The NCAA Baseball Tournament is in full swing, and this weekend, the Super Regional round begins. That includes a best-of-three series for the Texas Longhorns, who are set to host their own Super Regional matchup over the weekend.
In their home Super Regional, the Horns will face a team that they have never faced before: the Oregon Ducks.
Despite Texas baseball 1885, with the varsity intercollegiate team founded in 1895, the Longhorns and the Ducks have never shared a field. Now, the two teams will battle for a spot in the College World Series.
Oregon and Texas baseball are eerily similar
Their history isn't aligned, but this season, the two teams have extremely similar paths to where they are now.
Behind homeruns and strong pitching, the Ducks and the Longhorns marched their way to the Super Regional, sweeping through their home Regional rounds with apparent ease.
Team Stats | Oregon Ducks | Texas Longhorns |
|---|---|---|
Batting average | .285 | .299 |
Runs | 422 | 464 |
Hits | 574 | 560 |
RBIs | 398 | 429 |
Home runs | 104 | 99 |
Overall record | 43-16 | 43-13 |
The two teams even have the same number of wins this season, racking up 43 victories before the Super Regional started.
While Texas has the better batting average, including more runs and RBIs, the Ducks actually have more hits and home runs than the Horns. Consequently, Oregon made its way to the Championship game of the Big Ten Tournament while the Longhorns lost in their first postseason game of the year.
The cherry on top? The Ducks' head coach has a name that is one of the few to rival Jim Schlossnagle's: Mark Wasikowski.
Also read: Jim Schlossnagle isn't focused on what could've been as Texas preps for Super Regional
Unlike the Horns, the Ducks' baseball program hasn't had quite as storied a past. While the team was started in 1876, the very year that the University of Oregon was founded, the school pulled the plug on the program for 26 years, seeing a lack of success.
In 2009, the hiatus came to an end, and the school reinstated the Oregon baseball program. Since then, the Ducks have made 11 appearances in the NCAA Tournament and four in the Super Regional round.
This weekend, Texas and Oregon are scheduled to start their series at 7 p.m. CT on Saturday, June 6, followed by Game 2 at 8 p.m. on Sunday, June 7. If they split the first two games, the Longhorns and the Ducks will play Game 3 on Monday.
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