Mark Wasikowski rejects narrative on losing streak which ended Oregon’s season

Oregon became the first regional host to be eliminated from the 2025 NCAA Tournament after falling to Cal Poly 10-8 on Saturday. The Mustangs would go on to score five unanswered runs to pull off the upset as the Ducks bats had no answer for them down the stretch.

This comes after Oregon lost to Utah Valley, 6-5, which included a controversial call at home plate. Oregon’s Anson Aronz was ejected from the regional opener for ‘malicious contact‘ against the catcher late in a close game. Instead of being awarded obstruction and the run, the Ducks would go on to lose by one run. It added to a three-game losing streak to end Oregon’s season.

“We got beat in three games in a row (dating back to the Big Ten Tournament). I don’t think it was a catastrophic collapse or something like that,” Oregon coach Mike Wasikowski said after the loss. “We ended up losing three games in a row after we won a conference championship, earned a one-seed and played very well, had a very good year, and we came up short at the end is what happened.

“Why did we lose? Because the teams that played against us in the last three games played better in those last three games than we did.”

The losing streak started in pool play at the Big Ten Tournament. After winning the conference’s regular season championship, they split their two games at the conference tournament. They defeated Michigan State in the opener, but could not beat Nebraska — the tournament’s eventual champion. Unfortunately for the Ducks, this streak would follow them back to Eugene and hold them winless in their own regional.

That’s not to say Oregon didn’t have their opportunities. The Ducks would go on to hit five home runs during the elimination matchup against Cal Poly and even took a three-run lead after scoring seven of their eight runs between the fifth and seventh innings. The Mustangs’ consistency, having scored at least one run in all but two innings, was too much in the end for the Ducks to manage as their season came to an unceremonious end.

“In time, we’ll look at the grand scheme of things and the big picture,” Wasikowski said about the Ducks’ season ending earlier than anticipated. “But I think we’re clearly building a program that we can be really proud of. I think the fans are able to see that now pretty clearly, and their support is tremendous and, you know, fans we really want to continue to earn your respect and your support out there.”