If this Oregon baseball season has proven anything, it’s that so much can change from week to week, and even game to game.
The Ducks have now continued a rather odd pattern in their rollercoaster season. They started with a four-game sweep; they followed by getting swept in three games. Then they won five in a row, and then they lost four in a row. Now, they’re on a commanding six-game winning streak. For those keeping score at home, that’s 4-3, 5-4, 6 — a trend which would require them to lose five in a row to keep the pattern going.
But if they play anywhere as well as they did last weekend against Northwestern State, it’s hard to envision that happening — particularly if they keep swinging the bats the way they are, with an absurd 73 runs in that six-game span.
This team, which came into the season with plenty of offensive hype, has only recently begun to hit at the level many people expected. But, ever since taking off, they haven’t stopped, showing no mercy in an absolute walloping of Northwestern State and Washington State pitchers. It started with an offensive explosion from Tanner Smith but extended to other guys in the lineup as well, with head coach Mark Wasikowski finding a group, and more importantly, a distinct order he can depend on.
First, the obvious: Smith. Oregon’s left fielder is in his fifth season, and he’s never performed as well as he did this series. He hit .643 with a staggering 2.151 OPS, collecting four home runs and 10 runs batted in. He began the weekend by breaking the school hits record, then finished it by becoming the first Duck to homer in five straight games, dating back to the previous weekend against Washington State.
“It was pretty fun to be a part of that. Tanner’s a great kid and had a tremendous weekend,” Wasikowski said. “He ended up breaking multiple records on the weekend, which was just so much fun for Tanner and the team, and we got to celebrate with him. It was really neat.”
Smith now holds Oregon all-time records in hits, runs, consecutive starts and multi-hit games. He’s narrowly in second for doubles and at-bats as well, and third all-time in home runs after his recent power surge.
“It’s awesome to see. A long time coming,” Oregon center fielder Colby Shade said. “I’ve been around him for three years, the great player he is, and it’s really not surprising at all that he broke those records. He’s probably gonna break 10, 15 more by the end of the year. In a couple years, I’ll be showing my kids the Oregon record book and they’ll say ‘Tanner Smith, Tanner Smith, Tanner Smith.’”
Interestingly, most of Smith’s recent production has come out of the No. 5 hole in the lineup, after spending most of the last couple years in the leadoff spot. Wasikowski, in his tenure, has shown a tendency to make lots of changes when the team isn’t scoring runs, while making far fewer adjustments when the team is scoring runs.
During this offensive outbreak, he’s been going with a top five of Rikuu Nishida-Colby Shade-Drew Cowley-Sabin Ceballos-Smith, all five of whom have been productive lately. Gavin Grant has also been a consistent force in the No. 9 spot; he’s improved his power output with five home runs already. Cowley, Ceballos, Smith and Grant each posted an OPS above 1.300 this weekend.
And with that group locked firmly in place, they’ve been feeding off each other and meshing into a lethal unit.
“Sometimes teams will pitch me and Sabin the same way,” Shade said. “So we work together — just tendencies that they’ll do throughout the game either the second or the third time through the lineup. So just thinking that they’re gonna do that the next time you’re up and using that information in your next at-bat.”
The back half of the lineup hasn’t been the same each time, however, mostly due to how deep this team is. Jacob Walsh has still been Oregon’s primary first baseman, but freshman Dominic Hellman has started to get mixed in more lately. On Sunday, he even started at first base with Walsh as the designated hitter.
A shortstop in high school, the muscular 6-foot-6 Hellman has adapted quickly to his new position. He’s held his own there, even turning a nice double play that Wasikowski named the play of the game.
“It’s been tough, but I have a great support system behind me with Tyler Ganus, Towns King and Jacob Walsh helping me out at first,” Hellman said. “Being a young guy obviously and them having so much experience, it’s pretty nice having those guys behind my back and supporting me and helping me on the little things that I could get better at.”
Hellman is known for his power, with Wasikowski saying multiple times that he’s hit the ball over the light towers in practice. He’s repeatedly professed how rare it is to see the power that the freshman possesses. On Friday, the fans got their first glimpse at that, as Hellman smacked his first collegiate home run.
“I did get all of that one, at least I thought I did,” Hellman said. “I put a good swing on it, and it did connect with the barrel. See ball, hit ball.”
Hellman said he’s had a relationship with the Oregon coaches since his freshman year of high school, which has made him feel at home in the program since before he even came here. It’s what convinced him to commit to Oregon rather than taking a chance on himself in the MLB draft.
“They always called me and checked on me, and honestly made me feel like I was already a part of Oregon even before committing,” he said. “That was a huge aspect. It was a family-type deal, and I just felt the love from them ever since.”
Another freshman, Carter Garate, has been getting regular playing time after starting the year on the bench. He started the first three games of the series, and also started all three games against Washington State. His defense has been up and down, with a few flashy plays and a few mishaps. His bat, meanwhile, started strong, then took a brief nosedive, but redeemed itself with his first collegiate home run on Saturday.
“Since he got put in at shortstop, I think the team’s played very, very well,” Wasikowski said. “That’s an indicator of how good of a leader he is, and a defender, and just a player. He’s a heck of a freshman talent. There’s several other freshmen that are starting to really do some fun things for us too, which is fun for our future.”
With that unique mix of freshmen and veterans alike, Oregon’s offense has rapidly clicked into high gear. With all that offensive momentum on its side, the Ducks will look to stay hot in a Pac-12 road trip against Arizona this weekend.
