Oregon set for pivotal showdown with Washington in final regular-season home series

The Oregon baseball program will have plenty on the line this weekend when it plays its final home series of the regular season.

The No. 24 Ducks (31-16, 14-10 Pac-12) will host Washington (29-14, 13-10) for a three-game set at PK Park in Eugene. Friday’s opener is set for a 7 p.m. PT first pitch.

After a rocky series at USC last weekend during which it dropped two of three games, Oregon will look to bounce back against the Huskies and keep its hopes of hosting a regional alive.

“It’s a high-octane offense, but I’ve just been impressed with their pitching,” Oregon coach Mark Wasikowski said of Washington. “They’ve got at least three guys as starters and three guys in their bullpen mix who have thrown the ball really, really well. They’ve been consistent and they’re playing as well as anybody in the league right now. The (pitchers) who they’re gonna start, two of them are going to get big-time scouting interest on Friday and Saturday night.

“It’s a great test for us. They’re a program on the rise and they’ve done a nice job.”

Washington Friday night starter Kiefer Lord is 5-3 with a 3.63 ERA on the year and has struck out 67 batters in 62 innings. He has surrendered two runs or fewer while pitching at least 5 2/3 innings over his past three starts.

The Ducks will look to hand him his first loss in nearly a month.

But they will be without their own ace, Jace Stoffal, on Friday.

Earlier this week, Wasikowski said Stoffal was “day-to-day” with a none pitching arm-related injury. The junior right-hander missed last weekend’s start at USC.

On Thursday, the Ducks announced Logan Mercado as their Friday night starter, with Jackson Pace slated to start on Saturday and Matthew Grabmann penciled in as the Sunday starter.

Mercado produced a couple of stellar outings against the Pac-12’s two top teams, Stanford and Oregon State, in early April. But he has struggled of late ad surrendered four runs in each of his last two outings.

“We thought that USC’s team did the best job of the year on just making adjustments,” Wasikowski said when asked how he thought Mercado performed against the Trojans last Saturday. “I think (Mercado) is a competitor. I think he’s a really good pitcher; we’re blessed to have him.”

Last weekend, USC posted crooked numbers on the scoreboard in the second inning of each of its two wins over the Ducks.

Those within the Oregon program are looking for more urgency from the get-go against the Huskies.

“I think the big thing is we just need to get back to where we were,” Oregon senior second baseman Gavin Grant said. “I think we got away from our mentality a little bit. I’ll take ownership of that. The leadership side wasn’t there. … We’re gonna get back to making sure everybody is in the right head space.”

As recently as a week ago, D1 Baseball projected Oregon as one of the 16 regional hosts. But after a rocky 1-3 showing from the Ducks last week, that is no longer the case.

The publication lists Oregon as the No. 2 seed in the Coral Gables region in its latest field of 64 projection.

The Ducks will have an opportunity to bolster their resume against a Washington squad that currently sits at No. 46 in the RPI.

Sunday will mark senior day for the veteran-heavy Ducks. Although the program features six players who are seniors in terms of academic eligibility, only a handful of them will be honored at PK Park.

Tanner Smith, Drew Cowley, and Gavin Grant were all honored last season before ultimately opting to return for the 2023 season.

This weekend, Matt Dallas, Josh Mollerus, Towns King, and Tyler Ganus will all be honored for senior day. Although Ganus is a junior in terms of eligibility, he completed his undergraduate degree early.

“Each season they’ve played here, they’ve been in postseason play,” Wasikowski said of Oregon’s seniors. “They’re gonna be able to walk out to that ballpark, whether they’re married or not down the road, and look at those banners and look at the years of the teams that they played on and know that they were in postseason play each and every year. … It’s a great class. I love these guys. They’re a lot of fun to be around, and we’re just looking to finish strong.”