Arizona is back in the NCAA Baseball Tournament, and while it didn’t get to host it will be playing in a familiar place.
The Wildcats have been sent to the Eugene Regional, hosted by No. 12 seed. The UA has a 29-27-1 record against the Ducks dating back to 1954, with most of those matchups coming in Pac-10/12 play. Under Chip Hale the Wildcats are 2-9 against Oregon, including 1-5 at PK Park in Eugene.
Arizona is 2-0 against Cal Poly, its opening opponent, though both games were in 1969, and it is 19-3 against Utah Valley with the last meeting in 2018.
Here’s a look at the teams the Wildcats will be battling in Eugene this weekend:
No. 1 seed Oregon Ducks
- Record: 42-14, 22-8 Big Ten (co-champions; went 1-1 in conference tournament)
- RPI: 16
- Record vs. NCAA tourney teams: 18-3
Overview
The Ducks made the most of their move to the Big Ten, sharing the regular season title with fellow Pac-12 departee UCLA and earning the program’s fourth regional host. Oregon is in the postseason for the 5th year in a row, like Arizona, and reached the Super Regionals in 2023 and 2024 but hasn’t been to Omaha since 1954.
Coach Mark Wasikowski is in his 6th season at Oregon and recently passed 200 wins at the school, earning Big Ten Coach of the Year honors. He is a former UA assistant under Andy Lopez from 2003-11.
Oregon is 28-8 this season at PK Park, taking two of three from UCLA and sweeping rival Oregon State during a 10-day span in April that catapulted it from a bubble team to one getting to stay home for the first weekend. The Ducks are 9th in Division I in home runs, with a school-record 107, and 14th in ERA (3.97).
Players to know
- LHP Grayson Grinsell: A 6-foot-1 junior, Grinsell is 9-3 with a 2.62 ERA in 15 starts. He’s throw 92.2 innings, 2nd-most among pitchers in the NCAA tourney, and has four starts where he’s gone at least five innings without allowing a run. He’s made three appearances against Arizona including a start in 2024 when he allowed one run (a solo homer to Mason White) in 4.2 innings.
- OF Mason Neville: Had Jay Johnson not left Arizona for TCU four years ago, Neville might be in his third year with the Wildcats. He was committed to the UA before backing off that pledge following the coaching change in 2021 and ended up at Arkansas before transferring to Oregon. Now a junior, this season he’s hit 26 homers, which leads Division I.
- 1B Jacob Walsh: The 6-foot-4 senior was a nemesis for Arizona in 2023 when in four games he was 10 for 19 with four homers and nine RBI including the go-ahead homer in the Pac-12 Tournament title game. He’s hitting .336 with 19 homers and 59 RBI and his 59 career homers are 17 more than Neville for most in school history.
No. 3 seed Cal Poly Mustangs
- Record: 41-17, 23-7 Big West (2nd place; won conference tournament title)
- RPI: 29
- Record vs. NCAA tourney teams: 6-9
Overview
The Mustangs are in the NCAA tourney for the 4th time in school history and first since 2014, and had they not beat UC-Irvine twice in the Big West Tournament they might have been left out of the field despite a strong resume. More than half of their wins this season have come on the road or on neutral fields.
Coach Larry Lee is in his 23rd season in San Luis Obispo, tied for the 5th-longest active tenure of any coach in the NCAA field. He’s won 711 games but since the Big West didn’t have a conference tourney until this year his opportunities to make the postseason were limited to winning the regular season title.
Cal Poly is hitting .319, 8th-best in the country, as well as 6th in hits (660) and is in the top 20 in fielding percentage and walks allowed per nine innings.
Players to know
- 1B Zach Daudet: The 6-foot-3 senior is hitting .371, which tied for best in the Big West, and has struck out only 28 times in 216 plate appearances. He was 8 for 18 with five runs scored in the conference tournament.
- LHP Josh Morano: A member of Arizona’s 2024 team, Morano appeared in only five games for the Wildcats as a freshman before joining the Mustangs. He one of their most reliable bullpen arms, posting a 2.16 ERA over 41.2 innings including 6.1 shutout innings in the Big West tourney win over Hawaii.
- RHP Griffin Naess: A 6-foot-6 sophomore, Naess is most likely to be Cal Poly’s starter against Arizona. He has a 3.38 ERA in 15 starts this season, throwing 88 innings, and was Big West Freshman Pitcher of the Year in 2024 with a 7-0 record. Two of his last three starts have seen him work into the 7th without allowing a run.
No. 4 seed Utah Valley Wolverines
- Record: 28-27, 13-11 WAC (T-3rd place; won conference tournament title)
- RPI: 171
- Record vs. NCAA tourney teams: 0-0
Overview
Below .500 entering the WAC Tournament and losers of 10 of 11, Utah Valley ran off four straight wins to earn its first NCAA bid since 2016. The Wolverines beat regular season champ Sacramento State once and No. 2 seed Abilene Christian twice.
Coach Nate Rasmussen is in his first season in Orem, spending the previous three years as an assistant under Eddie Smith who is now at Washington. He inherited a team that had to replace some big holes including infielder Daniel Dickinson, who transferred to LSU.
Utah Valley has the 4th-lowest RPI in the NCAA field, facing only Quad 1 opponent and going 0-4 against in-state power-conference teams BYU and Utah. But it took two of three at Grand Canyon, where Arizona has lost its last four games.
Players to know
- 2B Landon Frei: A senior transfer from Utah, Frei leads the Wolverines in homers (16), RBI (73) and stolen bases (21). In three seasons with the Utes he had hits in five of nine games against Arizona.
- OF Jayden Smith: The 5-foot-9 senior is tied for 14th in Division I with a 4.03 batting average, and though he’s yet to hit a homer this season he has at least one hit in 44 of 50 starts. He’s a former teammate of UA pitchers Raul Garayzar and Matthew Martinez at South Mountain CC.
- C Mason Strong: The 6-foot-1 redshirt junior is hitting .376 with 11 homers and 64 RBI, and in the WAC final he homered twice and scored four times. Originally signed with BYU, Strong also spent two seasons at Oklahoma.