During his eight-year tenure as a head coach, Mark Wasikowski has demonstrated he can turn a program around in a hurry and then maintain success. In his first full season at Oregon, Wasikowski led the Ducks to a 12-win improvement over Oregon’s win total the season before he became UO’s head coach.
The Oregon turnaround came on the heels of an even bigger improvement at Purdue, where he was a first-time head coach. The Boilermakers won 19 more games in Wasikowski’s first season at the helm than the team totaled the year before he took over the program.
In year two as head coach at both Purdue and Oregon, Wasikowski coached both teams to postseason appearances after significant playoff droughts at both schools. After coaching just 15 games in his first season at the helm of the Ducks because of COVID-19, Wasikowski led Oregon to a 39-win season and a spot as an NCAA Regional host in the 2021 season.
The postseason appearance was Oregon’s first since the 2015 season. Wasikowski and the Ducks made it back-to-back postseason appearances in 2022, the first time Oregon had played in a regional tournament in consecutive seasons since the 2014-15 seasons before extending the streak to four-consecutive postseason appearances in 2023 and 2024, matching the longest run since Oregon went to four in a row from 2012-15.
At Purdue, Wasikowski led the Boilermakers to a 38-win campaign in 2018 and a spot in the NCAA Regionals two years after PU finished the season 10-44. It was Purdue’s first postseason appearance since 2012 and just its third in school history.
A Familiar Face in the Postseason
Playing in the postseason is nothing new for Wasikowski. As a player, he captained the 1992 Pepperdine team to a National Championship, winning the College World Series.
As an assistant or head coach, Wasikowski has helped lead 19 of his 27 teams (omitting 2020 COVID-19 shortened season) to the postseason, including five Super Regional appearances and one trip to the CWS. In four stops as an assistant coach, Wasikowski helped each of the four programs advance to the postseason.
In addition to the two super regionals and five regional tournaments he has led his teams to as a head coach, Wasikowski helped Oregon to four postseason appearances in his five seasons as an assistant on George Horton’s staff. At Arizona, the Wildcats advanced to the NCAA Tournament seven times in his 10 years on Andy Lopez’s staff in Tucson.
In his first job on Lopez’s staff as a full-time assistant at Florida, the Gators played in the postseason in two of Wasikowski’s three seasons in Gainesville. Coach “Waz” started his career at Southeast Missouri State as a member of Mark Hogan’s staff for two seasons, helping the Redhawks to the postseason in 1998. The NCAA Regional appearance was the first in school history for SEMO, and just one of three for the program all-time.
Developing Players and Producing Pros
Throughout his 28 years as a college baseball coach, Wasikowski’s players excelled both during their playing careers and once they moved on to professional baseball.
Wasikowski has coached 150 players that have been selected in the Major League Draft, a list highlighted by 42 big leaguers. In his 10 seasons in Eugene as an assistant or head coach, the Ducks have had 53 players drafted (three twice) with nine of the players Wasikowski coached or recruited advancing to the Major Leagues.
In 10 seasons at Arizona, Wasikowski coached 59 Major League draft picks and 27 future big leaguers. As the recruiting coordinator, he assembled the Wildcats’ 2012 national championship team before leaving the school before the start of the 2011-12 school year.
Wasikowski’s players have earned a number of awards during his stops at SEMO, Florida, Arizona, Purdue and Oregon, with 34 earning All-America or freshman All-America honors. Twenty-three of his players have claimed all-region honors, while 78 have claimed all-conference recognition with Aaron Zavala becoming Wasikowski’s first conference player of the year in 2021.
Developing Players and Producing Pros
Throughout his 26 years as a college baseball coach, Wasikowski’s players excelled both during their playing careers and once they moved on to professional baseball.
Wasikowski coached 139 players that have been selected in the Major League Draft, a list highlighted by 42 big leaguers. In his eight seasons in Eugene as an assistant or head coach, the Ducks have had 42 players drafted (two twice) with nine of the players Wasikowski coached or recruited advancing to the Major Leagues.
In 10 seasons at Arizona, Wasikowski coached 59 Major League Draft picks and 27 future big leaguers. As the recruiting coordinator, he assembled the Wildcats’ 2012 national championship team, leaving the school before the start of the 2011-12 school year.
Wasikowski’s players earned a number of awards during his stops at SEMO, Florida, Arizona, Purdue and Oregon, with 32 earning All-America or freshman All-America honors. Nineteen of his players have claimed all-region honors, while 62 have claimed all-conference recognition with Aaron Zavala becoming Wasikowski’s first conference player of the year in 2021.
Oregon (Head Coach: 2020-present; Assistant Coach: 2012-16)
Wasikowski was named the 13th head baseball coach, and the second of the modern era, at Oregon on June 11, 2019.
He could not have dreamed what he would face in his first two years on the job. Just 15 games into his first season, Wasikowski had a team that was gaining confidence and was anxious to open the Pac-12 Conference season against the league’s preseason favorite on the road.
Instead of making that trip, the 2020 season abruptly ended and Wasikowski and the rest of the team faced the uncertainty of a worldwide pandemic. The next 11 months were spent revamping how the team would prepare for the 2021 season while dealing with the effects of COVID-19.
The months of preparation paid off in a big way. While still limited by the pandemic, Oregon started the 2021 season fast and finished strong, advancing to NCAA postseason play and hosting a regional tournament for just the third time in Oregon Baseball’s modern history.
Picked to finish seventh in the preseason Pac-12 Conference poll by the league’s coaches, Wasikowski had the Ducks in the hunt for their first Pac-12 title until the final weekend of the season. Ultimately, Oregon finished second in the conference, just one game out of first place and was rewarded with the No. 14 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament.
Outfielder Aaron Zavala became just the second Duck in the modern era named to all six major All-America teams. Zavala joined David Peterson (2017) as a unanimous All-America pick, earning first-team All-America honors from the ABCA, Baseball America, D1Baseball, the NCBWA and Perfect Game while claiming second-team recognition from Collegiate Baseball.
With Zavala leading the way, it was a historic season at Oregon with four different Ducks earning All-America honors. First baseman Gabe Matthews and outfielder Tanner Smith claimed third-team All-America recognition from Collegiate Baseball while relief pitcher Kolby Somers was named to the NCBWA’s third team. The four All-Americans were not only the most in one season in school history, but also tied for the most in the nation in 2021.
In addition to boasting four All-Americans, Oregon placed eight players on the All-Pac-12 Conference Team including five first-teamers, the most in school history. Zavala earned Pac-12 Conference Player of the Year honors, while Somers, Matthews, Robert Ahlstrom and Kenyon Yovan joined Zavala on the first team. Smith, Cullen Kafka and Josh Kasevich were named honorable mention all-league.
Oregon’s success during the 2021 season re-wrote the school’s record books. Offensively, the Ducks set new school records for runs scored (379), home runs (56) and RBI (334) while also falling just two doubles (118) and four total bases (860) shy of school records, ultimately finishing second in both categories. In all, Oregon’s offense ranked in the top-10 all-time in 10 categories including hits (3rd/546), walks (3rd/255), batting average (8th/.289), at-bats (8th/1,890) and triples (10th/14).
On the mound, Oregon tied the school record by striking out 513 opposing batters, while finishing second all-time with 9.3 strikeouts per nine innings. The Ducks also finished fifth all-time in wins (39), seventh in fewest walks per nine innings (3.3) and eighth in innings pitched (495.0).
The assault on Oregon’s record books under Wasikowski continued during the 2022 season. A year after setting three new offensive records, the Ducks broke eight school records including all three the team had set the previous season. Oregon notched new school records for batting average (.310), at-bats (2,160), runs scored (452), hits (670), doubles (122), home runs (75) and total bases (1,041). The club also finished sixth all time in both base on balls (243) and stolen bases (66) in school history.
Despite playing just the sixth-most games (61) in school history, the Ducks did not just set school records they shattered them. Prior to the Wasikowski era, Oregon’s record for home runs in a season was 48 by the 1974 team. The 2022 squad finished with 27 more homers than the ’74 team and 19 more than Wasikowski’s 2021 squad.
It was not just the home run record that was relegated to a distant second place in the record books. Oregon bested the old record for runs by 73, hits by 54, RBI by 82 and total bases by 177. The team also broke the school record for batting average that was set 64 years earlier (1958).
Oregon’s potent offense led the Ducks to a 36-25 record, including an 18-12 mark and a fourth-place finish in Pac-12 play. The top-four finish marked the first time the Ducks had finished in the top four of the league standings in back-to-back years since the 2013 and 2014 seasons. The Ducks also qualified for the NCAA Tournament for the second consecutive season, a feat not done at Oregon since the 2014 and 2015 clubs made regional tournament appearances.
