The Oregon baseball team is making its case that it should be a top-25 team. After opening Pac-12 play with a series win over Stanford, the Ducks swept Utah last weekend and won a game on the road over No. 19 Gonzaga on Tuesday.

The offense has proved that its early outbursts against San Diego and St. John’s were no flukes. Ducks hitters have consistently put up close to 10 runs a game, overcoming the issues Oregon has battled on the mound. While the starting pitching rotation still carries a ton of question marks, the Ducks’ offense might just be too good to write them off.

Oregon has scored 174 runs in 19 games this year, tied for the 16th-highest total in Division 1 baseball and good for 9.16 runs per game. What’s been all the more impressive is that for the last six games, they’ve been able to do it without one of their best hitters, Drew Cowley. Cowley hasn’t played since going 0-for-4 in the first game of the Stanford series. His status is unknown.

But Gavin Grant has stepped up in a big way. The usual defensive replacement has hit .339/.426/.627 out of the nine-hole. He’s also smacked four home runs since saying “I’m not a guy who’s gonna hit 20 home runs.” He and Sam Novitske have provided depth and versatility at the bottom of the lineup.

“It’s a pretty balanced order,” Oregon coach Mark Wasikowski said. “If there’s one guy that’s cold, then there’s another guy that gets hot. And usually when you’ve got a good offense, that’s the way it goes. And if they all get hitting at the same time, that’s when you see just massive numbers being put on the board.”

Among those who have caught fire are outfielders Tanner Smith and Anthony Hall. Both got off to surprisingly slow starts but have more than made up for it. Smith is riding an 11-game hitting streak, batting .426/.471/.894 with a career-high six homers and four doubles over that stretch.

“Hitting just comes and goes,” Smith said. “Obviously the year didn’t start the way I wanted to personally, and it looks like it’s starting to come around.”

Hall has had four multi-hit performances in his last seven games, getting his average over .300 and hitting his first two home runs of the year. Center fielder Colby Shade has fallen back to Earth a little bit, but he still owns an OPS over 1.100 and an average well above .400. 

Freshman first baseman Jacob Walsh has also been huge, taking over Gabe Matthews’ spot in the lineup with more ease than the Ducks ever could have expected from a freshman. He had a relatively quiet series against Utah, but he exploded for three hits including a homer against Gonzaga Tuesday. He owns a dominant, well-rounded batting line of .364/.417/.591 this season.

Brennan Milone ended a cold streak with an enormous four-game stretch, going 10-for-16 with two homers and two doubles.

The Ducks have simply been a force offensively, taking control of games and making comebacks even when their pitching hasn’t been up to par.

“They believe in each other,” pitching coach Jake Angier said. “They really support each other, and they’ve shown that all year.”

As the Ducks run wild on the bases, they’re still figuring things out on the mound. About the only starting pitcher Oregon can reasonably rely on right now is sophomore Isaac Ayon. Even Ayon had a terrible start against Stanford last week, but he bounced back in solid fashion in the Ducks’ second win over Utah. 

Ayon owns a dominant 1.42 ERA in three starts at PK Park this year, but an abysmal 17.06 ERA in two starts on the road (6 1/3 innings pitched).

Outside of Ayon, the team has been looking for answers. Ace Adam Maier is still out indefinitely with an arm injury. RJ Gordon made the most recent Friday start after some strong work out of the bullpen. He had an iffy outing in Friday’s 11-4 win over Utah, giving up three runs in 3 1/3 innings.

Meanwhile, the Ducks have been trying to stretch junior Caleb Sloan into a starter. He went two innings in his first start and a career-high 3 2/3 innings in his most recent start on Sunday. He gave up two runs on four hits and five walks in Oregon’s 7-2 win, which capped the three-game sweep.

“He worked out of some jams, which was really great,” Wasikowski said. “I thought he gave everything he had out there, and I think he’s gonna continue to get better.”

The Ducks’ season-long control issues still haven’t gone away, particularly when it comes to their starting pitching. Oregon starters walked a total of 15 batters in 14 2/3 innings over the last four games, despite winning all four. 

Besides the offense, one thing that helped the Ducks overcome these woes was the bullpen, which posted a 2.11 ERA over 21 1/3 innings. Relievers pitching more innings than starters is far from ideal, but Oregon has somehow made it work.

But in the long run, those ugly numbers from Ducks starters the last four games aren’t going to cut it. To be considered a legitimate top-25 team, they’re going to have to be a top-25 team on both sides of the ball. And as they go up against more of the nation’s top competition, they’re not going to be able to get away with walking so many batters.

“When you go out there and walk the park and hit a bunch of people, that’s not the standard here,” Wasikowski said after Andrew Mosiello’s poor outing on March 5. “That ain’t what it looks like. And so if that’s the effort that’s thrown out there on the mound, then that doesn’t deserve to pitch.”

Mosiello and Tommy Brandenburg have since been pulled from the rotation for their control issues. However, their replacements haven’t proved to be much better.

Wasikowski said Thursday that Gordon, Ayon and Sloan are able to throw more than 100 pitches in terms of workload.

“It’s just a matter of if they’re going to be effective or not,” Wasikowski said. “I’m not going to sit there and watch guys walk in people. Not very patient with that kind of stuff. So if guys want to go out there and dance around the zone and not pitch the way the standard at Oregon has been, then they won’t get the ball.”

So far, the Ducks have been named a top-25 team by just one outlet, with Collegiate Baseball ranking them No. 21 in the most recent poll. As D1Baseball managing editor Kendall Rogers pointed out, though, with their recent performance, the Ducks are certainly on the brink of being as heralded as they were during the regular season last year.

They’ll look to ride their current momentum into a three-game series against USC starting Friday at 4 p.m.