The Yale pitcher is one of the nations best, according to the stats. (2.72 ERA) and I'm hoping for a good effort from the Oregon starter, (probably Will Sanford) and thus this might be another low-scoring game.

Let's Go Ducks!

Angel Laya

Nice start!!

3-0 Oregon, after one inning. Cal Scolari takes the hill for Our Beloved Ducks, as I think they want to save Will Sanford for Saturday vs. the Cougs?

He puts down two batters quickly, and then walks three in a row, but gets out of the inning with a strikeout. A pattern I've noticed about him? He likes warm weather, and when he's had bad days? It was rainy. Today is cold, overcast with occasional rain...

Angel Laya got in infield single to the left, and Drew Smith laid a perfect bunt down the 3rd baseline with the opposing players set way-back to start. Brayden Jaksa hit deep to LF to score Laya and get a double! Burke-Lee Mabeus walks to load the bases. Naulivou Lauaki gets plinked to score another run! Maddox Molony hits a liner to deep LF to score another! The only bad news...we stranded bases-loaded...

3-0 Ducks after two innings. Cal Scolari put them down 1-2-3, but we stranded two on base on offense...

Burke-Lee Mabeus had a fantastic throw to pick off a runner!

3-0 Ducks after three innings. Cal Scolari gives up a double...and then picks him off when he got too big a lead-off. He allows two base runners...but then finishes the inning with a nasty strikeout!

Nothing on offense as the Bulldog pitcher is tough...

5-0 Ducks after four innings. Cal Scolari gives up two base runners again, but finishes the inning with a strikeout again!

Jack Brooks beats out an infield single, and Ryan Cooney shows bunt, but then slashes a hit down the third baseline! Brooks motors from first base and barely beats the throw at home to score! Drew Smith bloops to mid-CF, and scores Cooney! Only bad news again...Oregon strands bases loaded.

6-0 Ducks after five innings. Cal Scolari was over 100 pitches and was relieved by Luke Morgan. He was given a jam with only one out and runners at the corners, but two strikeouts kept the shut-out going thus far.

Jax Gimenez is back pulled out a walk, and then moved to second base with a passed ball. Jack Brooks does a sac-fly to move Gimenez to third. Angel Laya completes a legendary 14 pitch at-bat with a hit off the RF wall to score Gimenez, and get to third on a overthrow!

The PK Park crowd is LOUD, and ROWDY! (And the sixth largest in Duck Baseball history!)

6-2 Ducks after six innings. Collin Clarke came in and gave up two walks and a 2-run homer... In came Toby Twist in relief, and facing bases-loaded got a key strikeout to escape the inning.

6-2 Ducks after seven innings. Toby Twist completed a 1-2-3 inning for Oregon, but so did the superb Yale reliever.

awesome game!!!

14-2 Ducks after eight innings. Toby Twist has been sharp adding another scoreless inning for Oregon. WOW...what an inning!

Angel Laya nailed a liner down the first-baseline that bounced off the side wall to give him a very-close double. Drew Smith puts down another perfect bunt to beat out the throw, and move Laya to third. Brayden Jaksa zips one deep to LF to score Laya.

Burke-Lee Mabeus slips one past both the third baseman, and the SS to get on-base and score Smith. Then Naulivou Lauaki just crushed a pitch and put it halfway up the lighting tower for a three-run homer!

Elijah Cook gets on base with an error, and steals second. Jack Brooks walks, and Ryan Cooney blasts it deep off the LF wall to score Cook and Brooks! Angel Laya doubles and scores a final run with Cooney. Whew!

Ducks win 14-2 as veteran Leo Uelmen comes in and executes a 1-2-3 inning with strikeouts!

Full game recap in a few hours...Oregon plays at 6:00 PM PST Saturday against Washington State.

 

OREGON ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2026

OREGON BASEBALL | @OregonBaseball

 

Dominant Win Sets Up Saturday Showdown With Cougars

 

EUGENE, Ore. — One of the most highly-anticipated weekends in PK Park history lived up to the billing on Friday to kick off the 2026 NCAA Eugene Regional. After former Pac-12 foe Washington State defeated in-state rival Oregon State in game one, the Oregon baseball team took care of business in the nightcap with a dominant 14-2 win over Yale.

 

The No. 11 seed Ducks (41-16) had an energetic PK Park crowd of 4,278 on their feet for much of the night, racking up 14 runs on 18 hits while the UO pitching staff stranded 13 runners on base. Oregon jumped out to a 6-0 lead through five innings and then put the game out of reach with eight runs in the bottom of the eighth inning.

 

“I’m really pleased with the effort,” head coach Mark Wasikowski said. “I was impressed with the fact that our guys were able to pull away in the game there late, I thought that was really important. Then just to be able to get the lead early, I thought that was a really big key, especially with how they run their offense. So, just happy to be 1-0, and it's one game, but 1-0 in a regional, and that's a good start.”

