It’s opening day take two when the Oregon Ducks take the field at 2 p.m. today against the Fresno State Bulldogs. Already having played three games on the road, the Ducks are looking forward to christening PK Park.
“Hopefully, my team will rise to the challenge and all the great things that have happened here will continue,” Oregon head coach George Horton said. “I think it’s a culmination of a lot of people’s hard work. To go from a piece of dirt this September to this is a pretty amazing thing.”
And although the final phase of construction on the field isn’t done (that won’t be finished until the start of next season), Horton says he’s glad that it’s about baseball again.

“I’m excited,” Horton said. “I guess my focus is on my team playing well, not on the entertainment stuff. That’s for everyone else … I’m concerned that my team is playing their best. Right now there isn’t a lot of pressure on me to win. It’s all self-induced pressure.”
The Ducks (1-2) will have their mettle tested in the home opener. Fresno State (2-2) is the defending national champion, something Horton says wasn’t expected, but he welcomes the tough competition.
“We didn’t envision that when we schedule them, and that makes it pretty special,” Horton said. “But we could be playing anyone in America and it would still be special. I’m more excited to compete against a caliber of opponent like Fresno State. I know what a great job coach Mike Batesole does, and it’ll be an honor to compete on the same baseball field. He’s a good friend of mine, and I know his entire staff.”

The Ducks are coming off two straight losses after winning the season opener 5-3 in Moraga, Calif., on Friday. The win sent a ripple through Eugene and around Oregon, and even the two losses couldn’t dampen the mood of Duck fans.
But the players thought they should have done better.
“We got the first win and dropped the next two, and everybody was like, ‘That’s no big deal; you got the important one,’” junior outfielder Jett Hart said. “That was so rough on us. We wanted to win all three, and we take that to heart this weekend.”
Hart was the top producer for Oregon last weekend, going 4-for-11 with a double, a triple, a home run and five RBI’s against the Gaels. The power was unexpected for someone who is considered more of a base-stealer, and although it’s welcome, Horton believes it’s playing small ball that will get the team the wins.
“Hopefully we are a little bit more adept at executing what we want to do and playing small ball and things like that,” he said. “That was missing from our offense last weekend at it might have cost us a victory or two. But it surprised me that we forgot some routines and signs. That was stuff I thought we had, and maybe that was the nerves and adrenaline there.”
And against Fresno State, it will be about limiting the damage they do from the plate. Through their first four games the Bulldogs have scored 23 runs, and junior third baseman Tom Mendonca was named the 2009 WAC Preseason Player of the Year.
“Fresno State has a little bit different style,” Horton said. “They’re really good at breaking down pitchers, and they’re good on the offensive end. Coach Mike Batesole really coaches them up. That will be our challenge to stop their big boppers from hitting it over the fence.”
Hart thinks it’s more about becoming a team, and sticking together.
“We need to believe in each other,” he said. “We did a really good job about that this past weekend and we played hard. I thought we might have been able to get the three wins, but it just didn’t work out. Hopefully this weekend we can come out and play some ball.”
The starting lineup for Oregon will be largely the same as it was in the first game last Friday. Senior outfielder Caleb Tommasini will lead off, followed by junior outfielder Curtis Raulinaitis and freshman infielder KC Serna. The only big change might come from moving junior catcher/first baseman Eddy Rodriguez into the cleanup spot as the fourth hitter to get him a chance to hit in a few more runs.
Pitching wise, freshman Tyler Anderson will get the start on the mound after getting the win last Friday. In that game Anderson went 5-2/3 innings and gave up three runs on eight hits.
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