Mark Wasikowski considers next step to build Oregon baseball program

The Oregon Ducks season has come to an end. Now, head coach Mark Wasikowski is looking ahead at how he can continue to build up the Oregon baseball program.

Immediately following the Ducks’ NCAA Regional elimination, Wasikowski met with media members. There, he emphasized that the next step for Oregon is continuing to build the culture and the program as a whole to eventually get over the proverbial hump.

“Well, continuing to build a culture,” Mark Wasikowski said. “Continue to build a program. It’s a program that we’re trying to build. It’s not just a player. We pride ourselves on not being a transactional group. We invest in these young people with all of our hearts, we love them.”

Oregon dropped their first two games in the Eugene Regional. That included against Cal Poly on Saturday to get eliminated and end their season. Still, from that, Mark Wasikowski pointed to players like Jeffery Heard both as who he wants the program to represent and who he feels the worst for amid the loss.

“To see Jeffery Heard today,” Wasikowski said. “When he gets an opportunity to play for Anson Aroz, who doesn’t get a chance to finish possibly his last season of college baseball by being somebody that the NCAA would be extremely proud of. A young man who has a college degree was a near 4.0 student. He was our SAAC, which is Student Athlete Advisory Committee representative, to the president and athletic director. He served on multiple boards at the University of Oregon and was a spokesman for the program and truly a tremendous young man. For him to not get the opportunity to be able to be on the field today is probably the thing that hurts me personally, right now, at the moment.”

Jeffery Heard was a key offensive player for Oregon. He went 3-5 at the plate with two RBIs. He’d also score two runs. Still, that wasn’t enough to overcome Cal Poly and now Oregon turns to the future.

“Without getting into the grand scheme of things, I just hurt for that young man because of his investment in college sports, in the great University of Oregon that it is, and the people. For us not to be able to have him on that baseball field today, maybe it’s the reason why he chooses to come back,” Wasikowski said. “But if he doesn’t choose to come back, I hope it’s not for the heartburn of the experience that he just had.” 

When Mark Wasikowski took over at Oregon, the Ducks were coming off a 27-29 season. At that time, the Ducks hadn’t been to the NCAA Tournament since 2015. They had also not won a conference regular season since 1957 and had never won a conference tournament. Since Wasikowski has taken over, the Ducks have made the NCAA Tournament five times and made the Super Regional twice. They’ve also won a conference tournament and won the Big Ten regular season in 2025.

Now, Oregon looks to take the next step as a program. That would mean making it to the College World Series for the first time since 1954.