Oregon Ducks Baseball Secures Big Ten Title, First Season In Conference

With the 13–6 win, the Ducks will enter the Big Ten Tournament as the No. 1 seed. The 2025 Big Ten Baseball Tournament bracket will be revealed on Monday, May 26 at 9:00 a.m. PT. 

With the loss, Iowa finished third in the conference behind UCLA and Oregon. 

This is Oregon’s seventh conference championship in the 2024-25 athletic year. The Ducks have now won conference championships in football, women’s golf, softball, men’s track and field (indoor and outdoor), cross-country, and now baseball. 

“Awesome,” said Oregon coach Mark Wasikowski when asked about winning the title, per Oregon Baseball’s X. “We needed to come in and win all three. We did. We came and won all three.” 

The Ducks entered the series neck and neck with Iowa and UCLA, however UCLA’s loss to Northwestern on Thursday put Oregon in control of its own destiny. 

Oregon forced a winner-takes-all finale on Friday when the team took the series with a 9–6 victory. The momentum carried into Saturday morning as the Ducks came out firing on all cylinders. 

The Ducks hit five home runs during the game, two of which came from junior infielder Carter Garate. He also added another five RBIs. 

“Really awesome effort by the team all the way through. The pitching staff, the hitters, Carter Garate, Ryan Cooney, Jacob Walsh… They played really good team baseball,” said Wasikowski. 

Jason Reitz delivered a strong performance on the mound for Oregon, going 5.2 innings and allowing just one run on four hits. The right-hander struck out four and walked two while facing 24 batters. Reitz threw 96 pitches and generated plenty of weak contact, recording seven groundouts and five flyouts to help anchor the Ducks’ defensive effort. 

The Ducks are now 41–13 overall and 22–8 in conference play. 

Overall, Saturday saw strong showings from multiple Ducks and served as another reminder of just how dangerous this team can be heading into the postseason. 

Oregon completed a sweep over the then-No. 1 team in the conference with relative ease, making a major statement just before tournament play begins. One of the most impressive factors was the Ducks’ ability to put up 13 runs without a single hit from national home run leader Mason Neville. That kind of production from the rest of the lineup underscores just how deep and versatile this Oregon offense truly is. 

Defensively, the Ducks have shown noticeable improvement all season, particularly in the bullpen. What started as an area of concern has transformed into a strength. Early in the year, the bullpen struggled with consistency and reliability, but over the past few weeks, that unit has stepped up in a big way. With one of Oregon’s biggest question marks now trending in the right direction, the Ducks appear to have very few weaknesses heading into the Big Ten Tournament. 

Oregon begins pool play at 4 p.m. PT on Thursday at Charles Schwab Field in Omaha.