Oregon baseball holds firm in polls ahead of trip to No. 1 UCLA

Although the winning streak came to an end on Sunday for the Oregon Ducks, it was another successful week on the diamond as they wind down the regular season.

A 3-1 record for the week helped the Ducks stay put in the national rankings. In the USA TODAY Sports coaches poll, Oregon maintained its position at No. 14. Oregon State slipped two spots to No. 8 after a pair of losses last week, putting them on the bubble for a hosting bid in the regional round. The Ducks come in at No. 27 in the RPI rankings, and a couple of big series against the schools from Los Angeles over the next two weeks could see the Ducks sliding into position to bring a regional back to Eugene.

In the D1Baseball rankings, which are commonly used by teams as the official rankings, the Ducks also held firm at No. 13. Oregon could take another jump next week after traveling to face No. 1 UCLA this weekend.

Oregon battled hard this week in some tight games and faced early deficits. In the midweek game in Eugene, the Ducks scored early and used nine pitchers to take down Gonzaga, 4-3. Over the weekend in Seattle, Oregon had to overcome early deficits and forge late rallies to win the first two games of the series against Washington. The pitching staff finally gave way in the series finale, surrendering nine runs and failing to find any offense until the late stages again as the Huskies avoided the sweep.

The Ducks improved to 35-12 this season and 17-7 in Big Ten play. After Nebraska fell victim to a sweep on the road at Ohio State, Oregon moved into second place in the Big Ten standings, holding the tiebreaker over the Cornhuskers.

After a week of hard-fought games, the Ducks will get some time off after a midweek series against Grand Canyon was canceled. That should allow some of Oregon's banged-up players to get some rest before the Ducks head to Los Angeles. UCLA remains undefeated in Big Ten play after rallying on Sunday on the road at Michigan State for a comeback win to sweep the series. That win secured the Big Ten Baseball Championship for the Bruins in the regular season for the second season in a row.