Oregon baseball moved up in the polls Monday after a 4-1 week that included a series win over then-No. 12 Arizona State.
Previously ranked No. 20 by Baseball America, Oregon is now No. 17. D1Baseball also put the Ducks at No. 17, while Perfect Game ranked them No. 14 and Collegiate Baseball moved them all the way up to No. 10.
Oregon took two midweek games over the lowly Gonzaga, which has taken a significant step back after being a top-25 team last year. Then the Ducks took on the Sun Devils, who at the time led the Pac-12. Similar to Oregon’s matchup against No. 8 Stanford two weeks ago, the Ducks took the first two games in dominant fashion. This series was a much higher-scoring affair, though, as Oregon took those games 11-5 and 16-10.
And, also in similar fashion as that Stanford series, Oregon was close to sweeping but couldn’t quite finish the job. The Ducks led 5-0 on Sunday and brought a no-hitter to the sixth, but their bullpen collapsed in the late innings. Arizona State played long ball all weekend, hitting a total of 13 homers compared to Oregon’s nine. Even a large chunk of the Sun Devils’ outs were fly balls that barely stayed in the yard.
Still, beating the No. 12 team in the country was enough for Oregon to get a slight boost. The Ducks are now ranked higher than Arizona State in all of the aforementioned polls. Despite losing on Sunday, they’re right in the thick of the Pac-12 title race with a 13-8 conference record. They trail only Stanford (15-6) and Arizona State (14-6). A win on Sunday would have put them ahead of the Sun Devils.
Oregon has now won its last three Pac-12 series after falling short against in-state rival Oregon State. There are three more conference series left on the schedule: USC in Los Angeles this weekend, Washington at home, then Utah in Salt Lake City to finish the regular season. With just two games separating the top three teams in the Pac-12, it should be a tight and competitive race heading into the second ever Pac-12 Baseball Tournament.