NCAA Tournament destination announced for Oregon baseball
The Oregon Ducks significantly bolstered their postseason resume last week by notching four wins in a five-day span to capture the Pac-12 Tournament title.
Ultimately, their run through Scottsdale may made their path to the College World Series a bit clearer.
On Monday, the 64-team field was announced for the NCAA Tournament.
Mark Wasikowski’s Ducks (37-20) will be the No. 2 seed at the Nashville Regional, where they will be grouped with the host Vanderbilt Commodores (41-18), who ended the regular season as the No. 6 team in the nation. Xavier is the No. 3 seed in the regional and Eastern Illinois is No. 4.
The Ducks will open NCAA Tournament play Friday, June 2 at 10 a.m. PT. The game will air on ESPN+.
Earlier this season, Oregon notched a three-game sweep of the Musketeers in Eugene.
The Nashville Regional is paired with the Stillwater Regional, where No. 11-seeded Oklahoma State will play host. Oral Roberts, Washington, and Dallas Baptist are also in the region.
The winners of the Nashville Regional and Stillwater Regional will play in a best-of-three super regional that will begin on June 9.
The Ducks were ranked as high as No. 15 nationally this season and appeared to be in the mix to host a regional midway through the campaign. But the Ducks’ Friday starter, Jace Stoffal, is dealing with an injury to his non-throwing hand and has not pitched since April 28.
His absence coincided with a 3-7 end to the regular season for Oregon that dropped the Ducks out of the hosting conversation — and out of the national top-25.
However, Wasikowski’s squad rebounded by beating Cal, Stanford, Washington, and Arizona to win the Pac-12 title.
This marks the 10th time the Ducks have reached the NCAA tournament.
Last season, Oregon lost its first two games of the Pac-12 Tournament, resulting in an early trip back to Eugene. From there, they headed to the Louisville Regional, where they were the No. 2 seed. They suffered a loss to No. 3 Michigan in their opening game and then notched a blowout win over Southeast Missouri State.
However, they suffered a season-ending loss to the host Cardinals the next day and finished the season 36-25.
A total of five Pac-12 teams cracked the 64-team tournament field.
Elsewhere in the conference, Stanford will host a regional after winning the Pac-12 regular season title.
Oregon State is headed to the Baton Rogue Regional as the No. 2 seed. Arizona will be the No. 3 seed at the Fayetteville Regional, and Washington will be the No. 3 seed at the Stillwater Regional.
Arizona State and USC were both on the bubble for tournament berths and ultimately did not make the field.
