Ducks hosts WSU in Pac-12 play starting Friday

Series History vs. Washington State

• Washington State leads the all-time series 156-132-1, including a 41-23 edge in games played in Eugene.
• Oregon holds a 20-16 advantage in the games played in the modern era of Oregon baseball.
• The Ducks are 10-5 in games played in Eugene since 2010 with series wins in 2010, 2014 (sweep), 2016 and 2018.
• Washington State took two of three games at PK Park in 2012.

 
RPI & National Statistical Rankings

• Oregon is third in the RPI heading into its series against Washington State.
• The Ducks also rank among the national leaders in a number of statistical categories, including in the top 25 in 10 categories.
• Among those 10, the Ducks are fourth in double plays, 13th in average, 15th in hits, 18th in slugging percentage, 22nd in home runs, 24th in runs per game and 25th and runs.

 
Pac-12 Team Leaders

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

• 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 in 17 consecutive games 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.
• The Ducks have homered in their last 11 games, which now ranks as the second-longest streak.
• Oregon has homered in 32 of the last 34 games.

 
Ducks tie school home run record

• Oregon hit its 56th home run of the season at Portland on Tuesday, matching the school record set last season during Oregon's 55-game campaign.
• Heading into the Washington State series, Oregon is on pace to hit 87.11 home runs during its 56-game regular-season schedule.
• Oregon has hit 56 home runs in 1,267 at-bats this season, while hitting 56 in 1,890 at-bats last season (623 fewer ABs)

 
Single Season Home Runs
Rank     Team           HR
1.           2022           56
             2021              56
3.           1974              48
4.           1973              46
5.           1965              43
 
Assault on other records in progress

• It is not just the home run record that Oregon is threatening offensively, with the team currently batting .310 (a mark that would set a new school record) Oregon is also approaching other records.
• Besides long balls and batting average, the Ducks have already cracked the top 10 in three other categories and should move into the top 10 in a number of others over the next few weeks.
• Oregon batters have already moved into the top 10 in RBI (7th), runs (8th) and total bases (10th).
• Heading into the WSU series, Oregon needs to score 37 runs to crack the top 10 in school history while also needing 15 doubles and six triples.

 
Inning and game offensive records

• 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 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).

 
Among the best

• Oregon heads into the Washington State series among the national leaders in a number of statistical categories.
• The Ducks are 13th in the country in batting average, 15th in hits, 18th in slugging percentage, 21st in home runs per game, 22nd in home runs, 24th in scoring (runs per game), 25th in runs and 32nd 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 average, home runs, HR/game, and slugging percentage at the plate, while also ranking second in the conference in hits, runs, runs per game and OBP.
• Oregon also leads the league in total bases and second in RBI.

 
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 .323 (50-for-155) with six doubles and nine home runs heading into the WSU series.
• All 15 of his extra-base hits this season have come in the last 25 games.

 
Smith sets Oregon career runs 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 set a new career runs scored record at Oregon in game one of the Washington series.
• With 137 career runs, Smith ranks broke the record shared by 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.
• Against Portland, he set a new record for consecutive starts with 138 breaking the record Matthews set from 2017-2019.
• He ranks fourth in doubles (42), fifth in multiple-hit games (55) and at-bats (626), sixth in hits (191) and RBI (98) and walks (84), eighth in starts (158), ninth in home runs and 10th in multiple-RBI games (20).
• He will move into the career top 10 with one more hit-by-pitch.
• Defensively, Smith is second in the modern era in outfield assists with 11.

 
Cowley makes return at Portland

• Oregon's hottest hitter the first three weeks of the season before suffering an injury, JR INF Drew Cowley returned to the lineup on Tuesday at Portland after missing 21 games. 
• Playing both third base and second base, Cowley was off to a blistering start batting .467 (21-for-45) with the nation's 13th-best OBP (.571).
• He also ranked 16th nationally in batting average, and 35th in slugging percentage (.822).
• In addition to batting average and on-base percentage, he led the team in slugging percentage and base on balls (9), while ranking second in doubles (5).

 
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 .333 (18-for-54) with six home runs, three doubles, three triples, 13 RBI and 20 runs scored, while reaching base at a .446 clip and slugging .833 in league games. 
• In Pac-12 games, Hall leads the conference in home runs and slugging percentage while ranking fourth in runs scored, fifth in total bases and 11th in OBP.
• He leads the Ducks in runs, triples, homers, RBI, slugging percentage, walks and OBP in league games.

 
Power coming from slew of Ducks

• While Oregon is hitting home runs at an unprecedented rate, it's not just a handful of players contributing with long balls.
• The Ducks have had 12 different players hit a homer, tied for the most ever for a modern era Ducks team.
• Ten Ducks have multiple homers, the most for a Ducks team since 2009.
• Five players have hit five-or-more dingers, with two more hitting four, which matches the 2021 team for players with 5+ homers.

 
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 Washington State series ranked fourth in double plays and seventh in double plays per game.
• After turning two double plays at Washington, Oregon trails only New Mexico (44), Baylor (40) and New Orleans (40) for the most DPs in the nation.
• The Ducks are averaging 1.03 double plays per game, which is percentage points behind Saint Joseph's for sixth in the country.
• NM leads the country with 1.22 per game, while New Orleans (1.21) is second, UNC Ashville (1.12) third, Baylor (1.08) fourth and George Mason (1.06) fifth.
• Oregon's has turned 33 conventional double plays involving the infielders, pitcher or catcher while also having two double plays with a fly out and an outfield assist and two strike-him-out, throw-him out DPs.
• The most common double play has been the 6-4-3 (10 times), followed by 4-6-3 (7), the 5-4-3 (6), then the 1-6-3 (3) and the 3-6-1 (2) and 6-3 (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.

 
Somers leads Pac-12 in saves, moving up Oregon record books

• For the second straight season, SR LHP Kolby Somers is proving to be among the nation's elite closers.
• Heading into the WSU series, Somers leads the Pac-12 Conference in saves with seven, while ranking 18th in the country.
• He also ranks among Oregon's all-time leaders in career saves, moving into sole possession of third with a game-one save at Washington on April 14.
• He has since added two more to run his career total to 19, one shy of tying Kenyon Yovan (2017-21) for second.
• The Ducks' lefty also ranks fourth all-time in appearances (77) and fourth all-time in games finished (34).
• For the 2022 season, Somers has moved into a tie for ninth all-time with Drew Gagnier (2009) on the single-season saves list.
• He needs to finish four more games to crack the top 10 for games finished.

 
Bullpen on impressive run

• Over the last 20 games, Oregon's bullpen has put up some impressive numbers.
• The Ducks have gone 15-5 during that stretch with the Ducks bullpen claiming 13 wins and eight saves.
• During the stretch, the bullpen has tossed 5.0 innings or more in 12 of the 20 games with a high of 9.0 innings coming in an 11-inning win vs. San Francisco.
• The Ducks pen has tossed 8.0 innings four times, all coming in wins -- vs. USC on March 27, vs. Ball State on April 9 and April 10, and at Washington on April 16.
• Oregon's pen also tossed 7.2 innings in wins at Stanford on March 11 and at Portland on April 19, 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.
• The pen went five innings in a win at Washington on April 15.
• During the 20 games, the bullpen has posted a 2.48 ERA while allowing just 36 runs (31 earned) on 87 hits in 112.1 innings pitched with 96 strikeouts and 51 walks.
• Six different Duck relievers have picked up wins in those 20 games, with RHP Logan Mercado picking up five wins with three coming in five days.