Individually, players continued to thrive under Wasikowski’s tutelage, claiming postseason honors and etching their names in the Oregon record books. Four Ducks earned All-Pac-12 Conference recognition with three players claiming ABCA All-District honors. Kasevich, Brennan Milone and Somers all claimed first-team all-league honors while Anthony Hall earned honorable mention recognition. Milone was a first-team all-district pick as a designated hitter while Kasevich (SS) and Drew Cowley (3B) garnered second-team honors.
Freshman Jacob Walsh became just the 10th Duck all-time to be named a freshman All-American by Collegiate Baseball. The Ducks’ rookie first baseman set Oregon freshman school records for doubles (18), home runs (6) and total bases (103). A year after Zavala became Oregon Baseball’s first CoSIDA academic All-American, Somers and Tanner Smith earned Senior CLASS Award® All-American honors.
Oregon’s assault on the school record book under Wasikowski was not limited to team records. Individual players from the 2022 team are littered throughout the top 10 both offensively and on the mound. Tanner Smith set new single-season school records for at-bats (268), hits (85) and multiple-hit games (27) while also setting a new Oregon career record for runs scored (155). Hall broke the school record for slugging percentage, setting the new mark at .640.
It total, four different Oregon players moved into the single-season top 10 in hits and three joined the top 10 in runs, doubles, home runs and slugging percentage, while two moved into the record books in RBI and one joined the list in on-base percentage. Five players also finished with more than 22 multiple-hit games, with all five finishing in the all-time top 10.
On the mound, Somers once again dominated in the closer’s role finishing in the single-season top 10 in saves for the second consecutive season with nine. He also wrapped up his stellar career finishing second on the all-time saves list with 21.
As good as the 2021 and 2022 seasons were, 2023 turned out even better with Wasikowski leading the Ducks to within one win of the College World Series. The Ducks swept through both the Pac-12 Tournament and the Nashville Regional, going 7-0 in the two tournaments, while advancing to Super Regionals for the first time since 2012. The Ducks hosted “Supers”, picking up a win in the opening game before dropping the final two contests.
UO finished 41-22 overall while wrapping up Pac-12 action with a 16-14 record. Oregon’s win total of 41 ranked behind only the 2013 (48), 2012 (46), 2014 (44) and 2010 (40) teams. The Ducks made just their second trip to Super Regionals in school history while winning a regional tournament on the road for the first time ever.
En route to Super Regionals, Oregon put together a pair of the longest winning streaks in school history. Oregon won 11 in a row from March 18 to April 7, marking the third longest streak of victories in school history and the best streak since the 1964 team won 12 straight. At the end of the season, Oregon added a 10-game win streak from May 19 to June 9 that included going 4-0 in the Pac-12 Tournament and 3-0 in the Nashville Regional allowing the Ducks to claim both tournament titles.
After setting 11 program records in 2021 and 2022 combined, the 2023 Ducks’ squad bested the 2022 team in four different categories. The Super Regional team blasted 101 home runs, 26 more than the NCAA Regional team in 2022, while finishing with 23 more doubles, 75 more total bases and seven more at-bats. At the end of the 2023 season, the home run record had more than doubled since the start of the 2021 season going from 48 to 101 homers. During that time, the doubles record grew by 25 two baggers while the total bases record went from 864 to 1,116 – an increase of 252 total bases.
The 2023 team also finished one run scored and three RBI shy of the 2022 squad’s records, as well as one stolen base short of the record set by the 2013 club. The 2023 team also finished second all-time in hits (646), fourth all-time in batting average (.298) and ninth all-time in walks (227).
Players continued to collect honors while adding their names in the Oregon record books. In 2023, seven Ducks grabbed All-Pac-12 honors with four of those claiming all-region accolades and one earning All-America honors. Both Collegiate Baseball and Perfect Game tabbed Cowley as a third-team All-American at shortstop following the season. Cowley was joined on the ABCA All-West Region second team by freshman designated hitter Drew Smith, starting pitcher Jace Stoffal and closer Josh Mollerus, with Cowley also earning first-team All-Pac-12 Conference honors along with third baseman Sabin Ceballos and Stoffal. Outfielders Rikuu Nishida, Colby Shade and Tanner Smith were all honorable mention all-league picks while on the mound Mollerus claimed honorable mention recognition.
