USC fought on, but fell just short. 

Oregon head coach Mark Wasikowski has talked about the necessity for a team to be able to win games in a variety of ways. He’s raved about his Ducks’ ability to do just that. 

On Saturday, No. 10 Oregon (13-2, 2-0, Big Ten) demonstrated another form of it, finding a way to beat USC (9-5, 0-2 Big Ten) 8-6 despite the Trojans scoring the game’s final six runs. 

The Ducks’ pitching staff worked out of a plethora of jams to escape Irvine, California, with a series win. Oregon is one of the hottest teams in the country right now, winning each of its past 10 contests. 

A circus of Trojan miscues gave Oregon the game’s first run. Anson Aroz reached on USC’s fourth error of the weekend, and he then took second on a passed ball. After the back-to-back blunders, Maddox Molony (2-4) brought him home with an RBI single.

Dominic Hellman (2-5, two RBIs, two runs) continued his recent tear in the third, blasting his sixth homer in eight days to drive in both himself and Mason Neville (1-4, two runs).

USC starter Caden Aoki’s day ended in a disastrous fifth inning. After Neville led the inning off with a walk, Oregon recorded three-straight hits to chase him from the game. Back-to-back doubles from Jacob Walsh (3-5, two doubles) and Aroz (2-5, two RBIs, two runs) set up a five-run frame to put Oregon fully in charge with an 8-0 advantage as it hunted a series win. 

It was enough cushion for starter Collin Clarke to work with. He continued his stellar start to the season with 4.2 innings of solid work on Saturday. He relented four runs on five hits while fanning five across his 79 total pitches (50 strikes). 

He faced danger in the second, when he loaded the bases with back-to-back hit-by-pitches, but he got two batters to pop out to Ryan Cooney (1-3, RBI) at second to end the threat. He kept USC’s offense at bay until the fifth. 

Brayden Dowd roped a one-out double down the first-base line in the fifth to plate a run — putting the Trojans on the board — and setting USC up with a two-on, one-out scoring opportunity. A two-out, two-RBI double off the bat of Ethan Hedges brought another pair of runs in and chased Clarke from the game. Dean  Carpentier singled to bring Hedges in and halve the Ducks’ lead.  

On the season, Clarke has now allowed seven runs in 23.1 total innings of work. His ERA sits at 2.70 after Saturday’s outing. 

Hedges struck again in the seventh. He blasted a two-run homer — his fifth of the year — to bring two more runs in and bring his daily RBI total up to four. Just like that, the Trojans had scored the game’s last six runs and were within two runs with two frames to play.

Hedges’ blast ended a 22.2-inning scoreless streak from the Ducks’ bullpen that dated back to Feb 28. Oregon needed an offensive response, but didn’t get one. 

Despite allowing the homer, Oregon’s Santiago Garcia earned Saturday’s win with his 2.1 innings of work. He recorded five of the Ducks’ 13 total strikeouts on the day.

An error, a hit and walk loaded the bases for USC in the eighth, putting the go-ahead run on first base with two down, but Cole Stokes got the Ducks out of another jam with a groundout to keep his ERA perfect on the season.

USC brought what could’ve been the game-winning run to the plate in the ninth, but Stokes worked a five-out  save (and fanned three in the ninth) to clinch the series win for Oregon. In all, USC stranded 10 runners on base and was 0-3 with runners on third with less than two outs. 

The theme of the game for the Trojans has to be all of their missed opportunities. For Oregon, it was the grit of the pitching staff to close out a win, even after the offense stopped scoring. Still, the Ducks have now scored seven or more runs in nine-straight games.

Oregon goes for the conference series sweep tomorrow at 12:05 p.m. Freshman Will Sanford will get the nod for the Ducks.

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No. 10 Oregon baseball opened what may be its hardest conference series of the season with a resounding 7-2 victory, again firing on all cylinders. 

After 5.0 solid innings of work from Oregon starter Grayson Grinsell, Jason Reitz locked down the Trojans’ bats, keeping them scoreless for the final four frames. After Oregon’s latest win (the ninth-straight for the Ducks), the bullpen has recorded 21-straight innings of scoreless work. 

That’s the dominance the Ducks (12-2, 1-0 Big Ten) displayed over the Trojans (9-4, 0-1 Big Ten) on Friday night. 

It started right away.

The Ducks had a lead only two pitches into their conference season. Mason Neville roped his eighth homer of the season as a leadoff shot to put Oregon ahead and give Grinsell an early lead to protect.

Neville tallied his second RBI of the night just an inning later as he brought in Jeffery Heard on a sacrifice fly. Two throwing errors by USC starter Caden Hunter (4.1 innings, eight hits, six runs, seven strikeouts) prompted a three-run inning from the Oregon offense. Two of the three runs came unearned, but Ryan Cooney’s sacrifice bunt, Heard’s RBI single and Neville’s sacrifice expanded the early advantage. 

