Oregon baseball heads into the second series of the season with momentum under its belt after a 4-0 opening weekend. However, it comes with a last-minute schedule change: The previously scheduled four-game series in Goleta will now be a three-game series in Eugene.
Oregon head coach Mark Wasikowski indicated there might be a change during his Tuesday press conference.
“Right now, the weather that’s going through down there is really bad,” he said. “There is a chance that that series could get shifted somewhere, whether it’s here or whether it’s maybe in the desert. We’re looking at all options right now. But there’s a strong chance, I’d say it’s a likely chance, that we’re not gonna be at Santa Barbara this weekend.”
The official decision came just under 24 hours later. Oregon and UCSB will play three games between Friday and Saturday; Friday’s game starts at 2 p.m. while Saturday’s doubleheader starts at 11 a.m. Unlike Oregon’s doubleheader last weekend, both games will be nine innings. There will be no game Sunday, allowing UCSB time to travel.
Oregon already had a home-heavy schedule this season, and now that trend is even more drastic. The Ducks originally had 35 home games on the schedule compared to 20 away games; those numbers are now 38 and 16.
Next week’s Thursday and Friday games against San Diego have also been moved from 4 p.m. to 3 p.m.
The Gauchos are off to a 2-2 start in head coach Andrew Checketts’s 11th season. They fell to the Ducks’ rival Oregon State 8-0 on Monday after thrashing Minnesota 13-2 the day prior.
The Ducks have been paying attention to the Gauchos and watching film in preparation.
“They’re always good,” Oregon shortstop Gavin Grant said. “Coach Checketts was here a couple years ago, and he’s a great coach, so they’re always a good staff and a good club.”
Oregon playing UCSB has become an annual tradition. Two years ago, the Ducks swept the Gauchos in four games, while last year they split a four-game series. Grant hit a walk-off home run in one of those wins; he also hit a go-ahead home run in the last game of Oregon’s recent sweep of Xavier.
“I think that one [against Xavier] meant more to me,” Grant said. “Obviously, the home run against Santa Barbara was a walk-off, so that meant a lot too, but just getting the team ahead in that case meant a lot.”
While the Ducks didn’t have a dominant series with the bats, they did enough to win all four games. They came alive in the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader, scoring nine runs with the help of two homers from Josiah Cromwick and one from Sabin Ceballos. Offense came in waves in the other three games; they scratched out a comeback walk-off win on Friday, and didn’t score until the seventh inning on Sunday.
“Offensively, I didn’t think we really existed,” Wasikowksi said. “We had some pretty big swings this weekend, and I think you’re gonna need more of a sustained offense to where you can string stuff together against good teams.”
One notable player who’s off to a slow start is first baseman Jacob Walsh. He went only 1-for-10 at the plate to begin his sophomore season.
“Baseball’s a huge mental game,” Walsh said. “In high school, you can just play your way out of it, but in college, you gotta really take advantage of studying mentally and knowing what you’re gonna do when you go into your at-bats.”
Walsh said that hitting coach Jack Marder has helped him and all the hitters with their mindsets. It’s something Marder preaches all the time: the importance of staying mentally sharp.
“Once the season starts, we’re not worried about our swings anymore,” Walsh said. “It’s all mentality going into the box.”
Other Ducks such as Owen Diodati, Drew Cowley and Colby Shade will also be looking to bust out of early-season slumps this weekend — and perhaps the familiarity of PK Park will help with that. Walsh is right: It’s a long season. Tanner Smith and Anthony Hall both got off to slow starts last year, but they eventually broke out and ended up having fantastic seasons.
The amended series against UCSB begins this Friday at 2 p.m.
