Oregon baseball came into the season with high expectations, much like its 2011 campaign. Unlike 2011, this year’s team seems up to the challenge. Head coach George Horton has always tried to build his team around pitching and defense, something this team, as well as teams in the past, have had. The difference with this squad is its ability to rip the cover off of the ball.
Oregon had a great offensive series against Hawaii. Overall the team hit .293 in the four games, with three players hitting at least .400 over the four-game stretch in an unfriendly environment. The team had to travel to Hawaii and deal with jet lag, a raucous fanbase and heavy wind.
“The trade winds, their coach said he had never seen anything like it for three-straight days,” Horton said.
For J.J. Altobelli, the trip was more than just a road series. This was his fourth year playing in Hawaii, and he’s had been so successful against them he earned the nickname “the Rainbow Killer.” Last week he commented on how Oregon has never been able to get the sweep, and he wanted to get the sweep in his last opportunity. He did just that, helping Oregon win by hitting .462 and making a few huge plays in the outfield despite wind that pushed the ball in strange directions. In the final game he went 3-4 with two RBI to help Oregon get to 4-0 on the season, their best start since 1981.
“Everyone was swinging the bat well,” Altobelli said. “Our numbers aren’t even a good comparison to how well we swung it because the wind knocked some balls down. It’s really encouraging to see our work in practice is paying off.”
The most impressive player over the series was Ryon Healy, who hit .533 for the series with a .588 on-base percentage and .933 slugging percentage. His impressive outings earned him Pac-12 Player of the Week honors, just the eighth time an Oregon player had received the award.
“It was just a big honor,” Healy said. “But I think that the team made it possible for anyone to be successful. We all played great together and that’s what made us win four games out in Hawaii.”
The Ducks are hoping that Healy’s weekend wasn’t just a fluke, and that he can become a focal point of an offense that can join an already dominant pitching staff and defense.
A big part of the potent offense comes in the form of Steven Packard, who was away the past two years on a church mission. Packard had an impressive fall, not missing a beat despite the two-year absence, and hit .273 against the Rainbows.
“We have a lot of high expectations for Steven,” Horton said. “He had a very solid freshman year and then went on a church mission. He came back and looked like he hadn’t missed a beat. He is swinging the heck out of the ball, and we expected that. When you come back from a church mission, you come back as a real man. He was mature as a freshman so we expected him to come back and really add something.”
The players and coaching staff say that their strong offensive play in Hawaii is something that can be expected to stay around all season, and they are looking forward to proving that to their home crowd this weekend when they take on Loyola Marymount at PK Park.
“I am so excited,” Healy said. “Walking into the field yesterday and having all the banners back up, it was very exciting. I think we are going to have even more adrenaline this weekend, to be honest.”