Grinsell needed a good outing after getting roughed up in his previous two outings, and he gave the Ducks exactly what they needed. Across his five full innings, he used 93 pitches to record eight strikeouts while only issuing a pair of runs on four hits. He earned his second win of the season and his ERA now sits at 5.26.

A Coen Niclai (2-2) RBI double scored Jacob Walsh in the third to break the game open early. USC got on the board in the bottom of the frame with an RBI double from Bryce Grudzielanek, but the Trojans were already in a deep hole, and the Ducks had a response. 

Another Oregon run crossed in the fourth as a Neville (2-3, two RBI) single prompted the Trojans’ third error of the night, bringing in Carter Garate (1-3, run) and providing quick retaliation. 

USC got a second (and final) run off the bat of Dean Carpentier from his fourth-inning sacrifice fly, but that run, too, prompted a response from Oregon. 

It became another big night for Cooney as he plated Burke-Lee Mabeus with a single in the fifth. Cooney was 1-3 with a pair of RBIs on the night, bringing his average to an impressive .312. The Ducks have now scored seven or more runs in each of their last eight games (all wins).

Oregon stopped scoring after the fifth (USC’s bullpen combined for five arms, one run, two hits, four walks and two strikeouts), but it didn’t matter, Reitz did the rest.

Through the Ducks’ first 13 games, Reitz had only been utilized as a starter. With conference play only requiring three starting arms, Retiz became a stellar bullpen option, and he proved it on Friday. 

Reitz threw 4.0 innings of shutout ball, allowing only four runners on three hits and a walk. He fanned five to slam the door on any possible Trojan comeback. 

The last time the Ducks and Trojans met, USC beat Oregon 4-2 in Scottsdale, Arizona, bouncing Oregon from the 2024 Pac-12 Tournament. However, it would appear that new conferences bring new trends. The Ducks go for the series win tomorrow. 

The Trojans are playing their home games at Great Park in Irvine, California, as their home stadium continues to be constructed. Oregon and USC will play two more games this weekend, the next slated for 2:05 on Saturday.

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The main purpose of this piece is to describe just how good the Ducks looked this past week without being overly repetitive about the talent disparity that took place at PK Park. 

Oregon entered its four-game series with Columbia ranked No. 11. After outscoring the Lions 70-15 on the weekend, the Ducks moved up to a top-10 ranking for the first time this season. 

As the score would indicate, Oregon was fully in control of the entire series. It’s easy to comment on the offensive onslaught that the Ducks’ bats provided, but the thing that really impressed me was the timing of the runs. 

On the rare occasion that Columbia was able to score, the Ducks always had a response. The Lions scored in four different innings in Friday’s 20-11 Oregon win. The Ducks responded with multiple runs in each of the following frames. The Lions were never able to build momentum, because Oregon always replied. 

Dominic Hellman, who had an insane series, got Friday night started right by becoming the first player in Oregon history to record two grand slams in the same game. That was just Game One. 

Game Two was a smackdown of biblical proportions. The Ducks put up a program-record 35 runs as they thumped the Lions in the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader. 

The final two contests of the series somewhat resembled normal baseball games. The Ducks took a pair of 8-3 and 7-0 wins from the Lions to finish off the sweep. Their offensive discipline impressed me the most. Across the series, the Ducks wore 18 hit-by-pitches and took advantage of an awful Columbia staff to score in a multitude of ways. 

Tuesday’s midweek game was — at least to me — the most impressive win of the last week, however. Not only did Oregon blank Utah Teach 15-0, but the shutout came on the backs of seven different pitchers. For that many arms to all be clicking well enough to preserve a shutout says something. The 15 runs on offense says another. Across the last five games, Oregon has produced 85 runs and only allowed 15. Absurd. 

And that’s where this team sits now. The Ducks have about as much momentum as they could possibly muster entering Big Ten play. They’ve won seven-straight games and scored at least seven runs in each win. They’ve thrown back-to-back shutouts for the first time since 2021. They’re relatively healthy, only missing Drew Smith, Chase Meggers and Parker Stinson. 

But they’re tasked with topping a very good USC team on the road to start conference play. The last time Oregon played the Trojans, they bounced the Ducks from the Pac-12 Tournament in Scottsdale, Arizona. 

If Oregon can take a series win in what could truthfully be the toughest series it plays in the Big Ten this season, the momentum will only build. 

Ruth’s Three Stars:

First star: Dominic Hellman – DH

There’s really not much else to say. Hellman has five homers and 17 RBIs in his past five games. He’s swinging the hottest bat in the nation and has taken home several accolades in the past week. I wrote a longer piece about his full weekend where he tells his story. 

