It’s usually around this time every year that I get a little bit of a pep in my step.
No, it’s not because the weather is getting slightly better — it’s because there are baseball games being played. This year and last year have been especially great, as not only are there games being played, there are college games in Eugene being played (thank you,  Mr. Kilkenny).
Last spring, I witnessed some of the most awful losing streaks by the baseball team. The Ducks lost their last 13 games and won just six games in their last 40. Taking into account that they were a first-year program, I still shuddered when I saw the almost non-existent offensive numbers they were putting up. The scored three runs or better just eight times during Pacific-10 Conference play. They batted below .280 as a team, and finished in dead last in the conference (and almost the country if that were a category). Add in the tent that was the press box last year, and my faith in baseball was severely tested at times.
However, the great thing about sports is that there’s always a next season (unless the sport gets cut, I suppose) for the team to redeem itself. I can’t put my nose on it, but I came into Oregon baseball 2010 knowing that the team would be leaps and bounds better. Experience and confidence go hand-in-hand with baseball, and I expected the young freshmen from last year who went out and played summer ball to be completely new players.
Boy, was I right. It was obvious on the first day of media availability that players were more seasoned. Sophomore second baseman Danny Pulfer carried himself differently (although he was still his talkative self). Sophomore shortstop KC Serna — who was aloof most of last season — came back from his stint this summer in Minnesota as a changed player. He was more open and talkative with the media and more of a leader.
But the real results came on opening day, when the Ducks beat the No. 4 team in the country 7-3. They didn’t just beat them, they handled them. On their brutal opening game series playing four different California team in four days in four different cities, they were 3-1. Then following a 2-4 stretch against Hawaii and Washington, Oregon swept Fresno State in Fresno, Calif., last weekend four games to none.
That last series caught my eye the most, as Fresno was 5-2 at the start of the series and playing very good baseball. But the Ducks used a newly found offense to score 28 runs and compile 45 hits. Add in a pitching staff that even last year was pretty darn good, and they are a completely different team. Four guys are all batting above .300 and the six home runs hit through 14 games this season is only 10 off the 16 the team hit in 56 games.
Maybe it’s the newly completed baseball field, or just experience, but in year two Oregon baseball is lightyears ahead of where they were at last year. But the scary part is, this year is only going to turn out OK. According to head coach George Horton, it’s the third year that will yield the first real results of a rebuilding effort. By then he will have had three recruiting classes, and have a system of upperclassmen leaders who have been in the
program for a number of years.
It’s an exciting thought knowing that this year’s promising start is likely to be even better next year. And of course, this season isn’t even over. However encouraged I might be over this year’s team, 14 games isn’t enough to deem this season a success. It is enough to know the Ducks are better than last year (they are only six games away from eclipsing their win total from 2009), but for all we know, the Pac-10 season could be another lesson in Oregon having to wait its turn.
Either way, I’m thankful for a new ball park (including a spacious press box) and an older team that show signs of being a contender.
It’s going to be a fun season.
[email protected]