.
• The Ducks are 1-3 all-time vs. teams from the MAC, losing two of three vs. Kent State in the 2012 NCAA Super Regionals in Eugene.
• Oregon also lost to Eastern Michigan in 1970.
• Ball State is ranked 25th in the Collegiate Baseball poll.

 
RPI & National Statistical Rankings

• Oregon is 12th in the RPI heading into this weekend's series with Ball State.
• The Ducks also rank among the national leaders in a number of statistical categories, including in the top 20 in nine categories.
• Among those nine, the Ducks are second in double plays, 10th in batting average and hits, 15th in slugging, 16th in home runs and 17th in runs scored.

 
Pac-12 Team Leaders

• Oregon leads the Pac-12 in six major statistical categories heading into the Ball State series.
• The Ducks are first in double plays, double plays per game, hits, home runs, home runs per game and slugging percentage.
• UO ranks second in the league in batting average, fielding percentage, on-base percentage, runs and runs scored per game.

 
Well-rounded student-athletes recognized

• Three Oregon student-athletes have been selected as candidates for the 2022 Senior CLASS AWARD®.
• Third baseman Sam Novitske, left fielder Tanner Smith and closer Kolby Somers are among the 30 candidates.
• and Somers both earned third-team All-America honors in 2021, while Novitske was a 2020 COSIDA first-team All-District 8 selection.
• All three have been involved with Oregon's partnership with Team Impact, while excelling in the classroom.
• To be eligible for the award, a student-athlete must be classified as an NCAA Division I senior and have notable achievements in four areas of excellence: community, classroom, character and competition.

 
Record run of long balls ends

• Oregon put a string of impressive home run streaks together before having them snapped during the two-game midweek series with San Francisco.
• Oregon homered multiple times in eight consecutive games, the longest streak since the program returned.
• Before the season, Oregon hadn't hit multiple home runs in more than three consecutive games before going deep more than once four times earlier this year (from Feb. 21 to Feb. 26-- vs. USD, 3x vs. SJU).
• Oregon also hit at least one home run 17 consecutive before seeing the streak snapped in a 4-3 win over San Francisco on March 30.
• The longest streak for consecutive games with a home run coming into this season was six, set by the 2021 team on two occasions.
• Oregon has homered in 24 of the last 26 games.

 
Ducks on pace to shatter Oregon home run record

• Heading into the Ball State series, Oregon is on pace to hit 90 home runs during its 56-game regular-season schedule.
• The Ducks have hit 45 long balls in their first 28 games of the season.
• The 45 homers already rank fourth all-time in a single season at Oregon.
• The 2021 team set the school record last season with 56 home runs.

 
Record setting offense

• Oregon scored 12 runs in the top of the eighth inning at San Diego in a 21-11 (8-inning) win on Feb. 21.
• The 12 runs were the most ever scored by a Ducks' team with the 12 runs also setting a new record for most runs scored by both teams in an inning (old record of 11 both came when UO scored 11 in the sixth inning at WSU on 4/29/19).
• Oregon also set a school record for hits in an inning with 10, breaking the old record of eight set in the same game at WSU in 2019.
• The Ducks also tied school records for most doubles (3) in an inning and most extra-base hits (5) in an inning.
• The record-setting 12-run inning remained a record for exactly seven more innings before Oregon broke it again with a 13-run eighth inning in the series opener against St. John's on Feb. 25.
• Oregon scored the 13 runs behind eight hits (2 doubles), six walks and a hit-by-pitch.
• The 44 combined runs scored by Oregon in the San Diego series finale and the St. John's series opener were the most ever scored by the Ducks in back-to-back games.
• Oregon matched a school record with 23 runs scored vs. St. John's in game one of the series, tying the 23 runs the Ducks scored against Portland State (5/6/74).
• The 21 runs scored by the Ducks at San Diego tied for the third most at the time it happened.
• The Ducks also scored 21 at Washington State (4/12/19), at Sacramento State (3/19/79) and vs. Northwest Nazarene (3/6/76).
• The 23 runs vs. St. John's also broke the PK Park record which was set when the Ducks' beat New Mexico State 22-7 (2/21/15).
• In addition to the two 20-plus run games, the Ducks scored double-digit runs in the second (16) and third (13) games of the St. John's series, marking the only time in the modern era the Ducks have scored 10-or-more runs in four-straight games.
• Oregon added a 10-run first inning in the midweek series opener against San Francisco, running its total to three innings with double-digit runs in 2022.

 
Among the best

• Oregon heads into the UCLA series among the national leaders in a number of statistical categories.
• The Ducks are fifth in the country in batting average, while ranking fourth in hits, 11th in slugging percentage, 13th in runs, 14th in home runs, 17th in runs per game, 18th in home runs per game and 24th in on-base percentage.
• Oregon leads the Pac-12 in six major statistical categories, including four on offense.
• The Ducks lead the league in batting hits, home runs, HR/game, and slugging percentage at the plate, while also ranking second in the conference in batting average, runs, runs per game and on-base percentage.
• Oregon also leads the league in total bases.
• The Ducks are third in the conference in doubles.

 
Smith named preseason All-America

• Coming off a season where he claimed Collegiate Baseball third-team All-America honors, JR OF Tanner Smith has been named preseason third-team All-America by both Collegiate Baseball and the NCBWA.
• A junior from Newport Beach, Calif., Smith finished last season batting .324 with five home runs and 36 RBI while batting leadoff for the Ducks.
• He had a Pac-12 best 24 doubles, which set a new Oregon single-season record for two-baggers, while reaching base at a .417 clip and slugging .533.
• The Ducks' left fielder ranked third among all Pac-12 players with 33 extra-base hits.
• His 24 doubles ranked fifth nationally and his 0.44 doubles per game were the best in the Pac-12 and 12th overall in the country.
• He also tripled four times, which was good for second in the Pac-12 and 28th nationally.
• is batting .319 (23-for-72) with three doubles and three home runs heading into the Utah series.
• All 10 of his extra-base hits this season have come in the last nine games.

 
Smith closing in on Oregon runs scored record

• In his fourth season, JR OF Tanner Smith has put together one of Oregon's baseball's marquee careers.
• The Ducks left fielder heads into the Ball State series needing to score just five runs to set a new career runs scored record at Oregon.
• With 131 career runs, Smith ranks third behind co-record holders Gabe Matthews (2017-21) and Aaron Payne (2011-14) who both scored 135 runs during their careers.
• Besides runs, Smith ranks in the top 10 in a number of other career categories at Oregon.
• He is second in consecutive starts with 130 and needs eight more to pass Matthews.
• He ranks fourth in doubles (41), sixth in hits (179) and RBI (92), seventh in at-bats (599) and multiple-hit games (49), and eighth in walks (78).
• He will move into the career top 10 with one more multiple-RBI game, two more home runs and three more starts and hit-by-pitches.
• Defensively, Smith is second in the modern era in outfield assists with 11.

 
Kasevich in midst of power surge

• Over the last eight games, SO SS Josh Kasevich has added some punch to his game hitting three home runs and doubling twice while leading the Ducks in batting average (.353) and slugging percentage (.676).
• The Ducks five-hole hitter has hit three of his five home runs on the season during the stretch while doubling his number of doubles on the season.
• He has eight RBI in the last eight games with three multi-hit games, two 3-hit games and two multi-RBI efforts, while riding a six-game hitting streak heading into the Ball State series.
• Always tough to strike out, Kasevich has no Ks in his 34 at bats and 35 plate appearances during those eight games. 

 
Hall on fire in Pac-12 games

• After a slow start to the season, SO RF Anthony Hall has shifted his game into another gear in Pac-12 conference games.
• Hitting in the six-hole, Hall is batting .362 (15-for-41) with five home runs, three doubles, a triple, 11 RBI and 16 runs scored, while reaching base at a .490 clip and slugging .854. 
• In Pac-12 games, Hall leads the conference in home runs and slugging percentage while ranking second in runs scored, third in total bases, fourth in OBP and ninth in RBI.
• He leads the Ducks in average, runs, triples, homers, RBI, slugging percentage, walks and OBP in league games.

 
It's hot in the Shade

• Four weeks into the conference season, SO CF Colby Shade continues to put up big numbers on offense while running down ball in the gaps on defense.
• Batting in the two-hole since the injury to Drew Cowley, Shade leads the team batting .379 with three home runs, eight doubles and a triple while slugging .579 and reaching base at a .474 clip.
• In addition to batting average, Shade leads the club in slugging percentage and on-base percentage.
• In the Pac-12, he is second in batting average, fourth in OBP and 10th in slugging.
• In conference games, Shade is nearly  as good batting .362 with a home run, four doubles, a triple, seven RBI and nine runs, while reaching at a .426 clip and slugging .553.

