Oregon Ducks Baseball Shifting Rotation Against USC, Krook Opens Series

The Oregon Ducks can get to the .500 mark in the Pac-12 Conference with a win on Friday against USC and Head Coach George Horton is shuffling his rotation this weekend.

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There are plenty of games left this season, but the game on Friday night could be a good starting point for the near future. Oregon has back to back wins, but Horton would not go as far as saying it is a winning streak last Sunday following the game against California, where the Ducks took two games of the three game series. Following a midweek game against Portland, that will be completed on May 17th – the game was halted in the ninth inning due to rain, the Ducks return home to PK Park facing the USC Trojans who come in at 15-16 on the season and 5-4 in the Pac-12 Conference. Oregon will look to build on their 14-12 record.

USC comes in having not won a series against Oregon at PK Park since baseball was reinstated. One are where the Ducks may run into trouble is if there in a one run game. The Trojans have seen 16 one-run games this year and the team has won 8 of them. Timmy Robinson and David Oppenheim are two players to keep an eye on for the USC Trojans this weekend.

USC Trojans Snapshot
15-16 Overall (5-7, Pac-12 – 4-7 Away)
Won 3 of their Last 5, Lost 2 In a Row
USC Team Average: .294//Oregon Team Average .217

Robinson may be hitting just .254 but what a difference one week can make. Last month against UC Santa Barbara he batted .462 with three home runs and 5 RBI’s. He also went 2 for 3 in the final game of the series and earned Pac-12 Player of the Week honors for his effort.

Oppenheim is leading the team hitting .381 with 4o hits and 4 stolen bases this season. He also has 19 walks on the year. He has hit safely in 24 of 28 games this season and has 7 multi-hit games in the same span. The Trojans have two very dangerous hitters in their lineup and both will likely not appear near each other. Oppenheim is the leadoff hitter. Robinson should appear near the middle of the lineup.

For the Oregon Ducks A.J. Balta has had the hot bat of late and helped to score a run with a triple against Portland this week. Austin Grebeck hit .455 for the series against Cal with a home run to set the tone in the Saturday win. Matt Krook will start on Friday for Oregon. Last week he held the Cal Bears to a .095 batting average.

The three game series with USC begins on Friday(6pm), continues Saturday(2pm) and wraps up on Sunday(12pm). The Ducks will also play a non-conference game with Oregon State on Monday(6pm) to close out the homestand.

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