Oregon baseball sees Big Ten commissioner as reason for hope

ARLINGTON, Texas — Grayson Grinsell knew the news was coming when it became official last August. His family had a stronger reaction of Oregon moving to the Big Ten than he did.

The left-handed Ducks pitcher was just two months removed from a freshman season that extended to the brink of the College World Series. Most weekends he could check the stands whether home or away and see supporters from back home in Reno, Nevada.

Reality will be different next year, when the Ducks swap out a regional Pac-12 baseball schedule for regular trips two and three time zones away.

“We have a lot of West Coast guys so family is going to be traveling a little bit,” Grinsell said. “My parents aren’t too happy — flights are going to be a little bit longer — but it’s part of the game. If you want to win, you’ve got to play the best.”

Whether Oregon will actually be playing the best in a league migration prompted by football television money is debatable.

The Pac-12 is the runaway all-time leader in baseball national championships; the Big Ten is enduring a title drought of 56 seasons and counting with just one CWS finalist (2019 Michigan) during that span. The Big Ten has never sent more than five qualifiers to the NCAA tournament — the Pac-12 did it last year in routine fashion.

Those in the Ducks baseball program have little choice but to keep playing. They’re projected to finish somewhere in the top-to-middle tier of the final edition of the Conference of Champions along with fellow incoming Big Ten members UCLA, USC and Washington.

There’s a sentimental piece to the demise of the Pac-12 that nonetheless can’t change how they go about their business between now and June.

Coach Mark Wasikowski said the pending move won’t affect how Oregon assembles its diamond teams. While football programs may construct rosters differently based on geography, weather and their league’s style of play, the Ducks figure good baseball translates anywhere.

Wasikowski would know. He was an assistant coach in the SEC and a Big Ten head coach at Purdue from 2017-19, guiding the Boilermakers to their third-ever postseason berth in 2018. The Big Ten difference, he said, is more wind and temperature swings that can affect games.

“I’m disappointed whenever a league vanishes that had that much success but I’m not disappointed about going into the Big Ten in a year’s time,” Wasikowski said. “I enjoyed my time at Purdue and in that conference. There’s great people in the conference. I felt like the competition was outstanding. Wherever they ask us to play, we’ll be excited about playing.”

Standing on the turf at Globe Life Field during the College Showdown opening weekend, Wasikowski said travel logistics for 2025 are in the early stages of planning.

Schools need to increase budgets to allow for more charter flights, he said, for the sake of student-athletes balancing academics. Oregon reminds recruits in the Pacific Time Zone that airplanes are the norm in leagues like the SEC and ACC, too.

The best hope for Big Ten baseball transforming into something new starts with commissioner Tony Petitti, Wasikowski said. Petitti — the former Major League Baseball deputy commissioner and president/CEO of MLB Network — has the experience and vision to bring the cold-weather conference more in line with its big-money peers.

“I’m excited that Commissioner Tony is in the league,” Wasikowski said. “I know he’s a baseball guy and his desire is to have baseball in the Big Ten rival any of the best conferences in the country. I think moving forward we’re going to clearly have a chance to be able to do that with the additions of some great programs.”

First, though, a goodbye tour of the old neighborhood awaits.

The Ducks (7-1) begin their final round of Pac-12 play at Arizona State on Friday. They won’t venture farther east than the Mountain Time Zone the rest of the regular season.

A young lineup and eclectic pitching staff is stacking innings and experience as it prepares for the stretch run in May. And, eventually, a new baseball challenge altogether.

“I haven’t really tried to think about it too much,” Grinsell said. “I’m just excited. We’re going to have a good team this year and we’re going to have a good team next year. We’ll go about it the way we do everything else — it’s going to be great.”​