The Duck Report: Mullens sinks Oregon

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It’s not often that we begin our weekly Duck Report with a focus on an Oregon loss, but the baseball team’s defeat on Sunday had a little bit more to it than just a dropped series to Michigan.

See, it was Cooper Mullens who did it.

The son of Oregon athletic director Rob Mullens, Cooper had a two-out, two-RBI walk-off single in the bottom of the ninth inning that won it for the Wolverines.

“What a storybook for Coop, the whole family connection to Oregon and him being the guy,” Michigan coach Tracy Smith told reporters. “We all knew the result of that at-bat before it ever happened. It was too storybook-ish, that was destiny.”

It was quite the moment for Mullens. He had started just two games this year before getting the nod at DH for the entire series against the Ducks in the leadoff spot.

“It’s nothing different than every other at-bat, the moment’s only as big as you make it,” Mullens said. “I’m trying to stay with my process that I’ve done thousands of times, and I’m not changing anything because the environment’s bigger … I think (my dad) will be happy about that one.”

He picked up four hits in the series — including a pair of doubles — and went right back to work two days later with a 2-for-4 afternoon against Eastern Michigan.

And the Ducks went right back to their current funk — the No. 21 Ducks lost 13-9 at Portland on Wednesday marking the fourth loss in the last five games for UO against the Pilots.

All part of the cycle

The Oregon softball team is not having the same struggles as the baseball team.

The Ducks finished off another series win over the weekend, this time knocking off Iowa in a three-game sweep to improve to 30-9 overall and 11-2 in Big Ten. The highlight came in Game 2, when senior right fielder Elon Butler went 6-for-6 and recorded the first cycle in Oregon program history.

The Cal transfer is leading the Ducks batting (.437), doubles (16), home runs (12) and RBIs (48).

“I think Elon’s been an excellent offensive leader for this group,” Oregon coach Melyssa Lombardi said. “We come off defense and she’s giving them the plan and they’re getting after it.”

Mean in green

Oregon running backs coach Ra’Shaad Samples.

In Jordon Davison and Dierre Hill Jr., the Oregon Ducks have one of the best one-two running back tandems in the Big Ten.

Still, despite combining for 1,323 yards and 20 touchdowns in 2025 and drawing comparisons to some of the better duos in Oregon history, Oregon running backs coach Ra’shaad Samples is hard on the group.

“Coach Samples can be very mean at times,” Hill said.

The coach said he gets that from his father.

“It just comes from the background I was raised in. It’s natural for me,” Samples said. “I don’t go home and not sleep at night because I think Jordon or Dierre…is going to be mad at me. I don’t care.”

Duck of the week: Simeon Birnbaum

Simeon Birnbaum of Oregon qualifies for the finals in the men’s 1500-meter run with a time of 3:41.77 at the 2025 NCAA Track and Field Championships at Hayward Field on June 11, 2025. Credit: Craig Strobeck / Lookout Eugene-Springfield

The Ducks are racing outdoors, and Simeon Birnbaum is flying. The Oregon sophomore kicked off the outdoor season over the weekend by winning the invitational section of the 5,000 meters at the Stanford Invitational.

Birnbaum’s time of 13:19.73 is the NCAA’s top time so far this season and took more than 12 seconds off his previous best time.

He was named the Big Ten’s co-track athlete of the week for his run.

Watch the traffic report

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Went golfing over the weekend to try to get away from it a bit. Yet I just can’t shake these darn Ducks.

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QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“I ask them a question like this all the time: ‘Hey, do you like chocolate ice cream or vanilla ice cream?’ And the minute the kid pauses, I don’t really want that kid.”
— Oregon quarterbacks coach Koa Ka’ai