If you’ve ever thrown a baseball and live anywhere in New England, the Rhode Island Rams might just add you to their bullpen.
The Ducks took advantage of 43 free passes on a weekend in which they outscored Rhode Island 46-26 to win the series 3-1.
In doing so, No. 11 Oregon baseball — which remained steady in the polls after another 3-1 weekend — demonstrated that it can win in a variety of ways.
“You’ve gotta be able to win in a lot of different ways,” Oregon head coach Mark Wasikowski said after the Ducks’ 19-12 win in Game Three. “You’ve gotta be able to win by hitting the ball over the fence, you’ve gotta be able to win by bunting sometimes or stealing a base. We showed that we can win in a different way today and that was the first time we’ve shown that.”
But this was one of the weirdest series of baseball that I’ve ever watched in my life.
Let’s start with that first part: hitting the ball over the fence. Oregon did a great job of that this weekend, smacking seven homers. Mason Neville hit three, Anson Aroz had three and Burke-Lee Mabeus recorded his first collegiate homer with a grand slam in Game Four.
Aroz also homered in Game Four in a walkoff to clinch the run-rule victory in seven innings. Neville had two of his three homers in Game Three while he and Aroz both recorded homers in Game One.
Three of the weekend’s four games saw at least 17 runs. Friday featured 23, Game Three had 31 and Game Four had 17. So, naturally, Game Two was 0-0 as the Ducks and Rams entered the 11th inning.
Game Two was an obvious outlier on a weekend full of offensive explosions. Rhode Island’s Trystan Levesque threw 10 shutout innings, something I don’t think I’ll ever be lucky enough to see in-person again.
“That guy’s really good,” Wasikowski said of Levesque. “There’s a reason why he shined in the Cape Cod League last summer. He’s a really good pitcher. He was as-advertised.”
He absolutely was. It was a mild shame to see his 119-pitch effort end in a no-decision. But, that Game Two marathon demonstrated that the Ducks can lean on their pitching staff for wins. Collin Clarke, Cole Stokes and Gabe Howard threw 11 scoreless frames to push the Ducks to a 1-0 win.
So, even when the bats weren’t hot and the Rams weren’t walking the entire lineup, Oregon found ways to win. That’s the kind of flexibility that the Ducks need this year and have been somewhat lacking in the previous seasons.
2023’s Super Regional team was almost exclusively offensive. 2024’s roster was a bit more balanced, but the defense and pitching was the strength of that squad. This year, it would seem in the early goings, the Ducks have a more-balanced team. Oregon can show up and score 19 runs, or it can outlast an opponent in 11 frames. That’s dangerous.
Oh, and the Ducks have pitched as many shutouts (two) as games they’ve lost (two).
Even when the Ducks fell short in a 12-11 loss in Game One, they showed unwavering resilience. At one point, Oregon trailed 12-4, but worked back within a run in the bottom of the ninth inning.
Wasikowski isn’t one for feel-good losses, though. “We lost the game and we didn’t play well enough to win,” he said. True, but that late rally was an absolute turning point in the series, and the Ducks couldn’t have responded better.
I think the Rams were a higher-quality opponent than many expected to trek into PK Park in mid February. Rhode Island came out and smacked the Ducks around early in Game One, and there were points of every game where it seemed the Rams could really mess up Oregon’s season.
They just couldn’t throw strikes to save their lives. Aside from Levesque, Rhode Island’s pitching was atrocious. The only way the Rams can win games is by putting up an avalanche of runs, something they’ve done several times in the young season.
Not these Ducks. They can win in a variety of ways, something that will undoubtedly help them as the season progresses. They bunted, drove guys in (Jack Brooks had a pair of sacrifice flies) and stole bags. They were firing on all the cylinders that a top-ranked team needs to.
Wasikowski will often praise his opponents. After all, he wants to make each Oregon win look as good as possible. After this series, he commended the Rams’ offense, Levesque’s efforts and Rhode Island’s flexibility on a rain-soaked weekend.
I tend to actually agree with him on this one. It won’t look like it on the surface, but this was a dang good series win for the Ducks in the early season.
Ruth’s Three Stars:
First Star: Mason Neville – CF
The Ducks’ center fielder hit three homers, tallied five RBIs, scored nine runs and drew six walks while hitting .312 (5-16) on the weekend. He also played a solid defense, captaining an outfield that’s seen (already) countless formations through eight games. Neville was my third star last week, but stole the show in the Rhode Island series.
Second Star: Trystan Levesque – LHP
For the first time this season, I have to give a nod to an opposing player. To throw 119 pitches in an outing at any point in the season is surprising. For him to do it in his second start of the season is absurd. I’ll be honest, I considered it mild malpractice to allow him to stretch himself like that, but he almost single-handedly earned the Rams a series split. Had he pulled it off, he may have been the top star.
Third Star: Jacob Walsh – 1B
As critical as I’ve been of Walsh in the past, he’s been very good this season offensively and with the glove. He became Oregon’s all-time leader in multi-RBI games (38) on Sunday as a part of his 6-17 (.352) weekend that featured four doubles, seven RBIs and three walks. Let it not be said that I won’t give credit where credit is due. Walsh is playing some of his best baseball right now.
From the press box is a new series covering the ins and outs of each series the Ducks will play in 2025. This is the second edition of Brady Ruth’s new long-form coverage. Other pieces can be found on the baseball page of the Daily Emerald.
