Written and Audio Stories by Wilder Lewis

The Ducks pulled off the sweep in their final PAC-12 regular season game ever, on Saturday, beating Washington State 10-4, they were able to get the win, on senior day, thanks to big performances from Mason Neville, Maddox Molony and Kevin Seitter. 

Oregon came into the game today having beat WSU in both of the first two games of the series by scores of 9-2 and 8-4. On Friday the Ducks were off to a slow start finding themselves down 2-1 after 7. Luckily the damage was nothing substantial thanks to another great outing from Grayson Grinsell who went 6 innings and had 11 strikeouts. Oregon however didn’t buckle and in the 8th, with the help of Walsh and Molony’s RBI hits they were able to take the lead 5-4. Lastly, Boettcher would step up and crush a 3-run HR to LF to secure the win for the Ducks who looked to carry that momentum into today’s game. 

Things today started more or less the same as yesterday for the Ducks as it was a back-and-forth battle of defense. Kevin Seitter was able to get off to a hot start picking up 4 K’s in his first 3 innings. Oregon was also making some great plays to back him up though as catcher Bennett Thompson picked off a steal attempt from second. Then to end the 3rd, Mason Neville would make a Sports Center top 10 worthy play throwing out the runner coming home from RF. Neville wouldn’t be done though as in the bottom of the same inning he would turn the tides by opening the scoring for the Ducks, launching his 3rd Hr in as many games deep over the RF bullpen to give the Ducks an early 2-0 lead. 

It didn’t take long for the Cougars to respond though as in the top of the 4th they would get 2 runners on. Then 3 quality at-bats from their six, seven, and eight batters would find 3 straight runs coming across the board giving them the lead 4-3. The WSU lead wouldn’t last long though as in the bottom of the same inning, SS Maddox Molony would launch another deep ball for the Ducks taking on two more runs on 0 outs. Then with bases loaded Neville would send one deep to the warning track advancing all the runners and bringing home one more run giving the Ducks a 5-3 lead before the inning would end. 

Oregon then added another 2 big runs in the 5th thanks to a Carter Garate 2 out 2 RBI double extending the lead to 7-3. The Cougs would respond right back though as Alan Shibley launched one deep into center field forcing an end to Kevin Seitter’s day. Oregon would get it right back though as Neville sends another ball out of the park for his 4th HR in three days. Things would quiet down for both teams after this inning as the Cougars wouldn’t score again and the Ducks would only tack on a few more in the 8th after an RBI single from Hellman and some poor pitching from WSU. 

Oregon finally pulled off the sweep in conference play giving them a huge boost as they go into the final PAC-12 tournament where they look to go back to back. 

Written story by Isaac Dubey

Audio story by Cuinn Huber

EUGENE, Ore. – No. 20 Oregon Ducks (37-16, 17-11 Pac-12) came from behind in the bottom of the eighth inning to catapult themselves to an 8-4 win in the second game of the series against Washington State (21-32, 9-19 Pac-12) at PK Park on Saturday. Being down three runs to start the inning, the Ducks accumulated seven runs and cycled through four Cougar pitchers in the inning.

Center fielder Bryce Boettcher, who had a three-run home run to cap off the scoring eruption, said the mentality in the dugout was to “get the next guy out of the bullpen,” and “the more arms you see the better chances you have for the next day.”

Oregon struggled to get batters on base the majority of the night, but pitcher Grayson Grinsell (7-2) kept the Cougars in check with 11 strikeouts and only allowed two runs in the first six innings.

Head coach Mark Wasikowski said Grinsell did some “tinkering” on his slider and curveball this week and continues to improve. “He was an outfielder in high school that pitched and now he’s a pitcher that dreams of being an outfielder,” Coach Wasikowski said after the game.

In the second inning, Maddox Molony scored as Chase Meggers was caught trying to steal second. This was Oregon’s lone run scored before the eighth inning. This was also the first of two times the Ducks would end an inning trying to steal second base.

The Cougars would eventually find life and score in the fifth inning with a solo home run from Joey Kramer. It was his 11th this season and second in the series. After Grinsell walked two batters in the sixth, the Cougars scored another runner with a hit from Logan Johnstone. Washington State then began to add to its lead in the top of the eighth inning off of a two-RBI single from Alan Shibley.

This set up for the dramatic finish Oregon would pull off in the bottom of the eighth. The Ducks racked up seven runs, five hits, three hit-by-pitch calls and one walk in the inning. The inning was highlighted by Jacob Walsh’s two-RBI double, Molony’s two-RBI single and Boettcher’s three-run home run which put the nail in the coffin.

Now that Oregon has won the first two games of the series, it will look to complete its first conference series sweep this season on Saturday.

“We might need to sacrifice a live chicken somewhere or a rooster. We need to do something where we can get this done tomorrow,” Coach Wasikowski said of the final game of the series.

The Ducks’ Senior Day and final game of the regular season will be Saturday at 12:05 p.m. at PK Park.