 
Turn two

• The old saying that a "pitcher's best friend is a double play", has been on display for Oregon this season.
• The Ducks head into the Ball State series ranked second in double plays and sixth in double plays per game.
• After turning five double plays at UCLA, Oregon trails only New Mexico (37) for most DPs in the nation.
• The Ducks are averaging 1.07 double plays per game, which is percentage points behind Baylor for fifth in the country.
• New Mexico leads the country with 1.32 per game, while St. Joseph's is second (1.12) with George Mason (1.08) and New Orleans (1.08) sitting in a tie for third.
• Oregon's has turned 25 conventional double plays involving the infielders, pitcher or catcher while also having two double play with a fly out and an outfield assist and one strike-him-out, throw-him out.
• The most common double play has been the 6-4-3 (8 times), followed by the 5-4-3 (5) and 4-6-3 (5), then the 1-6-3 (3) and the 3-6-1 (2).

 
Somers named preseason All-America

• Coming off a season where he claimed NCBWA third-team All-America honors, SR LHP Kolby Somers has been named preseason third-team All-America by both Collegiate Baseball and D1Baseball.
• A senior from Hillsboro, Ore., Somers claimed first-team All-Pac-12 Conference honors in addition to NCBWA All-America honors last season.
• He was dominant closing out games for the Ducks in 2021.
• The lefty finished the season with a 2-2 record and a 3.08 ERA with 11 saves.
• He fanned 37 in 26.1 innings pitched while holding opposing hitters to a .149 batting average.
• He ranked third in the Pac-12 in saves, as well as ranking sixth all-time in single-season saves at Oregon.
• His seven saves in conference games were the second most in the league, one behind the leader.

 
Bullpen on impressive run

• With Oregon's recent struggles on the mound to start games, the Ducks' bullpen has come through in a big way over the last 14 games heading into the two San Francisco midweek games.
• The Ducks have gone 9-5 during that stretch with the Ducks bullpen claiming seven wins and a four saves.
• During the stretch, the bullpen has tossed 5.1 innings or more in nine of the 14 games with a high of 8.0 innings coming vs. USC in game three of the series in a Ducks' come-from-behind win.
• Oregon's pen also tossed 7.2 innings in a win at Stanford on March 11, 7.1 innings in a win at Gonzaga on March 22, 7.0 innings in a win at Stanford on March 11, 6.1 innings in a loss at Stanford on March 13, 6.0 innings in a loss at UCLA on April 3, 5.2 innings in a win over Utah on March 18 and 5.1 innings in a win over Utah on March 20.
• During the Ducks last 12 game, the bullpen has posted a 1.67 ERA while allowing just 13 runs (12 earned) on 39 hits in 64.2 innings pitched with 53 strikeouts and 27 walks.
• The bullpen has been credited with the win in seven of those 12n games, with RHP Logan Mercado picking up three wins in five days.

 
Ducks boast experienced arms

• Oregon opened the 2022 season with 12 pitchers on the 17-member staff who had experience at the four-year college level, including nine with double digit outings, six with more than 20 appearances, three with 30-plus appearances and two with more than 50 outings.
• Heading into the Ball State series, the staff has seven different pitchers who have career saves led by LHP Kolby Somers (16), transfers RHP Stone Churby (5) and RHP Dylan Sabia (4), RJ Gordon (1) and LHP Rio Britton (1).
• Oregon's closer last year, Somers leads the staff with 71 career appearances, followed closely by Churby's 68 appearances (58 at Sacramento State from 2018-21).
• Other experienced arms include RHP Caleb Sloan (41 appearances), RHP Christian Ciuffetelli (36), Sabia (32), LHP Rio Britton (30), RHP Andrew Mosiello (29), RHP Isaac Ayon (29), RHP RJ Gordon (23) RHP Scott Ellis (16), RHP Logan Mercado (12) and NAIA transfer RHP Adam Maier (8).
• Junior college transfer RHP Matt Dallas has gained extensive experience already, tying for the team lead in appearances in 2022 (15), while also making his first career start at UCLA.
• Oregon has also had a pair of true freshmen make their college debuts on the mound with RHP Jacob Hughes (7) and RHP Tommy Brandenburg (5) appearing in games.