Where Oregon baseball stands in latest NCAA tournament projections
After a disastrous start to the month of May, Oregon’s hopes of hosting a regional in Eugene are dead in buried.
But according to the latest NCAA tournament projections, the Ducks are still in good shape to enter the postseason as one of the top 32 teams in the nation.
Both D1Baseball and Baseball America projected that Oregon will travel to Gainsville, Fla., where it would be the No. 2 seed.
D1Baseball lists the Ducks as the No. 2 seed and has them matched up with No. 1-seeded Florida, No. 3 Troy, and No. 4 Alabama State.
Baseball America, meanwhile, has Oregon matched up with the No. 1 Gators, No. 3 Florida Gulf Coast, and No. 4 Maine.
Oregon, which was consistently ranked as one of the top 20 teams in the nation during the first two months of the season, has gone 1-6 during the month of May and has lost four consecutive games. Last weekend, the Ducks suffered a three-game sweep to Washington in Eugene.
“Well, you go back to practice is what you do. I mean, you got beat by a better club this weekend, and that’s just what it was,” Oregon coach Mark Wasikowski said following Sunday’s loss to UW. “They executed pitches better, and their two-strike hitting was better. It’s just we got outplayed by a team that was just better than us this week, and that’s the way it goes. Coach Kelly’s team coming into the weekend was the hottest team in the league, and they showed it. They’re really good.
“So, what do we do? I mean, we get back to basics and we invest in the things that are just good fundamentals, we work on them, and we try to improve the deficiencies that we saw and get back on it for next week.”
Over the past two weekends, Oregon has been without Friday night starter Jace Stoffal, who is dealing with an undisclosed injury.
D1Baseball predicts that two Pac-12 programs will host regionals: Stanford and Oregon State. Baseball American lists Stanford as the lone regional host.
Both outlets have six Pac-12 teams listed among their 64 team fields, with Stanford, Oregon State, Washington, USC, Arizona State, and Oregon all making the cut.
Baseball American lists USC as one of the “last four in” while UCLA is also on the tournament bubble.
Oregon (31-19, 14-13 Pac-12) will kick off a three-game set with the Utes Thursday at 5:30 p.m. PT. They will then play at 10 a.m. Friday and 10 a.m. Saturday to close out the regular season.
The Ducks will kick off play at the Pac-12 tournament in Scottsdale, Ariz., on May 23.