 

The win puts Oregon in the 1-0 game against Washington State on Saturday at 6 p.m., following an elimination game between Oregon State and Yale at 1 p.m. A year after going 0-2 at home in the NCAA Regional round, the Ducks knew the value of opening the weekend with a win, but also the importance of taking the weekend one game at a time.

 

“We want to have a clean slate,” Wasikowski said. “Tomorrow is a new day. 1-0, doesn't matter what the score was at the end of the day, one run or five runs or 10 runs doesn't make any difference. 1-0 was the goal today, and we accomplished the goal. So, just going to start fresh tomorrow and nail it. Tomorrow starts tonight.”

 

Toby Twist

How it Happened: Both starting pitchers were around the 30-pitch mark in the first inning, but with very different results. Oregon starter Cal Scolari needed just three pitches to get two quick outs before walking the next three batters to load the bases, but he escaped the jam with a strikeout.

 

The Ducks then jumped on Yale starter Jack Ohman (5-3) for three runs in the bottom of the first. Back-to-back singles by Angel Laya and Drew Smith set the table for an RBI double by Brayden Jaksa, and another run came in after Burke-Lee Mabeus walked and Naulivou Lauaki Jr. was hit by a pitch. Maddox Molony followed with an RBI single to make it 3-0.

 

Scolari worked around traffic in each of the next three innings. Mabeus threw out a runner trying to steal in the second, and Scolari erased a leadoff double in the third with a pickoff at second base before leaving two runners on with a strikeout. Yale threatened again in the fourth after a single and a walk, but another strikeout by Scolari stranded a runner in scoring position for the third time in four frames.

 

The Ducks extended their lead with two runs in the fourth. Jack Brooks beat out an infield single and scored on an RBI double by Ryan Cooney, and Smith made it 5-0 with an RBI single.

 

Yale put pressure on Scolari again in the fifth, getting runners on the corners with one out after a double, a wild pitch and hit batter. Sophomore Luke Morgan came on in relief and, after a wild pitch put two Bulldogs in scoring position, ended the threat with a strikeout and a lineout.

Jack Brooks SAFE at Home!

Laya had the at-bat of the game in the bottom of the fifth, working the count full and fouling off nine pitches including five with two strikes before hammering the 14th pitch off the wall in right field for a loud RBI single. That extended UO’s lead to 6-0 lead and chased Ohman from the game after 118 pitches.

 

“I want to give credit to (Ohman),” Laya said. “He was incredible. He had command of every pitch he had in his arsenal. The atmosphere was amazing, and I was just trying to catch my breath and put the ball in play.”

 

Yale cut the deficit to 6-2 with a two-run home run in the sixth and threatened for more, putting two runners on with no outs. Junior lefty Toby Twist struck out the next two batters before a walk loaded the bases, and a pop fly in foul territory got Oregon out of yet another jam.

 

Twist put together the Ducks’ first clean inning of the night with a 1-2-3 seventh and then struck out two and worked around a two-out error in a scoreless eighth inning. Twist (4-0) earned the win after throwing three scoreless innings of relief, striking out five while allowing just one hit and a walk.

 

“I was just trying to spark something up, just get our guys going again,” Twist said. “I wanted to do my job of filling up the zone. I think they're an excellent team, very old, just taking very old at-bats. I just thought it was really good, just executing pitches.”

PK Park Crowd Made an Impact!

 

Oregon broke the game open with eight runs in the eighth, started by an RBI double by Jaksa and an RBI single from Mabeus. Lauaki then cranked a three-run homer to left-center field – his 13th homer in his last 25 games – Cooney drove in two more with a two-run double, and Laya brought in a run with his fourth hit of the game and second double of the inning. Oregon sent 12 batters to the plate in the eighth while pushing across eight runs on eight hits. 

 

Leo Uelmen slammed the door in the top of the ninth, striking out the side to seal the win.

 

Who Stood Out: Oregon’s 2-3-4 hitters combined to go 11-for-14 as Laya went 4-for-5 with two doubles and two RBIs, Smith finished 4-for-5 with an RBI and Jaksa was 3-for-4 with two doubles and two RBIs. Cooney was 2-for-6 with two doubles and three RBIs in the leadoff spot, and Lauaki’s three-run homer gave him a team-high four RBIs on the night. Scolari battled through 4.1 scoreless innings, striking out five while working around five hits, five walks and a hit batter.

 

Notable: Laya, Smith and Jaksa all matched their career highs for hits … Laya and Jaksa each had their career games with multiple doubles, while Cooney notched his third … Nine different Ducks recorded a hit and scored a run and seven players drove in at least one run … Friday night’s crowd of 4,278 tied for the sixth-highest in PK Park history, followed closely by the 4,186 on hand for game one between Oregon State and Washington State … UO scored 10-plus runs for the 16th time this season … Oregon has now hit a home run in nine straight games.

 

On Deck: Oregon State and Yale will play Saturday at 1 p.m. in an elimination game, followed by Oregon vs. Washington State at 6 p.m. TV details for both games are still to be determined.

 

The most impressive performance of this game goes to these guys: