Oregon baseball tumbles in rankings after losing week
· Yahoo Sports
The Oregon Ducks just had their worst week on the baseball field so far this season. The Ducks went silent at the plate and stumbled to a 1-3 week with losses at home to Portland and on the road against Michigan, and now the Ducks are free-falling in the national rankings.
The USA TODAY Sports coaches poll bumped the Ducks down to No. 20 in the latest edition of the rankings. The Ducks fell 10 spots, the most of any team this week. They find themselves between a pair of Big 12 powers: one spot behind West Virginia and one spot ahead of Arizona State. The Ducks will host Nebraska at PK Park this weekend, and the Cornhuskers jumped up four spots to No. 17 this week.
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In the D1Baseball rankings, which are commonly used by teams as the official rankings, the Ducks fell six spots to No. 21. Nebraska checked in at No. 19, meaning the Ducks will have to face their first-ranked opponent since losing at home to Oregon State, now ranked No. 7 by D1Baseball, on March 3.
The Ducks were shut out in consecutive games to start the week, falling 3-0 at home against Portland and getting run-ruled 10-0 by Michigan on Thursday to begin the series. Oregon rallied late to win game two of the series against the Wolverines, before Michigan formed a rally of its own in the ninth inning on Saturday for a walk-off win to take the series. The Ducks had a tough time finding a clutch hit during the week, combining to leave 34 runners on base in the four games.
The series loss to Michigan over the weekend snapped a streak of 13 straight weekend series victories for the Ducks dating back to last season. That streak spanned a year and began with the Ducks taking a series against the Wolverines in Eugene.
The Ducks are No. 35 in RPI, and the losing week really hurt the Ducks' chances of hosting a regional in the NCAA tournament. Fortunately, the Ducks will get a chance to rebound and boost their resume with a much tougher week coming up.
On Wednesday, the Ducks will look to get revenge on the road at Portland before opening a weekend series against Nebraska at PK Park, where the Ducks could pick up their first ranked win of the season.
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This article originally appeared on Ducks Wire: Ducks fall in rankings after losses to Portland, Michigan