The Ducks took down their rival, Oregon State, in Corvallis for a midweek win before taking care of business at PK Park over the weekend, sweeping Penn State. A 4-0 week came at the right time for the Big Ten hopefuls as they vie for a hosting bid in a regional. They'll need to finish strong against a tough schedule to earn their spot, but the Ducks helped themselves with a Quad 1 win and jumped up the rankings.
The USA TODAY Sports coaches poll saw the Ducks make the biggest jump of any team this week, moving up seven spots to No. 14, tied with the Oklahoma Sooners. Ahead of them, UCLA remained at No. 1, despite dropping a game to Sacramento State, and Oregon State also remained at No. 6, despite falling to the Ducks. With a 32-11 record, the Ducks are well-positioned to boost their standing even more with a big finish against UCLA and USC, which jumped up six spots to No. 17.
Oregon made a considerable jump in the D1Baseball rankings as well, which are commonly used by teams as the official rankings. The Ducks made the biggest jump in this poll as well, leaping six spots up to No. 13. The Beavers remained at No. 6 after rebounding from the midweek loss to sweep Hawaii over the weekend.
Penn State was an inferior opponent to the Ducks, boasting just 12 wins on the year, but they fought hard against the Ducks all weekend. Oregon won 5-4 on Friday and Saturday, which included a walk-off walk by Jack Brooks in extra innings to clinch the series, before tossing a shutout in a 5-0 win on Sunday to finish the sweep.
The Ducks had strong starting performances on the mound from Will Sanford, Collin Clarke and Miles Gosztola in the series, but it was the bullpen that helped the Ducks fight out of early deficits in the first two games and lock down the shutout in the finale. Oregon's bullpen combined to throw 10 innings in the series, allowing only two runs on five hits while issuing just one walk and notching 18 strikeouts.
The path ahead will only get more challenging, as Oregon hosts a feisty Gonzaga team at PK Park on Tuesday afternoon before heading north to Seattle for a weekend set against the rival Washington Huskies.
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This article originally appeared on Ducks Wire: Oregon baseball jumps into top 15 of rankings after weekend sweep