Second Star: Ryan Cooney – 2B

Oregon head coach Mark Wasikowski said that Cooney might have been the Ducks’ MVP from the past weekend (maybe he forgot about Hellman?). He certainly did have one of the best five-game stretches of his career. He scored 12 runs and recorded 10 hits in the last week, bringing his average from .136 to .310. He hit his first homer of the season as a part of his six-RBI performance in the 35-1 beatdown.

Third Star: Carter Garate – 3B

Garate is having one of the quietest .419 season’s I’ve ever seen. He had a great series from the bottom of the Ducks’ order. Garate prides himself on getting on base, and he did a tremendous job of doing so, walking four times and wearing four pitches. He was also the only player to start and finish at his position in each of Oregon’s five games this season. He’s also a stellar interview; I’m a Garate advocate and I will be until proven otherwise. 

From the press box is a new series covering the ins and outs of each series the Ducks will play in 2025. This is the third edition of Brady Ruth’s new long-form coverage. Other pieces can be found on the baseball page of the Daily Emerald.

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He walks by faith and runs the bases.

Well, he doesn’t exactly have to run. With the type of power Dominic Hellman has, he has the luxury to jog the bases after hitting his latest baseball to Portland. 

It’s the type of power that his head coach, Mark Wasikowski, says allows him to mishit a baseball and still send it over the wall. 

Hellman starts every media availability the same way, “First of all, I’d like to thank my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.”

It’s muscle-memory for him at this point, but what he’s doing on the field is anything but routine. Hellman has already smacked five homers this season, matching his career total entering 2025. Of his six extra-base hits, five have left PK Park. 

There may not be a player on this 2025 roster that’s experienced and demonstrated more growth during his time in Eugene. He’s got incredible pop and force behind his swing — nobody’s ever had to check a Hellman swing; he went. 

He entered Oregon’s four-game series against Columbia hitting .211 with no homers and only two RBIs. After the Ducks swept the Lions and picked up a midweek win over Utah Tech, Hellman sat tied for second on the team in both RBIs (190) and homers (five) while his average spiked to .366. 

That’s an absurd series. Across those five games, Hellman was 11-22 (.500) with five homers, a double and an astounding 17 RBIs. How does that even happen?

Well, becoming the first player in Ducks’ history to hit two grand slams in the same game helps. Two swings in the opening game of the Columbia series rewarded Hellman with eight RBIs. He was 3-5 with four more RBIs the following game (a 35-1 win) and smacked a solo homer in the second game of the doubleheader. 

His heroic weekend earned him both Big Ten Conference Player of the Week and NCBWA Dick Howser Trophy National Co-Hitter of the Week honors. 

“It all ties back into my work, faith and my teammates around me,” Hellman said of his awards. “I was doing homework and then [Wasikowski] texted me, ‘Hey, congrats, Big Ten Player of the Week’.”

The latter award was announced on Tuesday, just hours before his second two-homer performance in five days. 

“Well, when he gets hot, it can be fun,” Wasikowski said. “You see how he can change a game.”

He’s changing not only each game, but the trajectory of his entire career. 

Hellman was a highly-sought-after recruit. Perfect Game had him as the No. 12 shortstop in his class and the 62nd-best player overall, accolades he earned by batting over .500 in both his junior and senior years of high school in Mill Creek, Washington. 

But his first seasons with the Ducks were lined with frustrations. He battled injuries and inconsistencies in each of his first two seasons with Oregon — in which he only played in 27 total games and hit just .263 with 10 more strikeouts (34) than hits (24).

Still, his coach had faith in him. Wasikowski raved about Hellman throughout each of his first two seasons, wishing he was healthy enough to keep in the lineup. Through his ups and downs, Hellman leaned on his relationship with God. 

“It ties back to my walk with faith,” Hellman said of his growth. “Coming in here, I was a believer, but I wasn’t necessarily a follower of Jesus. [I started] making sure I had gratitude toward every day. Being injured was a sense of ‘wow, this sport could be taken away from me at any time’.” 

“I just want to make sure that every day with practice, off days, half days, game days, I can give it my all like it’s my last day and truly be thankful about every opportunity,” he said. 

His approach has changed. He doesn’t conform to the idea of taking a pitch for a first strike. If the opposition serves him something he can feed on, Hellman’s going to eat. 

“It’s something about taking the at-bat and rolling with it,” Hellman said of his approach. “You can’t be a stubborn-minded hitter, because it’ll eat you alive if you don’t get [a certain] pitch.”

He likes to attack early; both of his grand slams came on the first pitch of the at-bat. But he’s also satisfied waiting for his pitch. Both of his bombs against Utah Tech came with a strike in the count.

When asked what his pitch was, Hellman chucked. “Something up,” he said. He likes them elevated, but he’s got enough lift in his bat to work with just about anything. 

“After every at-bat, I like to remind myself that I’m thankful for that opportunity that just happened, whether it was a good outcome or a bad outcome.” 

While he gives his glory to God, his teammates and coaches’ praises are for him. 