Ceballos set four single-season school records, becoming the all-time leader in home runs, slugging percentage and multiple-RBI games, while tying Cowley for the most RBI in a season. In addition to the RBI record, Cowley set the school record for multiple-RBI games while tying Tanner Smith (2022) for the hits record. Nishida added a pair of school records to his resume, finishing with the most runs scored and stolen bases in a season at Oregon. Tanner Smith also added a slew of career records (games started, at-bats, hits, doubles, home runs, RBI, and multiple-hit games) during his senior season.
In 2024, Oregon became just the eighth team in the super regional era of college baseball (1999-2024) to advance to a super regional with back-to-back regional tournament wins on the road. On the way to the super-regional berth, the Ducks compiled a 40-20 record including a 19-11 mark in Pac-12 Conference play. The Ducks finished third in the Pac-12 standings, just one game behind first-place Arizona, marking the third time in the last four seasons that the Ducks finished in the top four of the conference.
While last year’s squad did not break any team offensive records, it did finish in the top five in school history in five different categories and in the top 10 in two more. The 2024 team finished just three home runs shy of tying the 2023 club for home runs, hitting 98 over its 60-game schedule. The team also finished third in runs scored (420), third in total bases (996), third in RBI (575), fourth in walks (254), sixth in doubles (107) and seventh in at-bats (2,042).
Oregon’s pitching staff combined to fan a program-record 550 batters over 535.1 innings of work, averaging 9.2 strikeouts per nine innings which was the third most in program history. The 550 punch outs were 37 more than both the 2021 and 2010 teams struck out, while the 9.2 Ks per nine innings trailed only the 13.2 by the 1950 team and the 9.3 by the 2021 squad. Oregon’s 40 wins trailed only the 2013 (48), 2012 (46), 2014 (44) and 2023 (41) teams.
Individually, players continued to thrive under Wasikowski claiming postseason honors and etching their names in the Oregon record books. Last season, five Ducks’ hitters and four Ducks’ pitchers nabbed All-Pac-12 honors with one claiming freshman All-America recognition. Shortstop Maddox Molony, who set Oregon’s freshman home run record, became Oregon’s first freshman position player to claim first-team All-Pac-12 honors, while also earning NCBWA second-team freshman All-America honors. Center-fielder Bryce Boettcher, first-baseman Walsh, outfielder Mason Neville and catcher/outfielder Chase Meggers all claimed honorable mention all-conference honors, as did relief pitchers Grayson Grinsell and Bradley Mullan as well as starting pitchers Grayson Grinsell and RJ Gordon.
A pair of single-season school records were either matched or broken. Walsh hit 18 home runs tying the school record set by Sabin the previous season. Ceballos also saw his school slugging-percentage record eclipsed when Mason Neville finished the season slugging .664, .021 better than Ceballos.
Individual players from the last four Ducks’ teams are littered throughout the single-season top 10 list. Of the 15 major statistical categories in the Oregon record book, a member of either the 2021, 2022, 2023 or 2024 teams owns the school record in 12 of them. During the Wasikowski era, Oregon players have set or tied single-season school records 21 times in the 15 major categories with seven of those being broken again by a member of the 2023 squad and two more broken or tied by a member of the 2024 team.
Despite a shortened season in 2020, two of Wasikowski’s players claimed postseason honors with designated hitter Yovan and third baseman/outfielder Zavala both earning Collegiate Baseball All-America honors.
Yovan claimed first-team recognition after batting .429 with four home runs. He finished in the top three in the Pac-12 Conference in seven different categories – slugging percentage, runs scored, batting average, on-base percentage, hits, home runs, total bases – and in the top six in two more.
Zavala earned third-team honors as a third baseman after leading the Pac-12 in RBI with 22. He also ranked fourth in the conference in batting average (.418) and hits (23) and 11th in on-base percentage (.493). Nationally, Zavala ranked 11th in RBI per game, 16th in RBI and 18th in toughest to strikeout (three strikeouts in 67 plate appearances).
During Wasikowski’s five seasons as an assistant at Oregon, the Ducks compiled a 205-106 (.659) record and advanced to postseason play four times, including the 2012 Super Regionals. UO averaged 41 wins during that stretch, with three seasons of 40-plus wins that included a school-record 48 victories in 2013. From 2012-15 the Ducks won 176 games, tied for the sixth-most in the nation during that four-year span.
