A theme for Oregon’s 2025 baseball season has been learning to win in a variety of ways. The Ducks found a way on Sunday, scraping across a 3-2 win despite 17 offensive strikeouts.

“I don’t think anyone in the dugout had a doubt that we were going to win that game,” Oregon first baseman Jacob Walsh said. 

In all, the No. 13 Oregon Ducks (30-12, 14-7 Big Ten) limited the No. 3 Oregon State Beavers (32-10) to five runs in three games at PK Park as they earned their biggest series win of the season.

It wasn’t pretty or easy, especially with how well the Beavers’ pitching staff played on Sunday. 

Oregon State starter Ethan Kleinschmit was sent to the hill tasked with taming a Ducks’ lineup that had already produced 17 runs in the first two games of the series. His outing got started as well as the Beavers could have hoped for as he struck-out the side in the first inning and the first five hitters he faced overall.

Oregon starter Jason Reitz, however, struggled with command early in his outing. A trio of two-out walks (all on 3-2 counts) in the second inning loaded the bases and spiked Reitz’s pitch count. Trent Caraway then also drew a 3-2 walk, bringing in the first run of the game before either team recorded a hit. 

Reitz got a flyout to end the frame, but the slew of walks spiked his pitch count to 52 pitches through two innings. The Beavers got on the board in the second without having to take the bat off their shoulders. 

OSU’s Canon Reeder recorded the game’s first hit in the top of the fourth with a two-out double to center field, but a nice play from Carter Garate at third kept the inning scoreless and the deficit at one. 

Oregon didn’t knock its first hit until the bottom of the fourth, after Kleinschmit had already tallied seventh strikeouts. The first hit was a meaningful one, however, as Walsh cleared both walls in center field with a towering solo shot — his 14th of the season — to tie the game. 

“I got that one pretty good,” Walsh said with a smile. “Yeah, that was a nice one.”

Drew Smith walked a batter later, advanced to second on a bunt from Anson Aroz and stole third to put himself in a prime scoring position for Maddox Molony, who singled him in as Oregon took a 2-1 lead. Small ball played a repetitive role in Oregon’s sweep of the Beavers, something the Ducks pride themselves on greatly.

“We just want to play good baseball,” Wasikowski siad. “You can’t just win one way, you need to win a lot of ways. When the pitching is as good on the other side as it is and was today, you know you can’t just throw your hands in the air and say, ‘well, we’re going to lose because their pitching’s good’. You gotta figure out a way to win and we were able to do that.”

Reitz settled down nicely after the four-walk second inning, but his high pitch count prevented him from going deep in Sunday’s contest. He finished with five full innings of work in which he only allowed one run on one hit. He only recorded one strikeout across his 84-pitch outing (46 strikes) and walked five, but turned the game over to the bullpen with the Ducks in front. 

Ian Umlandt came in for the sixth inning, allowed a leadoff single to Gavin Turley, but left him stranded as he got a trio of outs from his infielders.

Molony took Kleinschmit deep to left and into the OSU bullpen in the bottom of the sixth. His 13th homer of the season capitalized his 3-3, two-RBI day. 

Kleinschmit was lethal for the Beavers in their loss. He collected a season-high 12 strikeouts across his six innings of work and held the Ducks to just three runs on four hits. He threw 104 pitches and was far from the reason the Beavers lost on Sunday. 

“(Kleinschmit) threw a really good game today,” Walsh said. “(He) made a couple mistakes and paid for them.”

His only defect was that whenever Oregon was able to make hard contact, the ball left the yard. He made a few mistake pitches, but was otherwise elite. Had he been given any run support, he could’ve been the Beavers’ hero on Sunday.

Umlandt worked a scoreless seventh, but relented a solo shot to Aiva Arquette to open the eighth and was subbed for Cole Stokes as the Beavers pulled within a run. 

Oregon had its opportunities to add on in the late innings of Sunday’s contest. The Ducks had a runner reach scoring position in both the seventh and eighth innings, but couldn’t bring in any additional runs across. They finished 1-7 with runners in scoring position in the win, but OSU was 0-8.

The Ducks’ bullpen had another tremendous outing, limiting the Beavers to one run on five hits after Reitz exited and fanning five. 

“I think we’re just finally figuring out what we actually have and putting it together and just trusting our staff,” reliever Santiago Garcia said. “It’s going pretty good.”

The Ducks got the sweep over No. 3 Oregon State, but will head up to Corvallis for a midweek game on Tuesday as they look to go 4-0 against the Beavers in 2025.

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