“He’s a tremendous young man,” Wasikowski said. “He shows up every single day and his commitment to the weight room has been there. He’s a very very strong kid.”

“Phenomenal player,” center fielder Mason Neville said. “He has the ability to put the ball out anywhere on the field. I’ve seen him [gain] confidence. Knowing he has that ability in him and allowing him to go out there and compete and gain confidence is the biggest thing.”

Now, Hellman’s one of the Ducks’ hottest hitters entering conference play, and it’ll be hard for Wasikowski to take his bat out of his lineup. There’s still a lot of season ahead, but Hellman’s heroic run, or jog, may be just beginning.

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This team is as hot as hot gets heading into conference play. After No. 10 Oregon baseball’s latest win — a 15-0 thumping of Utah Tech —  the Ducks (11-2) have scored seven-plus runs in seven-straight games (all wins) and thrown back-to-back shutouts for the first time in 2021.

“It’s fun being with these guys,” Oregon head coach Mark Wasikowski said. “These guys are awesome. They love to work. We’re asking them to improve every single day and that’s what they’re doing.”

Fresh off a weekend sweep in which they scored 70 runs, the Ducks’ bats got started right away. Oregon had a lead just five pitches into the bottom of the first as Mason Neville (3-5, three RBIs, three runs) gave one a ride out to center for his seventh homer of the season. Anson Aroz (3-5, two RBIs) roped an RBI double later in the frame and Maddox Molony (2-4, two RBIs) brought him in with a single of his own. 

Utah Tech (5-9) starter Jonah Marshall’s night ended after just 26 pitches. He allowed three runs on three hits and walked a pair of Ducks. He only recorded one out in what will almost surely be his worst start of the season. 

Coming off a weekend that earned him both Big Ten Conference Player of the Week and NCBWA Dick Howser Trophy National Co-Hitter of the Week honors, Dominic Hellman stayed hot by roping his fourth homer in five days to add to the Ducks’ lead in the second. 

“It’s something about taking the at-bat and rolling with it,” Hellman said of his approach. “You can’t be a stubborn-minded hitter, because it’ll eat you alive if you don’t get [a certain] pitch.”

Ian Umlandt got the midweek start for the Ducks. Umlandt got a couple of midweek nods in 2024 and was very solid on Tuesday, allowing four hits, fanning three and walking one across his 80 pitches.

“Real solid performance,” Wasikowski said of Umlandt. “He just throws strikes, he’s got a lot of whip on the ball; his velocity was up a little bit. He’s just a real competitor and he’s a lot of fun to play behind, I’m sure.”

Umlandt didn’t allow a runner past first until the fourth inning, but he was stranded on third after a long battle with Andrew Pyle resulted in a flyout. As good as Umlandt was, he got into a lot of long at-bats that hurt his pitch count, hindering him from going more than his 4.2 innings. 

“That was a scrappy group,” Wasikowski said. “Fighting pitches off. They really do a quality job, you can tell they’re well coached and they have a solid two-strike plan.”

When Dax Newman replaced Marshall on the bump in the first, the Ducks’ offensive production looked to have slowed down… at least until Hellman got up again in the fourth. He launched his fifth homer in as many days out to right-center for his second, third and fourth RBIs of the night.

“Well, when he gets hot, it can be fun,” Wasikowski said. “You see how he can change a game.”

Carter Garate (3-5, three runs) hit the Ducks’ first triple of the season to add to the lead during a four-run fifth inning that saw Oregon break open an 11-0 advantage. 

After Umlandt exited, the Ducks used six different pitchers out of the bullpen. Seth Mattox (four pitches), Julian Hernandez (12 pitches), Ryan Featherston (nine pitches), Sam Boyle (nine pitches), Michael Meckna (six pitches) and Tyler Jones (17 pitches) for 4.1 innings of shutout ball. 

“It was good to get some of the older guys out there again and get those guys going,” Wasikowski said. 

Oregon exploded for four more runs on six hits in the seventh. It was an unnecessary cushion, but a handy one for a team looking to ride as hot as it can into conference play. The bats certainly will be ready, having now tallied 85 runs in their last five games. 

The Ducks were only held scoreless in three frames in Tuesday’s win. 

Oregon takes to the road for the first time this season to open conference play with a three-game series at USC (9-2) this weekend. First pitch is set for 5:35 on Friday. 

“It’s weird to say it, but we’re playing USC in Opening Week of Big Ten play,” Wasikowski said. “Which is something else. I don’t know, it’s going to take some getting used to: Oregon against USC in the Big Ten. But, tough weekend to start with and hopefully we can go down to southern California and play well.”

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No. 11 Oregon’s (10-2) offense came back to earth in the final two games of the Ducks’ series against Columbia (1-6), but it gave the pitching staff a chance to shine on Sunday, and it did just that. On the back of Will Sanford’s six shutout frames, the Ducks recorded their third shutout win of the season. 

