The Duck Report: Play ball

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I’ve been in this business far too long to make the mistake I made earlier this week.

It happened after Mark Wasikowski’s Wednesday press conference, when the Oregon baseball coach took a moment to ask the media a question:

“How are you guys all doing?”

I was great. How could I not be?

“The sun is shining,” I said.

Wasikowski’s mouth dropped. A hush fell over the room. I swear somewhere in the distance you could hear a woman scream.

In that moment, I knew immediately.

See, Wasikowski doesn’t strike me as the superstitious type. He’s 54 years old, in his seventh year as Oregon’s head coach and seems like a guy who uses only one guard setting on his hair clippers.

But for as blue-collar and salt-of-the-earth as Wasikowski comes across, he is still, inherently, a baseball guy. And baseball guys don’t talk about a few things.

You don’t talk about a no-hitter in progress. You don’t talk about a game moving quickly. And here in Oregon, you definitely don’t start blessing the weather two days before Opening Day in February.

So if Friday’s forecast for temperatures in the mid-40s and light rain turns into darker, heavier stuff — blame me. I’ll wear it.

It’s early in the season. I’ll shake off the rust.

But know this: I’ll be better.

Just got to take these things one game at a time.

Bringing the heat

Oregon’s Friday ace is a familiar face.

On Wednesday, Oregon baseball coach Mark Wasikowski named sophomore right-hander Will Sanford as his Game 1 starter for this weekend’s series against George Mason.

Last year, Sanford became just the 11th Oregon true freshman to start the season in the rotation — but he didn’t end up there, as the live-armed Californian walked 41 batters in 38 innings.

But after a summer developing a new mentality — and even more belief in his fastball — Sanford was lights out in ensuing fall and winter workouts with the Ducks.

“We’re not just going to pitch him on Game 1 because we had a contract demand with him or something like that,” Wasikowski said. “That’s not the case. He’s earned it — and so my expectation is for him to just go out there and pitch the way we’ve seen him in fall scrimmages and spring scrimmages, which has been really elite.”

Portal Madness

Dan Lanning and the Oregon Ducks celebrate a 23-0 victory over the Texas Tech Red Raiders in the Orange Bowl at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, January 1, 2026. Credit: Isaac Wasserman / Lookout Eugene-Springfield / Catchlight / RFA

It’s true: The Oregon Ducks football team isn’t as reliant on the transfer portal as it was in coach Dan Lanning’s early years.

Four seasons of elite recruiting have balanced the scales, meaning it’s nearly as likely for a recruited-and-developed Oregon talent to make a crucial play as it is someone arriving as a mercenary.

That said, here’s a list of players we wrote about — a lot — in 2025:

Bear Alexander
Dillon Thieneman
Malik Benson
James Ferguson-Reynolds
Isaiah World
Jamari Johnson
Oh, and that Dante Moore guy

All were portal additions from the last two years. And each played a role in Oregon’s run to the Peach Bowl in 2025.

If the Ducks go even further in 2026, there will be some new names in the mix.

With Oregon’s portal movement all but complete for the 2026 offseason cycle, we wrote about players you need to know, the ones the Ducks lost and some trends we’ve found.

They’re not bluffing

Portland’s Joe Etzel Field is spectacular — and it’ll cost you a bit more in 2026. Credit: Tyson Alger

Oregon’s annual baseball game on The Bluff at the University of Portland has long been a sleeping jewel of the collegiate sports calendar.

But there’s nothing underrated about this game anymore — not with these ticket prices.

Portland, which charges $11 for tickets to every other game throughout the season, announced its pricing for home games against Oregon and Oregon State on Monday, Feb. 9.

Tickets for Oregon’s April 8 game against the Pilots begin at $35. Climbing even higher, the Pilots are charging $50-plus for their March 17 home game against Oregon State.

“The increased prices are based on the demand for tickets,” said Josh Craggs, Portland’s assistant athletic director for ticket sales.

We dug into the numbers — and Craggs may have a point.

Duck of the Week: Lyndsey Grein

While the baseball team is just getting going on the diamond, Oregon softball kicked things off last week down in Florida.

And what a way to get things going: Senior ace Lyndsey Grein became the first Duck in history to open the season with a no-hitter, shutting out Missouri 3-0 while striking out 14 in the process.

It was the 19th no-hitter in program history.