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Oregon Brings Back Baseball

(With the end of the year fast approaching, we’re counting down some of the top moments from the 2009 college baseball season (in no particular order).  We’ll have one a day through New Year’s Eve.)

After 28 years without a baseball team, Oregon played its first college baseball game on February 20, 2009.   With

Oregon Head Coach George Horton

former Cal State Fullerton national championship head coach, George Horton, at the helm, but Ducks beat St. Mary’s 5-3 in Morago, CA.  (The Gaels would win the next two games of the series. A scheduled fourth game was canceled by weather.)

Senior Caleb Tommasni got Oregon’s first hit, while freshman left-hander Tyler Anderson pitched 5 2/3 innings in his first career start for the Duck’s first win since 1981.

The following week Oregon won its first home game at the new PK Park with a 1-0 win over defending National Champion Fresno State.  The Ducks won the game in dramatic fashion with a walk-off single by Andrew Schmidt-a redhirt sixth year senior graduate student who had attended Tallahassee Community College and Pensacola Junior College prior to his arrival in Eugene.  (Schmidt was granted a sixth year by the NCAA after suffering two previous season-ending injuries.)  Oregon won the next day as well, but the Bulldogs salvaged a win in the series finale.

With a high-profile head coach and the backing of Nike (the baseball team’s uniform combinations are rivaled only by that of the Duck football team), Oregon baseball was going to make a run at Oregon State and the national stage, right?

(goducks.com photo)

Well…not exactly.  The Ducks would win just 11 more games the rest of the season, including their last 13 of 2009, to finish at 14-42 overall and 4-23 in the Pac-10.  (They were 1-5 vs. Oregon State.)

Still, at a time when college budgets are tight and programs are being cut (two were announced during 2009) the return of baseball to a Pac-10 school like Oregon helps breath new life into the sport…especially with a man like Horton at the helm.

Horton and his Ducks open their 2010 campaign on February 19 at Cal State Fullerton, where Horton led the Titans to six College World Series appearances and the 2004 National Title.   Their 2010 home opener is on March 2 vs. Washington at the all new PK Park.

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EUGENE, Ore. – With its first-class ballpark less than four months away from completion, Oregon baseball unveiled its schedule and launched season ticket sales for the 2010 season today.

Oregon Head Coach George Horton

Complete 2010 Oregon Schedule

Oregon will begin the year with back-to-back weekends on the road.

The Ducks will open the season on Feb. 19, at Cal State Fullerton, the 17-year former home of current Oregon head coach George Horton.

The Ducks will play three more games that weekend while in Southern California, heading to Long Beach State, Pepperdine and Loyola Marymount.

Oregon will then cross the Pacific Ocean for a four-game slate with Hawai’i, before heading back to Eugene for opening day at PK Park.

The Ducks and their 24th ranked 2009 recruiting class will make their PK Park debut on Tuesday, March 2, hosting Washington in a non-conference tilt.

Other exciting non-conference homestands include Seattle (March 12-15) and Nevada (March 19-21).

Oregon opens the conference schedule on the road at Arizona on Friday, March 26, and then returns home to host a three-game stand against the defending Pac-10 champion Arizona State Sun Devils on Thursday, April 1. It will mark ASU’s first-ever appearance in Eugene.

Similar to the start of the season, Oregon has an eight-game road trip in the middle of the season with trips to Stanford (April 9-11), UCLA (April 16-18) and Gonzaga (April 20-21).

The Ducks then return home to host a three-game tilt with USC, as the Trojans return to Eugene for the first time since a 6-2 victory on May 20, 1971.

Oregon’s next Pac-10 series is against Washington State (April 30-May 2), a squad that placed second in the conference standings last season, and received an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament.

The Civil War series with Oregon State will be played at Goss Stadium at Coleman Field from May 7-9. The instate rivals will also play two non-conference games during the year, April 27 at PK Park and May 26 at PGE Park in Portland. Last year, the Ducks and Beavers played back-to-back contests in Portland, bringing a combined 29, 249 fans through the gates of PGE Park.

After the Oregon State series, Oregon will take a break from the Pac-10 schedule and host East Tennessee State from May 14-16.

The Ducks then hit the road and play a three-game conference series at Washington (May 21-23), before closing the season at PK Park vs. California (May 28-30).

Oregon will also host several single-game contests during the year; Southern Utah on March 23, Oregon State on April 27, Portland on May 4, and San Diego on May 11.

(Release)