“Just walking out of the weekend 4-0,” Oregon head coach Mark Wasikowski said of his favorite moment from the series. “That was the objective and we were able to do that.”

The freshman Sanford made his third-career start on Sunday. Entering the contest, the Ducks hadn’t lost a Sanford start on the young season, and that would continue in dominant fashion. 

Burke-Lee Mabeus and Ryan Cooney — who both entered Sunday’s game hitting .636 on the series — teamed up for the contest’s first run. Mabeus doubled down the left-field line and came in to score when Cooney legged out his third infield single of the weekend. 

From the first inning into the fourth, Sanford retired a string of nine-straight hitters to protect the narrow lead. 

“He competed,” Wasikowski said of Sanford. “He made pitches when he needed to… I just thought he competed really well today.”

His counterpart, Columbia starter Joe Sheets, did a tremendous job silencing an Oregon offense that had accounted for 63 runs across the series’ first three games. Cooney’s RBI in the second was about all the offense Oregon could muster until after he was removed for the sixth inning. 

Sheets finished with five full innings of work as he used 88 pitches to fan four and walk one. He allowed the lone run on five hits. Still, he earned Sunday’s loss despite his quality start.

A dropped ball in right-center field gave the Lions a scoring opportunity in the sixth, but Sanford worked out of it with a strikeout and a groundout. He gave the Lions’ dugout a shrug on his way off the field in what would be his final inning. 

“It gets me hype,” Sanford said of his flair. “But it also gets the team fired up and that’s what I want to do.”

Sanford only allowed four baserunners (one hit, two walks, one error) across his six shutout innings. He fanned a career-high seven hitters on 95 pitches in his incredible outing. He earned Sunday’s well-deserved, the first of his career. 

“As a starter, you want to go deep,” Sanford said. “I always plan to go deep into a game. The deeper you go, the less guys you have to use.”

The Ducks’ bullpen was tasked with protecting a 1-0 lead when Santiago Garcia took over in the seventh inning. He picked up right where Sanford left off by pitching a scoreless frame and fanning a pair of Lions. 

Columbia reliever Griffin Palfrey walked the bases loaded in the bottom of the seventh before Anson Aroz wore the Ducks’ 18th pitch of the weekend to double the lead. Maddox Molony brought another run home with an RBI fielder’s choice as the pressure on the bullpen lightened significantly. 

Garcia fanned four across just 1.2 innings before turning the pitching duties over to Jaxon Jordan — who struck-out the first batter he faced. Seth Mattox recorded the game’s final two outs. 

“Our bullpen, we’re all dogs,” Garcia said. “I think we just go out there and go shove.”

Carter Garate added to the lead with an RBI double in the eighth to plate Cooney for the 10th time in the series. Mason Neville followed it with a single of his own to drive in Garate and put the game out of reach. Two more came in on an Aroz single to clinch the series sweep. 

“I would say that there’s things to improve on for sure,” Garate said. “But I think we’ve set a good stone to build on. We broke records this weekend and we’re looking to build on that.”

The Ducks scored 70 total runs on the weekend, 35 of which came in one game. Oregon abused Columbia for four games at PK Park. The Ducks are back in action for a midweek game against Utah Tech on Tuesday at 4:05 p.m.

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Oregon smacked four homers in the nightcap of Saturday’s doubleheader and rewarded Collin Clarke’s solid outing in an 8-3 win over Columbia. The second contest of the game was the closest thing to a normal baseball game that PK Park has seen on the weekend, but the result was the same: a fully-controlled Ducks win. 

No. 11 Oregon (9-2, 0-0 Big Ten) moved its win streak to a season-high six games and dropped the Lions to 1-5 in 2025.

“We just want to win games,” Oregon head coach Mark Wasikowski said of the doubleheader sweep. “It was a really good offensive performance.”

Oregon sent Clarke to the mound after slaughtering Columbia 35-1 earlier on Saturday, looking to sweep the doubleheader. He needed only nine pitches in the first inning and retired the first five hitters he faced. 

Coen Niclai got the scoring started in the second with a two-run homer to dead center. His first-career homer drove in Maddox Molony — who had a 1-3, two BB — and he came around to score on an RBI single from Carter Garate (1-4).

Anson Aroz (1-3) added to the lead in the third with his fifth blast of the season. His solo shot reached the parking lot in left-center field and might still be rolling. 

Columbia starter Jagger Edwards had the best start a Lion has had all weekend, but he was still roughed up for four runs on four hits across his four innings of work. He earned the loss as the Ducks took the series. 

Niclai brought home another in the fifth on an RBI groundout. The freshman backstop had a solid 1-3 day with three RBIs to add to his solid start to the season. He’s hitting .250 on the young season.

Mason Neville cranked his sixth homer of the season off the roof in right field in the sixth to break open a 7-0 lead. Six of Neville’s first 13 hits of the season have now left PK Park. 

