Oregon Baseball Super Regional Preview

This weekend, the Oregon Ducks baseball find themselves in a place that they have dreamed of all season - on the cusp of playing in the College World Series. The reality is that at the outset of the postseason, entering the Pac-12 tournament, the dream appeared to be just that: a dream. It had no basis in reality, and even the most stalwart fan could be excused for merely shrugging their shoulders in watching to see how far this team would get before that inevitable conclusion of the 2023 season.

The Ducks now find themselves hosting a Super Regional against a Cinderella squad, Oral Roberts. So who are the Oral Roberts Golden Eagles and what are we to expect from them?

The Golden Eagles hail from the Summit League, and were top-seeded in the Summit League tournament, having gone 23-1 in conference play. They won the championship by defeating the 3-seeded South Dakota State Jackrabbits. Coming out of the Stillwater Regional, ORU sits atop a 21-game win streak - the longest current streak in the country.

That ORU swept the Stillwater Regional as a 4-seed should not be surprising. They are the only team in the NCAA since 1999 to have defeated a 1-seed as the 4-seed three times (1978, 2006, 2023).

The defeat of Oklahoma State was the Cowboys’ third of the season at the hands of the Golden Eagles. ORU prevailed in both of their contests against OK State during the regular season. After defeating Washington in a slugfest, 15-12, ORU picked up revenge against Dallas Baptist, who was the only team that swept the Golden Eagles this season.

Coach Ryan Folmar is in his 11th season as head coach of the Golden Eagles. Prior to becoming head coach, Folmar was on the coaching staff at ORU for nine seasons. As head coach, he has been selected Summit League Coach of the Year five times. He came to the Golden Eagles after spending the 1999-2003 seasons as Director of Baseball Operations at Oklahoma State, which was his alma mater between 1994-1997.

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The starting pitchers for ORU are Jakob Hall, Harley Gollert and Brooks Fowler. They are likely to start in that order should the Super Regional go to three games. Starting pitching is the calling card of the Golden Eagles. Between the three, they sport an average 3.45 ERA during the season.

When the starting pitchers have faltered, especially in tournament season, the bullpen has performed much like the Ducks in rising to the occasion and holding on to leads when the bats prevail. This led to ORU’s closer, Cade Denton, ending all three of the Stillwater contests with saves, bringing his total to 15 on the season. Denton was the Stillwater Regional Most Outstanding Player as a result.

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Oral Roberts has the bats to back up their pitching. Eight of the nine players in their starting lineup during the regionals have a seasonal batting average over .300, with a cumulative average of .329. They’re led by Jonah Cox’s .424 average in 250 at-bats. He’s a dangerous hitter and nationally ranks second in hits (106), third in triples (8), fourth in hits per game (1.8) and fifth in batting average (.424).

The team can go yard, with 93 home runs on the year thus far. In their contest with Washington last weekend, ORU scored 15 run off 24 hits, and have shown all season that they are capable of hitting on anyone.

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Oral Roberts has excellent defense to back up their pitchers, and their stats are comparable to the Ducks. ORU has a fielding percentage of .984 on the year with 46 double plays. Oregon, by comparison, fields at .975 with 44 double plays. The Golden Eagles do not make many mistakes that result in scored errors, having only accrued 34 errors on the season (the Ducks have 54 scored errors).

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Oregon first swept the Pac-12 tournament, assuring themselves of a spot in the NCAA tournament, then swept the Nashville Regional against #6 Vanderbilt and Xavier.

The Ducks are now hosting a Super Regional because original Super Regional host Oklahoma State was defeated by 4-seed Oral Roberts, then went down in the elimination bracket to Dallas Baptist. Oral Roberts defeated the Washington Huskies to advance to the final, and Dallas Baptist eliminated the Washington Huskies before being eliminated by Oral Roberts. Confused? Probably not as confused as the Cowboys and Huskies.

Prevail against Oral Roberts, and Oregon will have a spot in Omaha, in the College World Series.

This weekend’s matchup should be a treat, featuring two teams that both have a hot tournament hand and the win streaks to back it up.

The Ducks host their first Super Regional since 2012. Here is head coach Mark Wasikowski’s comments ahead of tonight’s contest:

Oral Roberts takes the mound to start the game tonight at 5:05 pm PT. The game will be telecast on ESPNU.