EUGENE, Ore. (Interstat) — Southern California visits Oregon on Friday in a Big Ten series clash with conference tournament positioning on the line.

The Trojans (41-12) own the league’s best record, while the Ducks (36-14) are just behind. USC opened the series with a victory Thursday and aims to extend its winning streak to six games. The Ducks, coming off a series loss at UCLA, need a bounce-back performance to keep pace atop the standings.

A key figure for USC is right-hander Diego Velazquez. The reliever has been dominant of late, tossing 11 scoreless innings across his past three outings. In a win over Nevada on May 9, he worked five innings, allowing three hits and one earned run while striking out three. He also struck out six in four hitless innings against Rutgers on May 3, and fanned four in two perfect innings against Cal State Fullerton on April 21.

Oregon counters with right-hander Miles Gosztola. He has been effective despite recent hard luck. At UCLA on May 10, he threw 5⅓ innings, allowing no hits and two earned runs with nine strikeouts in a loss. He struck out nine more in a win over Penn State on April 26, tossing 6⅓ scoreless innings. Gosztola has logged 16 strikeouts over his past 11 innings.

The Trojans’ offense is potent, led by infielder Kevin Takeuchi and outfielder Walter Urbon, who each homered and drove in two runs in the recent win over Nevada.

The Ducks will rely on left fielder Brayden Jaksa, who homered and drove in three runs in Sunday’s loss at UCLA.

Interstat’s game simulator projects an 8-7 USC victory.

The teams wrap up the series Saturday.