Hits were incredibly even on Saturday (eight for Oregon and six for Columbia), but the Ducks had some serious power behind theirs. Half of their hits left PK Park.

“That’s a cool stat,” Molony said. “That’s awesome.”

Clarke was very good again on Saturday. He was virtually untouchable until the seventh inning, when he finally got tagged for three runs on a Hunter Snyder ground-rule double and a Ben Fishel sacrifice fly. 

Clarke finished with 6.2 innings of five-hit, three-run ball. Across his 93 pitches, he fanned a career-high eight hitters and earned his first win of the season. 

“I got them to roll over, swing and miss and [have] weak contact,” Clarke said. 

Gabe Howard came in to relieve Clarke and he worked an inning of scoreless ball before Santiago Garcia entered to face just one batter. Cole Stokes recorded the final four outs to earn the series win and the doubleheader sweep. 

“We had solid pitching all day,” Wasikowski said. “I was excited about the way guys got after it on the mound. I thought it was a complete effort.”

Dominic Hellman crushed a baseball out to center field in the bottom of the eighth for an unnecessary, but helpful, insurance run. Hellman’s third homer in as many games drove in his 15th RBI of the season — good for second-most on the team (Walsh, 18).

“He’s a special kid,” Wasikowski said. “He’s a special talent.”

The Ducks look to take the series sweep from the Lions tomorrow as Will Sanford takes the mound. Oregon hasn’t lost a Sanford start yet. First pitch is set for 12:05 p.m.

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Yes, you read that headline correctly. 

For the first time in three games, the No. 11 Oregon Ducks didn’t hit multiple grand slams, but they did score 15+ runs for a fourth-consecutive game in their 35-1 win over Columbia. 

The Ducks (8-2, 0-0 Big Ten) scored a program-record 35 runs on 25 hits to thump Columbia (1-4, 0-0 Ivy League) in a demoralizing win. The Ducks had seven players with multiple RBIs and three players with three or more knocks. 

Oregon scored two in the first, four in the second, nine in the third, three in the fourth and fifth, eight in the sixth and six in the eighth. 

That’s the condensed recap. Keep reading for the full breakdown of the abuse that took place at PK Park in the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader. 

The Ducks were on the board before Columbia recorded an out in the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader. The first four Oregon batters reached base. Mason Neville (2-4) scored on a Jacob Walsh RBI single and Maddox Molony (3-4, six RBI) brought a run in with a sacrifice fly to center as the Ducks took an early 2-0 advantage. 

Oregon starter Jason Reitz was incredible. He allowed an earned run to cross in the second on an Anthony Temesvary sacrifice fly, but that would be the extent of the damage he faced in his 68-pitch outing. 

Columbia righty Thomas Santana was pulled in the second inning after walking a pair of runs home and surrendering a two-RBI single to Burke-Lee Mabeus (3-6, three RBI, three runs), who continues to be one of the hottest hitters alive. He threw 69 pitches in his 2.1-inning outing while allowing six runs on four hits while walking three and hitting three more. His disastrous outing earned him his first loss of the season. 

Just hours after his two-grand slam performance, Dominic Hellman (3-5, 4 RBI, four runs) came up with the bases loaded in the third inning. This time, however, he reached on a measly fielder’s choice, but two more runs came across on a pair of errors from the Lions’ third baseman. Ryan Cooney (4-4, 6 RBI, four runs) whalloped his first homer of the season to plate three as a part of a five-hit, nine-run third inning that put Oregon ahead 15-1. 

The Ducks got a pair of runs from a Molony homer as a part of a three-run fourth. The shortstop’s fourth of the season traveled over the PK Park scoreboard and added insult to injury. He went yard again in the fifth for his fifth, recording his fourth, fifth and sixth RBIs of the day. 

Reitz’s day ended after four innings of three-hit, one-run ball. He fanned six and walked two in his really solid outing. As long as Saturday’s contest was, he did everything he could to speed it up. 

Walsh (2-5, 5 RBI, four runs) tallied his fourth homer of the season as a part of an eight-run sixth frame. The Lions used four pitchers and it didn’t matter in the slightest. They walked a combined 10 hitters while plunking seven more. The Ducks plated eight in the sixth as the contest continued to get more and more comical. 

Carter Garate reached seven times on his 2-2 (four RBI) day, drawing two walks and getting plunked three times. Jax Gimenez — who didn’t enter until the sixth inning — recorded a 2-3 day. Oregon hit .532 on the day, .541 with runners on, .462 with two-outs and .586 with men in scoring position. Columbia threw 245 pitches. 

Michael Meckna came in for Reitz in the fifth. He threw three scoreless frames and allowed just two runners on 32 pitches, but both led to double-play balls that ended consecutive frames. Tanner Bradley and Isacc Evaniew both threw scoreless frames to cap off the win. 