Thirteen of Oregon’s position players claimed All-Pac-12 honors while Wasikowski served as an assistant and recruiting coordinator, with first baseman Ryon Healy earning ABCA All-Region and All-America honors and shortstop J.J. Altobelli claiming ABCA All-Region accolades. Two Ducks, A.J. Balta and Mitchell Tolman, garnered Collegiate Baseball Freshman All-American recognition.
Purdue (2017-19)
Before taking the reins of the Oregon program, Wasikowski served as the head coach at Purdue for three seasons (2017-19) and was an assistant coach at Oregon the previous five seasons (2012-16).
Wasikowski led Purdue to a 39-win season in 2018, leading the Boilermakers to just the third NCAA Regional appearance in school history and only the second since 1982. The 2018 Purdue team won 22 of its last 27 regular-season games, including a 13-game winning streak. The Boilermakers finished second in the Big Ten regular season, while finishing as the conference tournament runner-up.
During his first season at Purdue, Wasikowski led the Boilermakers to 29 wins, a 19-win improvement from the 10-44 campaign the team had the year before his arrival. Wasikowski was 87-82 (.515) in his three years as the head coach at Purdue, and the three years before his arrival saw the Boilermakers post a combined winning percentage of .272 (43-115).
His consecutive winning seasons with Purdue in 2017 and 2018 marked only the second such occurrence for the school since 2003-04. In his first season at Purdue in 2017, the team was 8-3 in one-run games after posting a 2-13 record in those games the year before.
Arizona (2002-11)
Wasikowski spent 10 seasons as an assistant at Arizona where the Wildcats advanced to the seven regional tournaments, three Super Regionals and one College World Series during his time on staff. He also recruited the bulk of the Arizona team that won the 2012 CWS following his first season with the Ducks.
In his 10 seasons in Tucson, the Wildcats won 60.8 percent (355-229-1) of their games, finishing with two 40-plus win seasons (42 in both 2007 and 2008) and six seasons with 35 or more wins with a pair of 39-win campaigns included.
Wasikowski coached five All-Americans at Arizona as well as 10 freshman All-Americans, while 21 of the Wildcats’ position players claimed All-Pac-10 Conference honors during his tenure. Fifty-nine of his players from Arizona were drafted with 27 of them advancing to the Major Leagues.
Florida (1999-2001)
Wasikowski spent three seasons in the SEC working at Florida where the Gators advanced to the NCAA Regionals during his last two seasons in Gainesville. UF won 59.4 percent (110-75-1) during Wasikowski’s three seasons on staff.
Florida showed marked improvement with Wasikowski on staff from year one to two, winning 13 more games. The 2000 Gator club finished 44-23-1, including an 18-11-1 record is league play and a second-place finish in the SEC Eastern Division. Florida also advanced to the championship game of the SEC Tournament that season.
Three Florida players claimed All-SEC honors from 1999-2001 with outfielder Tim Olson claiming first-team recognition in 2000, while also earning second-team All-America accolades from the ABCA and third-team honors from Baseball America and Collegiate Baseball.
Twenty-nine Gators who played for Wasikowski were selected in the Major League Baseball draft with six of them advancing to the Big Leagues.
Southeast Missouri (1997-98)
Wasikowski started his collegiate coaching career at Southeast Missouri where the Redhawks went 56-55 in two seasons. SEMO showed improvement from year one to year two with Wasikowski on staff winning eight more games and claiming a NCAA Regional berth with a 15-11 win over top-seed Eastern Illinois in the championship game of the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament.
Six Redhawks earned All-Ohio Valley Conference honors in Wasikowski’s two seasons, highlighted by LaMonte Collier’s first-team selection in 1997. Collier was also one of five Redhawks who played with Wasikowski on staff to be selected in the MLB Draft.
Playing Career and Personal
Wasikowski was a two-time All-West Coast Conference honoree at Pepperdine after spending his first two collegiate seasons at Hawaii and Rancho Santiago Junior College. The Milwaukee Brewers selected him in the 1993 MLB Draft but Wasikowski opted to remain at Pepperdine to finish his bachelor’s degree in business administration while serving as a student assistant under Lopez during the 1994 season. He also has a master’s of business administration from Southeast Missouri.
Wasikowski was inducted into the Pepperdine Athletics Hall of Fame along with his teammates from the 1992 national championship team. He led the Waves in doubles as a junior and hits as a senior, guiding Pepperdine back to the NCAA Tournament in 1993.
Wasikowski is married to Lori Jo, and the couple has two daughters, Joelle and Kelsey.
