The lights have come on. This was a day game. The PK Park faithful is still bigger than normal. The Big Ten regular season has extended five innings longer than we thought.
Coming off two hard-fought games against each other, the No.16 Oregon Ducks (38-15, 20-10) and No.17 USC Trojans (42-14, 20-10) expected nothing different. And that’s exactly what they got. Another extra-innings affair led to a 6-5 walk-off win for the Ducks.
In the bottom of the first, a leadoff single by junior second baseman Ryan Cooney and a hit by pitch to freshman outfielder Angel Laya created a chance for the Ducks to strike first. Senior third baseman Drew Smith brought home Cooney on an RBI groundout, and just seven pitches later, the lead doubled thanks to a single off the bat of freshman utilityman Brayden Jaksa, bringing home Laya.
In the second, junior shortstop Maddox Molony kept the momentum, delivering a solo home run into the USC bullpen. His seventh longball of the year made it 3-0 in Oregon’s favor. But the inning wasn’t over, as Smith collected his second RBI in as many innings, bringing home Cooney on an RBI single. This effectively ended the Trojan starting pitcher, Diego Velazquez’s day.
“I’m actually more pumped about his double,” Oregon’s acting head coach Jack Marder said after the game. “We’re gonna need him [in the postseason].”
The Trojans would fight back in the top of the third, when sophomore catcher Richard Tejeda hit his second home run of the year over the USC bullpen, but that would be all the offense USC could muster.
In the fifth, the Ducks found themselves with a runner on first and just one out. But a ground ball off Tejeda's bat turned into a gorgeous double play, and Oregon got out of the inning.
With one out in the top of the sixth, USC’s junior infielder Adrian Lopez crushed a home run into the Oregon bullpen, and made it a one-run ballgame. This effectively ended junior left-handed starter Miles Gosztola’s day as Marder motioned to the bullpen, out of which junior lefty Toby Twist would come, and set down the USC hitters in order.
The Oregon half of the sixth inning would bring more offense, this time coming in the form of a double by Laya, scoring junior outfielder Jack Brooks. But they couldn’t capitalize with Cooney on third after an intentional walk, while Laya remained on second until the third out.
The stranded runners proved crucial in the seventh inning, as Kevin Takeuchi hit a two-out, two-run shot, tying the game at 5.
And with both offenses sputtering, it stayed that way for a very, very, long time.
In the top of the ninth inning, senior righty Devin Bell went out for his second inning of work and was immediately threatened by a single and double, coming courtesy of junior shortstop Dean Carpentier and freshman outfielder Walter Urbon, respectively. But Bell was able to get out of it, freezing Takeuchi on an 0-2 fastball down the middle, and the PK Park faithful erupted.
The eruption wouldn’t last long, however, because in the bottom of the ninth, the Ducks went down in order, forcing extra innings for the second time this weekend.
Bell, now out for a third inning of work a day after recording five outs, kept the game knotted at 5 with a perfect inning.
Everything seemed to be going in Oregon’s favor when freshman catcher Burke-Lee Mabeus worked a leadoff walk, and two batters later, Brooks moved him to second, putting a runner in scoring position with just one out. Senior utilityman Josh Schleichardt pinch-hit for Miranda, but struck out swinging, turning the lineup over, and bringing Cooney to the plate with the game on the line. But he flew out to left field, meaning the game headed to the eleventh inning for the second time in three days.
Bell came out for a fourth inning of work and kept dealing. A two-out single didn’t faze him, as he struck out two more, bringing his strikeout total to seven on the day, where it would remain.
But the following innings brought little to no excitement.
Come the fourteenth inning, and the energy is starting to fade. The stands have cleared out, and the dugout has become restless, creating a “fake Waz,” imitating their head coach, Mark Wasikowski.
But when a one-out infield single from Jaksa led to a subsequent stolen base, the crowd got back into it. One batter later, freshman designated hitter Nauvilou Lauaki Jr. grounded out, moving Jaksa to third.
Two outs.
It all came down to Mabeus. He saw the bunt sign. The bunt hung in the air for a split second, and the crowd held its breath. Jaksa whizzed by and scored. The crowd was ecstatic. The throw from the third baseman went wide, and Mabeus was the hero.
“We work on it every day,” Mabeus said when asked about his heroic walk-off following the game. “We do it for moments like that, so I was excited for it.
Fourteen innings of baseball concluded with a walk-off bunt, and Mabeus ran off into center field, chased by his entire team. And “fake Waz.”
With this win, the Ducks clinched the 3rd seed in the Big Ten Tournament, one ahead of USC.
The Big Ten Tournament runs May 19-24 at Charles Schwab Field in Omaha, NE.