Oregon emptied the bench in the closing innings. 14 different Ducks took at-bats in the clobbering and played musical chairs defensively.

The Ducks have now scored 55 runs in their last two games. Game Two of the doubleheader starts in a little less than an hour.

The post No. 11 Oregon baseball sets program record in 35-1 win over Columbia appeared first on Daily Emerald.

If you’ve ever thrown a baseball and live anywhere in New England, the Rhode Island Rams might just add you to their bullpen. 

The Ducks took advantage of 43 free passes on a weekend in which they outscored Rhode Island 46-26 to win the series 3-1. 

In doing so, No. 11 Oregon baseball — which remained steady in the polls after another 3-1 weekend — demonstrated that it can win in a variety of ways. 

“You’ve gotta be able to win in a lot of different ways,” Oregon head coach Mark Wasikowski said after the Ducks’ 19-12 win in Game Three. “You’ve gotta be able to win by hitting the ball over the fence, you’ve gotta be able to win by bunting sometimes or stealing a base. We showed that we can win in a different way today and that was the first time we’ve shown that.”

But this was one of the weirdest series of baseball that I’ve ever watched in my life. 

Let’s start with that first part: hitting the ball over the fence. Oregon did a great job of that this weekend, smacking seven homers. Mason Neville hit three, Anson Aroz had three and Burke-Lee Mabeus recorded his first collegiate homer with a grand slam in Game Four. 

Aroz also homered in Game Four in a walkoff to clinch the run-rule victory in seven innings. Neville had two of his three homers in Game Three while he and Aroz both recorded homers in Game One.

Three of the weekend’s four games saw at least 17 runs. Friday featured 23, Game Three had 31 and Game Four had 17. So, naturally, Game Two was 0-0 as the Ducks and Rams entered the 11th inning. 

Game Two was an obvious outlier on a weekend full of offensive explosions. Rhode Island’s Trystan Levesque threw 10 shutout innings, something I don’t think I’ll ever be lucky enough to see in-person again. 

“That guy’s really good,” Wasikowski said of Levesque. “There’s a reason why he shined in the Cape Cod League last summer. He’s a really good pitcher. He was as-advertised.”

He absolutely was. It was a mild shame to see his 119-pitch effort end in a no-decision. But, that Game Two marathon demonstrated that the Ducks can lean on their pitching staff for wins. Collin Clarke, Cole Stokes and Gabe Howard threw 11 scoreless frames to push the Ducks to a 1-0 win. 

So, even when the bats weren’t hot and the Rams weren’t walking the entire lineup, Oregon found ways to win. That’s the kind of flexibility that the Ducks need this year and have been somewhat lacking in the previous seasons. 

2023’s Super Regional team was almost exclusively offensive. 2024’s roster was a bit more balanced, but the defense and pitching was the strength of that squad. This year, it would seem in the early goings, the Ducks have a more-balanced team. Oregon can show up and score 19 runs, or it can outlast an opponent in 11 frames. That’s dangerous. 

Oh, and the Ducks have pitched as many shutouts (two) as games they’ve lost (two). 

Even when the Ducks fell short in a 12-11 loss in Game One, they showed unwavering resilience. At one point, Oregon trailed 12-4, but worked back within a run in the bottom of the ninth inning. 

Wasikowski isn’t one for feel-good losses, though. “We lost the game and we didn’t play well enough to win,” he said. True, but that late rally was an absolute turning point in the series, and the Ducks couldn’t have responded better. 

I think the Rams were a higher-quality opponent than many expected to trek into PK Park in mid February. Rhode Island came out and smacked the Ducks around early in Game One, and there were points of every game where it seemed the Rams could really mess up Oregon’s season. 

They just couldn’t throw strikes to save their lives. Aside from Levesque, Rhode Island’s pitching was atrocious. The only way the Rams can win games is by putting up an avalanche of runs, something they’ve done several times in the young season.

Not these Ducks. They can win in a variety of ways, something that will undoubtedly help them as the season progresses. They bunted, drove guys in (Jack Brooks had a pair of sacrifice flies) and stole bags. They were firing on all the cylinders that a top-ranked team needs to. 

Wasikowski will often praise his opponents. After all, he wants to make each Oregon win look as good as possible. After this series, he commended the Rams’ offense, Levesque’s efforts and Rhode Island’s flexibility on a rain-soaked weekend. 

I tend to actually agree with him on this one. It won’t look like it on the surface, but this was a dang good series win for the Ducks in the early season.

Ruth’s Three Stars:

First Star: Mason Neville – CF

The Ducks’ center fielder hit three homers, tallied five RBIs, scored nine runs and drew six walks while hitting .312 (5-16) on the weekend. He also played a solid defense, captaining an outfield that’s seen (already) countless formations through eight games. Neville was my third star last week, but stole the show in the Rhode Island series. 

