9 hours Ago By Joe Freeman
EUGENE — As he analyzed his team’s tone-setting series-opening victory on Friday night, Oregon baseball coach Mark Wasikowski stressed that the Ducks had not yet come close to showing their immense potential. “We’ve got a good record, like, a really good record ..
.,” he said. “But they still feel like they’re way better than what we’ve shown on a consistent basis.
You’ve got to put a complete product together on a consistent basis for us to be able to make that claim. And so until we can show that on a regular basis, people are going to question it. And they’ve got a right to.
“But the locker room feels like they got a lot more to show.” It would be pretty hard to top what the No. 13 Ducks showed Saturday night.
Oregon handed the rival Oregon State Beavers their worst defeat of the season, administering an embarrassing 13-1 back-alley beat-down before 4,278 at PK Park in Eugene. The Ducks blasted four home runs, put crooked numbers on the scoreboard in five different innings, and rode another dominant starting pitching performance to their fourth consecutive win in the rivalry series, clinching their first weekend series triumph over the Beavers since 2021. Oregon (29-12) entered the series looking to pad its postseason resume and reinforce the internal belief that it is capable of making a special late-season run.
The Ducks did that and then some on Saturday, when they chased electric OSU right-hander Dax Whitney after three innings, built a commanding 9-0 lead and scored in five of the first six innings, blasting their way to the most lopsided win over the Beavers since resurrecting the baseball program in 2009. “It’s nice to win the series in the first two games, but we’re after the sweep,” Ducks center fielder Mason Neville said. “So taking the win, brushing it off and maintaining the mindset we’ve had the past two games of just dominating every pitch and continuing to do that.
That’s the best way to go about it and we plan on doing that tomorrow.” The Ducks opened up a 2-0 lead seven pitches into the bottom of the first inning, when No. 2 hitter Dominic Hellman belted a first-pitch fastball to deep center field for a two-run home run.
It was only the beginning. Oregon went on to blast three more homers, as Neville, Jacob Walsh and Maddox Molony each added two-run shots, punctuating an explosive performance. Eight different Ducks recorded a hit and four finished with multi-hit nights.
Drew Smith went 3 for 4 with a triple and two RBIs, Ryan Cooney finished 3 for 5 with two runs scored, Molony went 2 for 5 with three RBIs and Hellman went 2 for 4 with two RBIs and two runs scored. Neville and Walsh hit their second homers of the series and Neville’s was his nation-leading 21st of the season. All the while, sophomore right-hander Collin Clarke (3-2) bewildered the Beavers (32-9) for six impressive innings, allowing just one run and four hits to earn his first win since March 15.
Clarke, who finished with four strikeouts, carried a shutout into the sixth inning and retired 11 consecutive batters during one dominant stretch. Whitney (3-3), on the other hand, struggled to control a 97-mph fastball and throw his curveball for strikes on the way to one of his worst outings of the season. He surrendered four runs, four hits and four walks in three innings, taking it on the chin in what OSU coach Mitch Canham called a “learning moment.
” “Our lineup in general is pretty special,” Neville said. “I think we have the chance to really do some big things this year. And I mean, to go out and have your 1-2-3 all hit two-run home runs, it’s pretty tough to do.
It just puts pressure on the other team and puts pressure on the pitcher. And, I mean, they don’t want to throw to us, it seems like. So, yeah, it’s a lot of fun to be a part of winning by 12.
” As for the Beavers, there wasn’t much fun in the third base dugout at PK Park. And when the team gathered for a lengthy postgame chat in left field to dissect the debacle, it was one of the topics Canham addressed. “I’ve noticed we play our best when our guys are having a lot of fun,” he said.
“Being behind in the games, yeah, that can create difficulty having fun or opening up to that. But what really creates fun is knowing that you have those guys next to you, that you’re playing baseball, that you’re part of the best program in the country. “We were punched in the mouth pretty hard.
Now it’s time to take this as a learning moment to bring us closer together, not further apart.” Next up: The Beavers and Ducks finish their weekend series Sunday afternoon at PK Park. First pitch is scheduled for 12:05 p.
m. — Joe Freeman | [email protected] | 503-294-5183 | @BlazerFreeman | @freemanjoe.
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