The Oregon Ducks came into the weekend as the 13th ranked team in D1Baseball's Top 25 rankings as the postseason is quickly approaching. The task at hand for the Ducks was the toughest challenge possible as Oregon was tasked with heading to Jackie Robinson Stadium to face the Nation's top ranked team, the UCLA Bruins. Not only had the Bruins won every series this season, but they hadn't lost a game in Big Ten play.
Friday Night looked like Oregon may be the latest victim of the Bruins dominance as UCLA mercy ruled the Ducks in 7 innings. Saturday Night, the Ducks struck back, winning a thrilling back and forth game to force a rubber match on Sunday.
In the beginning of the rubber match, Oregon looked to be in total control heading into the 6th inning with a 6-1 lead. From there, Oregon slowly watched the lead slip away as UCLA pushed 2 runs across in the 6th, scored another run in the 7th, and a grand slam by Dean West in the 8th inning flipped the score giving the Bruins a 9-6 lead which was enough to win the game.
Oregon missed a perfect chance to lock in hosting a regional
Dropping the series stings for Oregon, especially with how close the Ducks looked to be in the final game of the weekend. Losing 2 of 3 games to UCLA won't push the Ducks down the rankings too much, but it'll also limit how much the team climbs in the rankings on Monday.
Coming into the weekend, some thought that Oregon was a regional host while others had the Ducks right on the outside of the top 16. Winning the series would've almost guaranteed the Ducks the chance to host a regional, but now there's still some work to be done.
The final weekend of the year will be another great opportunity for the Ducks as they face another Top 25 team, the USC Trojans. The goal has to be taking one last series, especially with how volatile teams can be in conference tournaments.
When the rankings are unveiled on Monday Morning, it'll be a great show of how teams view Oregon being the first team to beat UCLA in league play, but winning 2 of 3 games would've made the reveal far more exciting.
This weekend still brought a ton to be excited about with how the Ducks played, even while dropping the series. The Ducks challenged UCLA like no other team has, and the team should carry some confidence from the way they performed moving forward.
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