Second Star: Trystan Levesque – LHP

For the first time this season, I have to give a nod to an opposing player. To throw 119 pitches in an outing at any point in the season is surprising. For him to do it in his second start of the season is absurd. I’ll be honest, I considered it mild malpractice to allow him to stretch himself like that, but he almost single-handedly earned the Rams a series split. Had he pulled it off, he may have been the top star.

Third Star: Jacob Walsh – 1B

As critical as I’ve been of Walsh in the past, he’s been very good this season offensively and with the glove. He became Oregon’s all-time leader in multi-RBI games (38) on Sunday as a part of his 6-17 (.352) weekend that featured four doubles, seven RBIs and three walks. Let it not be said that I won’t give credit where credit is due. Walsh is playing some of his best baseball right now. 

From the press box is a new series covering the ins and outs of each series the Ducks will play in 2025. This is the second edition of Brady Ruth’s new long-form coverage. Other pieces can be found on the baseball page of the Daily Emerald.

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The rain delay lasted longer than the game itself, but when the sun (kind of) came out, so did the Oregon bats. Anson Aroz and Burke-Lee Mabeus both smacked grand slams in the Ducks’ seven-inning, series-winning 15-2 victory over Rhode Island. 

“I thought we played a complete game,” Oregon head coach Mark Wasikowski said. 

The No. 11 Ducks (6-2, 0-0 Big Ten) took the series win over the Rams (3-4) on a record-breaking day from Mabeus and Jacob Walsh. 

The Rams looked primed to jump on freshman pitcher Will Sanford right away. Three walks and double gave Rhode Island an early 1-0 lead and a golden bases-loaded, no-out opportunity, but Sanford struck-out the next three hitters to limit the damage to the lone run. 

The Ducks worked a similar bases-loaded, no-out scenario in the bottom of the frame, but didn’t squander the gift like Rhode Island did. Maebus ripped a two-RBI single into left and Jax Gimenez brought a third run home with an RBI groundout, giving Sanford a lead to protect. 

Unfortunately, he responded by walking the first two batters of the second inning and hitting another. With the bases loaded, he worked another Harry Houdini act, getting a double-play ball to end the threat. Rhode Island stranded five runners through the first two innings, but only had one hit to show for its seven baserunners. 

The third inning was halted by a two-hour, 55-minute rain delay that knocked both starters out of the game. Sanford finished with 2.1 innings of two-hit, two-run ball with five walks and four strikeouts. He threw 57 pitches in his no decision.

“We spent some time in the locker room,” Aroz said of the delay. “We watched some YouTube videos of some old games, just doing things that college baseball players do in the locker room.”

Just dudes being dudes, watching baseball. 

Four hours and forty minutes after the game started, Mabeus launched his first collegiate homer out to right in grand fashion. The freshman catcher unloaded on a pitch and sent a frozen rope off into the Ducks’ bullpen. Through four innings, Mabeus was 3-3 with six RBIs — the first player with six since Chase Meggers against Stanford in 2024. 

“It was awesome,” Mabeus said. “Having the bases loaded was a pretty coole time to [hit my first-career homer]. I came back to the dugout and my teammates were pretty pumped for me, so it was just a great experience.”

Just as they had all weekend, the Ducks took advantage of Rhode Island’s awful pitching control. The Rams’ staff issued 12 free passes on Sunday (10 walks and two hit-by-pitches) in their third-straight loss. 

Nine of those free passes came to the Ducks’ first three hitters. Mason Neville walked three times while Dominic Hellman and Walsh both drew a pair of walks and got plunked to get on base. 

Neville also doubled twice and reached base five times one day after his two-homer performance in Saturday’s 19-12 win. He’s up to hitting .344 on the young season. 

Walsh brought a pair of runs home in the fifth with his third RBI double in two games. With that double, he became Oregon’s all-time leader in multiple-RBI games. Walsh has a team-leading 13 RBIs with a .333 average in 2025. 

“It’s pretty cool,” Walsh said of the record. “I didn’t even really know it was a stat until they put it on the board.”

Michael Mecka came in for Sanford after the rain delay and dazzled in his collegiate debut. Across his 3.2 scoreless innings, he only allowed two hits and two hits while fanning two. He also threw 57 pitches on Sunday. 

“It felt great,” Mecka said. “It was good to get out there and it’s good knowing you’ve got a good defense behind you.”

Jaxon Jordan took over on the mound to make his season debut in the seventh. He worked the game’s first 1-2-3 frame. Five of the Ducks’ seven leadoff hitters reached base to start their respective innings. The final one came on an infield single by Carter Garate, who came around to score on Aroz’s game-ending grand slam. 

With the run rule in effect, the Ducks and the Rams called it a series. Oregon now holds a 3-1 all-time record over Rhode Island. The Ducks are back in action next week against Columbia. The two squads will start a four-game series on Friday at 3:05 pm. 

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