Ducks wrap up regular season hosting #25 Arizona

Series History vs. Arizona

• Arizona leads the overall series 28-16-1. Oregon holds an 11-7 edge in games played in Eugene. In the modern era of Oregon baseball, the Wildcats hold a 20-16 advantage in the series.
• The Ducks have won four of the six series played at PK Park with sweeps in 2013 and 2014.
• Arizona swept Oregon in 2009 and won the 2018 series two games to one.

 
Well-rounded student-athletes recognized

• Three Oregon student-athletes were selected as candidates for the 2022 Senior CLASS AWARD®, with two of them named finalists on May 5.
• Third baseman Sam Novitske, left fielder Tanner Smith and closer Kolby Somers were among the 30 candidates.
• The 10 finalists include both Smith and Somers.
• 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 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 later homered in 11 straight games, which now ranks as the second-longest streak.
• Oregon has homered in 36 of its 49 games this season.

 
Ducks break school home run record

• Oregon has already set a new school record with 67 home runs (set vs. WSU on April 23).
• UO hit its 56th home run of the season at Portland on April 19 in game No. 36 of the season, matching the school record set last season during Oregon's 55-game campaign.
• Heading into the Arizona series, UO is on pace to hit 70.8 HRs during its 56-game regular-season schedule.
• Oregon hit its first 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           67
2.          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 has been reset this season.
• With the team currently batting .307 (a mark that would set a school record), Oregon has also set new records for RBI, runs and total bases.
• The Ducks have also moved into the top 10 in doubles (6th) with 98.
• Heading into the Arizona series, Oregon needs three triples to crack the top 10.

 
Walk it off

• Oregon won in dramatic fashion on Tuesday night when Jacob Walsh delivered a two-RBI double to score a pair of runs and give Oregon a 5-4 walk-off win.
• The walk off was Oregon's fifth of the season, matching the 2015 season for the second-most walk offs in the modern era of Oregon baseball.
• The Ducks need one more walk off to tie the 2012 team for the most walk offs in modern era history.
• Four different Ducks have accounted for the five walk offs this season, with Gavin Grant walking off two teams (UC Santa Barbara/San Francisco), while Tyler Ganus (Ball State), Brennan Milone (Washington State) and Walsh have one walk off.
• Eight players on the current roster have had at least one walk off in their career with Bryce Boettcher, Sam Novitske, Jack Scanlon and Tanner Smith joining the four who have done it this year.

 
Among the best

• Oregon heads into the Arizona series among the national leaders in a number of statistical categories.
• Oregon leads the Pac-12 in three major statistical categories, while ranking in the top two in seven others.
• The Ducks lead the league in batting average, hits and runs at the plate, while also ranking second in the conference in runs per game, home runs, home runs per game, OBP and slugging percentage.
• Oregon is also first in RBI and total bases.

 
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 .326 (75-for-230) with 12 doubles and nine home runs heading into the Arizona series.

 
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 set a new career runs scored record at Oregon in game one of the Washington series.
• With 150 career runs and counting, Smith 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 (streak is now 155).
• He is second in hits (216), doubles (48) and multiple-hit games (62), while ranking third in at-bats (704), fifth in walks (88) and starts (175), sixth in RBI (104), 10th in in home runs (18) and HBP (19) and 11th in multiple-RBI games (21) and triples (7).
• He will move into the career top 10 in both triples and multi-RBI games with one more of each.
• Defensively, Smith is second in the modern era in outfield assists with 11.

 
Cowley back after missing 21 games

• Oregon's hottest hitter the first three weeks of the season before suffering an injury, JR INF Drew Cowley returned to the lineup on April 19 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).
• In 18 games since his return, Cowley is 28-for-73 (.384/.458/.493) with six doubles, a triple, 18 runs scored and 10 RBI.
• He has 10 multi-hit games since his return, including a 4-hit game and two 3-hit 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 mostly in the six-hole, Hall is batting .346 (36-for-104) with nine home runs, eight doubles, four triples, 30 RBI and 30 runs scored, while reaching base at a .413 clip and slugging .760 in league games. 
• In Pac-12 games, Hall leads the conference in triples and slugging percentage,  while ranking second in home runs, runs and total bases and third in RBI
• He leads the Ducks in runs, doubles (tied), triples, homers, RBI and slugging percentage 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.
• A school-record six players have hit five-or-more dingers, with two more hitting four.

 
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 Arizona series ranked 10th in double plays (47) and 20th in double plays per game (0.89).
• After turning three double play in the Arizona State series, Oregon trails only Baylor (58), New Mexico (55), New Orleans (54), BYU (50), George Mason (50), TCU (50) Arizona (49), UNC Ashville (49) and Evansville (48).
• Baylor leads the country with 1.18 per game, while New Orleans (1.10) is second.
• Oregon's has turned 42 conventional double plays involving the infielders, pitcher or catcher while also having three 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 (12 times), followed by 5-4-3 (8) and the 4-6-3 (7), then the 6-3 (4), the 1-6-3 (3), the 3-6-1 (3), and the K2-4 (2).

 
Making the plays

• In addition to ranking in the top 20 in double plays turned and double plays per game, Oregon also ranks in the top 30 in the nation in fielding percentage.
• The Ducks boast a .977 fielding percentage, good for No. 26 in the nation.
• Oregon has committed just 44 errors in 1,936 chances with 1,407 putouts and 485 assists.
• The Ducks have faired nearly as well in Pac-12 games posting a .976 fielding percentage.

Somers named to NCBWA midseason Stopper of the Year watch list

• The National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association has named Oregon closer Kolby Somers to its midseason Stopper of the Year watch list. 
• Somers, who claimed first-team All-Pac-12 Conference honors and NCBWA All-America honors last season, has continued his stellar work as the Ducks' stopper for the second straight season.
• The lefty is 5-3 on the season and is third in the Pac-12 Conference with eight saves.
• He leads the Pac-12 in saves in conference games with seven.
• He has a 2.60 ERA in 22 appearances and has allowed just eight earned runs in 27.2 innings pitched with 37 strikeouts and 14 walks.
• He is holding opponents to a .234 batting average.

 
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 third in the 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 Arizona series, Somers is third in the Pac-12 Conference in saves with eight, while ranking 42nd in the country.
• He also ranks among Oregon's all-time leaders in career saves, moving into a tie for second with a save vs. Cal on April 29.
• The Ducks' lefty also ranks fourth all-time in appearances (83) and games finished (37).
• For the 2022 season, Somers has moved into a tie for eighth all-time with Kellen Moen (2011) on the single-season saves list.
• He needs to finish one more games to crack the top 10 for games finished.