Yeah it’s still winter; but college baseball with college baseball starting tomorrow, it feels like spring. And for the fifth consecutive year, the Ducks will open their season in Honolulu against the Hawaii Warriors Friday night.
The Oregon baseball team finished 44-20 (18-12 in the Pac-12) and made it to the Nashville Regional where their season ended against eventual national champion, Vanderbilt.
A year later, the Ducks enter the 2015 season with a better outlook on their hitting, an aspect head coach George Horton has emphasized.
The improvements start with Oregon’s three transfers who have earned a starting job heading into the season. First baseman Brandon Cuddy and designated hitter Phil Craig-St. Louis are the two Seminole State College transfers who hit double-digit home runs a year ago. And then there is Matt Eureste, who is the most impressive of the three.
Eureste, a San Jacinto Community College transfer who will start at third base for the Ducks, hit .262 with six multi-hit games last year – including two three-hit games – and batted in 21 runs.
Up the middle, the Ducks have familiar faces, with sophomore Mark Karaviotis retuning to shortstop and junior Mitchell Tolman taking over at second for the first time in his career.
Behind the plate, Oregon features “the hammer,” Shaun Chase. Chase led the Pac-12 in home runs a season ago with 14 and tied a program record in the process. He also was second in the country with home runs per at bat, hitting one every 10.36 at-bats.
The outfield is where the Ducks will surely play around. Steven Packard, a senior who finished his 2014 campaign hitting .440 in his final 25 at-bats, will start in left.
Scott Heineman, who is one of the best hitters on the team, will undoubtedly be in the lineup. But where he is positioned will likely vary. In Hawaii, he’ll be in right field. Heineman’s 2014 season was cut short to just 35 at-bats due to a shoulder injury. In 2013 he hit .278 with four home runs and 38 RBIs.
In centerfield, Nick Catalano has the edge over Austin Grebeck, who has been struggling and failing to meet expectations to this point. Catalano, a junior, hit .250 last season with six doubles and stole 10 bases in 13 opportunities.
Oregon’s starting rotation isn’t to full strength to start off the season. Friday’s starter Cole Irvin will be on a 35-40 pitch count and Matt Krook may need the whole 2015 season to recover – both players required Tommy John surgery last season. But the Ducks welcomed another big gun to their rotation in David Peterson. Peterson, a freshman from Denver, was selected in the 28th round by the Boston Red Sox and earned first-team All-Continental League honors as a senior, finishing with a 3-0 record, 1.15 ERA and 40 strikeouts in just 24.1 innings.
Returners Trent Paddon and Jack Karraker will round out the rotation heading into this weekend.
Oregon has an 11-game winning streak against Hawaii, including four-game sweeps the past two seasons. The series begins Friday at 8:35 p.m.PST in Honolulu, Hawaii.
Follow Andrew Bantly on Twitter @andrewbantly