Texas may have history on its side against Oregon but Ducks measure up on the field in super regional

AUSTIN – All that stands between Texas and yet another trip to the College World Series is an opponent that, well, looks a whole lot like Texas.

This isn’t to say 11th-seeded Oregon is exactly a mirror image of the sixth-seeded Longhorns but head coach Jim Schlossnagle certainly sees a strong resemblance to his Texas team and the Big Ten baseball team that comes here for the Austin Super Regional.

Power arms.

Thunder bats.

Strong defense.

Terrific coaching.

In fact, not that much separates these two teams competing for a berth in the College World Series except history.

And now the Ducks (43-16) are hoping to make history by beating one of the sports’ top eight national seeds and doing so in prime time at 7 p.m. Saturday and 8 p.m. Sunday with a third game Monday if necessary.

History would favor the Longhorns (43-13) as well as home-field advantage, but not much else.

Dylan Volantis, who will start for Texas in Game 1 against Oregon, was briefly recruited by the Ducks. (Aaron E. Martinez/Austin American-Statesman)

Oregon’s been to Omaha once.

Texas goes almost every year.

While that’s a slight exaggeration, it does include a grain of truth because no program has been to the CWS more times than the Longhorns’ 38. They almost make Omaha their summer home away from home but in truth haven’t been back since 2022 and their last of six national championships came in 2005.

Oregon’s never won one, having gone to the mecca of college baseball only once in 1954 when the Ducks lost two straight to Arizona and Massachusetts. The Ducks were picked second in the Big Ten in the coaches’ preseason poll behind UCLA, but the No. 1 seeded Bruins were stunned by Saint Mary’s in a regional and eliminated, leaving just two Big Ten teams in the field in UO and Southern Cal on the, uh, far western edge of that league.

Seven SEC teams remain in the running for spots in Omaha, and four are pitted against one another.

Ducks coach Mark Wasikowski called Texas “a storied program with a lot of rich history,” but he knows he also has a strong team that has just as much momentum. Just as the Longhorns did, the Ducks swept three straight games in the Eugene Regional and gave up a paltry four runs in total. The equally stingy Horns pitching surrendered seven.

Don’t look for the Ducks, who have nver played Texas, to be intimidated in any way. Oregon doesn’t do fear.

The Ducks were eliminated by Schlossnagle’s Aggies two years ago in the College Station super regional but that experience, plus games in a tournament hosted by Nebraska, have better prepared them for the hostile crowds they’ll see at Disch-Falk Field.

“Texas crowds are awesome. We know how good baseball is down here in Texas,” Wasikowski said Friday after a workout at Disch-Falk under dark skies. “And we know how good of a job Jim does. It’s a stout-looking group.”

Takes one to know one.

For instance, Oregon sophomore right-handed pitcher Will Sanford was named the MVP for the Eugene Regional after striking out a career-best 14 Washington State batters and giving up one hit in 6⅓ innings.

And he’s not even presumed to be the Ducks starter in Saturday’s opener. Cal Scolari figures to get that honor. The 6-4, 220-pound sophomore right-hander is part of a staff whose starters allowed one run in 16⅔ innings of the regional.

While bragging on Oregon pitching, Schlossnagle didn’t want to oversell the Ducks staff.

“They’re really good. We have tremendous respect for their pitching staff, but at the same time, we also play in the best league in the country,” he said. “And no disrespect to Oregon, but we’re going to see really good pitching this weekend, but I don’t think it’s going to be significantly better than any pitcher we’ve seen this year.”

Of course, Texas’ Dylan Volantis isn’t exactly chopped liver. The sophomore lefty is a finalist for national Pitcher of the Year, having struck out 116 and walked only 23 in 83⅓ innings while posting a 1.94 ERA and holding opposing batters a meek .181 average. The Ducks recruited the 6-6 sophomore out of Thousand Oaks, Calif., but were politely told no after visiting a UO camp.

“I think he said no to us pretty quickly,” Wasikowski said. “We would have loved to have gotten in the mix with a kid as good as him. I mean, he’s got size, he’s got angle to his fastball, he throws a curveball, cutter and a change. It’s hard to beat him. Very few people have been able to get to him. His breaking ball is an above-average pitch on a major-league scale. His breaking ball is maybe the best in the country.”

Schlossnagle raves about the Ducks’ bullpen to support a staff that ranks second in the nation with nine shutouts.

These two clubs are also similar in that they bring a lot of power to the plate with eerily similar big guys in the order. The Ducks have eight players with eight or more home runs this season, led by third baseman Drew Smith and his 15. Their 104 homers are just 11 shy of the school record of 115 that left the park last season.

Texas’ lineup sports just four starters with 11 or more home runs, but Aiden Robbins, Carson Tinney and Anthony Pack Jr. are the top are as solid a trio as there is in college baseball with 55 homers and 170 RBI of production.

“They’re a pretty physical team,” Scolari said. “They have a lot of guys with 20-plus homers, so you don’t stumble upon that all the time on the West Coast.”

Pack, too, drew interest from Wasikowski, who loves the game of the SEC Freshman of the Year from Lakewood, Calif. Oregon traditionally recruits from its natural footprint on the West Coast, but failed to land one of the best Longhorn rookies the school has ever had.

“He’s obviously a tremendously skilled player,” Wasikowski said. “He’s going to be one heck of a major leaguer if Lord willing he stays healthy because he’s just that kind of a player. He’s gifted. We wanted him bad.”

Asked why he didn’t choose Oregon, Pack said. “I committed to Texas.”

Schlossnagle has been extremely complimentary of both Wasikowski and his UO program, which was disbanded for 27 years until being reinstated for the 2009 season.

Wasikowski has steadily built Oregon into a big-time contender, having reached the super regional round three of the last four years.

He won a national championship as a player in 1992 as a third baseman at Pepperdine and both played for and coached under the respected Andy Lopez at Florida and Arizona before getting his first head coaching job at Purdue and being hired at Oregon. In his six full seasons in Eugene, discounting the COVID-abbreviated season, the Ducks have averaged 40 wins a year.

“It looks like an SEC team, but they’ll play whatever brand of baseball they need to play to win the game,” Schlossnagle said. “Just when you think you can be focused on their short game, then the guy can hit the ball out of the ballpark, which is the exact same kind of baseball we try to play. That’s what the best teams look like.”

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This article originally published at Texas may have history on its side against Oregon but Ducks measure up on the field in super regional.

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