Do not overlook our opponent, as they won 40 games last year, the most in 16 years, and they return a ton of players and welcome a bunch of portal transfers. They ended up in the runner-up in the Atlantic-10 conference, and they have a senior pitcher who is pretty good, and I expect to see today.

Speaking of pitchers....the Friday starter was named by Coach Waz as Will Sanford, and you could knock me over with a Duck-feather. I was skeptical if Sanford would even be a starter, let alone the Friday night guy. He was heralded as a major prospect coming out of high school, but had some rough outings last year. But players get better!

Head Coach Mark Wasikowski said, "He's pitched really well. His stuff is improved, just everything that he's been able to roll out there... the kid earned it, and so my expectation is for him to just go out there and pitch the way he's pitched, how we've seen him, you know, in Fall scrimmages and Spring scrimmages. He's just been really elite."

Will Sanford

Sanford said his focus is on setting the tone every weekend, the same way those pitchers before him did — and that his mindset is shaped by what he learned from last season.

"Take it week by week, but I just really want to set the tone each weekend for us," Sanford said. "And, you know, just have a great season." "Last year, I felt like I failed a lot. So learning from them and seeing how they hold themselves, how they go pitch to pitch, and how they respond to adversity — it kind of takes what they did and lets me apply it toward this year."

The Saturday double-header will have starters Collin Clarke, and transfer Cal Scolari as I expected, and the Sunday starter is unknown at this point.

Pitching Depth Takes Center Stage as Oregon Baseball Opens Season Against George Mason

Oregon opens the season with a four-game series vs. George Mason, led by opening day starter Will Sanford and a pitching staff built on depth and competition.

https://247sports.com/college/oregon/article/pitching-depth-takes-center-stage-as-oregon-baseball-opens-season-against-george-mason-274232346/