Oregon Ducks News

Home

Quizzes

Newsletter

Jun 8, 2024; College Station, TX, USA; Oregon outfielder Mason Neville (right) and designated hitter Chase Meggers (left) wait at home plate for outfielder Anson Aroz (not picutred) to round the bases after hitting a home run during the first inning against the Texas A&M at Olsen Field, Blue Bell Park Mandatory Credit: Maria Lysaker-Imagn Images Maria Lysaker-Imagn Images

NCAA Baseball Selection Committee: Why Oregon State Is Top 8 Seed Over Oregon Controversy

Originally posted on Oregon Ducks on SI
By Bri Amaranthus | Last updated May 26, 2025 1:17 PM ET

The NCAA Baseball Selection Committee addressed the controversy of Oregon State getting a top-8 national seed over the Oregon Ducks. The news comes as a bit of a surprise, considering Oregon beat Oregon State four times in April of this season.

The top 8 national seeds are: No. 1 Vanderbilt, No. 2 Texas, No. 3 Arkansas, No. 5 North Carolina, No. 6 LSU, No.7 Georgia and No. 8 Oregon State.

The top-8 seeds get to host a Super Regional, should they advance. The Super Regionals are a best-of-three series where the two teams from each of the 16 regional winners compete to advance to the College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska.

Maria Lysaker-Imagn Images

On ESPN's NCAA Tournament selection reveal show on Monday morning, Chairman of the NCAA Baseball Selection Committee Jay Artigues was asked why Oregon State over Oregon for the No. 8 seed.

"When you start looking at this top eight, it's not necessary team A vs. team B. Sometimes it's team A vs. team C and D, and that's what it gets down to... Whether you're talking about Coastal... Oregon or Oregon State or Southern Miss... Tennessee - there was some really good teams," said Artigues.

"It wasn't necessarily Oregon vs. Oregon State. It may have been Oregon State against the other four or five. And weighing all those options, we felt that was what was best in giving them the top eight," said Artigues.

The Oregon Ducks (42-14) beat in-state rival Oregon State in four-consecutive games at the end of April. The Ducks dominated with much thanks to Oregon first baseman Jacob Walsh, who homered in all four games against Oregon State,

“There's a lot of energy that goes into this series; it means a lot on both sides,” said Walsh. “And the guys just kind of came together and said, you know, we haven't done well against them since I've been here. And it was like, we're done with that. We needed to get him this time.”

Chris Pietsch/The Register-Guard / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

In good news, Oregon was picked as one of the 16 teams to host an NCAA Regional Tournament starting this Friday at PK Park.

The NCAA selection show revealed that the Ducks' earned the No.12 seed. The other three teams that make up the Eugene Regional are No. 4 seed Utah Valley (32-27), No. 3 seed Cal Poly (41-17), and No. 2 seed and Big 12 Champions, Arizona (39-18). The Ducks will face Utah Valley on Friday at PK park.

The winner of the Eugene Regional will play against the winner of the Chapel Hill Regional in the Super Regional. The teams in the Chapel Hill Regional are No. 5 National Seed North Carolina, Oklahoma, Nebraska, and Holy Cross.

For those who are just tuning into Ducks baseball, this team is full of fireworks. On offense, watch outfielder Mason Neville, who leads the nation in home runs with 26. Neville's 26 home runs set the single-season Oregon program record while his 59 walks also set a program record.

Chris Pietsch/The Register-Guard / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

For the fourth time in the last five years, Oregon has set a new program record (107) for home runs. Also, Oregon's eight grand slams are three more than any other Ducks team (5, 2019.)

Mark your calendars! Here is the 2025 NCAA DI baseball tournament schedule:

Regionals: Friday-Monday, May 30-June 2
Super Regionals: Friday-Monday, June 6-9
First day of MCWS games: Starts Friday, June 13
MCWS finals: Saturday - Sunday/Monday, June 21-22/23

Chris Pietsch/The Register-Guard / USA TODAY NETWORK

The Ducks etched themselves in the history books by earning the chance to host the NCAA Regional. The Ducks have now hosted a regional for five consecutive years that Oregon has qualified for the NCAA Tournament, with all five coming during the Mark Wasikowski era.

Since the return of baseball in 2009, the Ducks have been selected to participate in the NCAA Tournament 10 times, with the current five-year streak marking the most consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances in program history.

Oregon will be hosting an NCAA Regional for the fourth time in the last 14 years. The Ducks previously hosted regionals in 2012, 2013 and 2021. Oregon has also hosted a pair of Super Regionals (2012, 2023).