After four wins at the Northern Pacific Club Baseball Regional, the Oregon club baseball team is going back to the World Series for the fifth consecutive year.
“It feels pretty good to get back there,” coordinator Jeff Rogers said. “This is what we worked for all year long.”
The Ducks started fast, beating Utah State in the first game 11-6 behind the pitching of sophomore Kyle Knapp. He went 8 2/3 innings, helping the team save the bullpen for later in the tournament. The next game saw Oregon lose in 13 innings to the Western Washington University Vikings. They were the last team the Ducks lost to, and this loss brought the team within one game of seeing its season end.

But senior Bryan Hansen and the Ducks responded in the next game, eliminating rival Weber State 9-8 to advance to a final series with Western Washington. The Ducks had to beat the Vikings twice to earn the trip to Florida, and they did just that, handing them two of the most lopsided scores in a regional final in recent memory. The first game saw the Ducks score 17 runs in support of pitcher Mike Loverro, and although he didn’t shut down Western Washington’s batters – they scored eight runs – he did enough to earn the victory.
Game two was even more one-sided, and the Ducks cruised to a 20-2 win and the regional championship. In the fourth inning alone, they scored 10 runs, including nine batters in order. Sophomore Evan Coller started the second game for Oregon and went seven innings. Including the regular season series, Oregon scored a combined 66 runs against the Vikings.
One thing missing from the regular season that showed up in La Grande was the home runs. The Ducks hit eight home runs, doubling their season total. Junior Andrew Murphy led the team with two for the weekend and juniors Quentin Clark, Scott Marchione and Nick Johnson all hit home runs as well.
Now the team waits for its fate. It knows it’s in the field of eight teams, but it doesn’t know its seed or opponent because at least two regionals were delayed because of rain. That doesn’t concern Rogers, who spent most of Monday on the phone with the national club baseball director figuring out itineraries so he could book flights for the team. He said the Ducks were the eighth seed last year so they don’t care who they play, he just promised they’ll be ready.
“We have this week to practice and prepare, but this has been our goal from the start so the guys just want to play,” he said.
The Ducks leave for Ft. Myers, Fla., Wednesday, May 21 and play their first game Friday, May 23.