EUGENE, Ore. — Game 2 of the Eugene Regional featured nothing if not excitement as the No. 11 Oregon Ducks beat the Yale Bulldogs into a pulp by the score of 14-2.
It was the Ducks’ (41-16, 20-10 Big Ten) and the Bulldogs’ (30-14-1, 17-6-1 Ivy) first-ever meeting, a situation that led to a light-hearted overall feeling in PK Park.
Game 1 of Oregon’s sixth straight postseason appearance coincided with Yale’s first postseason appearance since 2017, when it was flattened by a juggernaut Oregon State squad at the Corvallis Regional. Eugene celebrated its seventh time being a stop on the road to Omaha since 2009 with a thunderous offensive showing.
The game started uncomfortably for the Ducks, with sophomore righty Cal Scolari allowing three consecutive two-out walks before striking Yale’s junior second baseman Collin Sloan out to escape the jam.
Oregon didn’t take the threat lightly and rattled off three straight hits, the last of which came off the bat of freshman first baseman Brayden Jaksa, scoring the game’s first run. Just three batters later, junior shortstop Maddox Molony drilled a single to the same spot as Jaksa’s, making the game 3-0.
Scolari couldn’t settle in, his pitch count rising quickly and his command continuing to be shaky. Five walks in the first four innings meant nothing, as Yale couldn’t capitalize, thrice stranding runners in scoring position.
“We wanted to drive the pitch count up,” Yale’s junior utilityman Garrett Larsen said after the game. “We had a lot of success [with that] in the early innings.”
Oregon’s lead was extended courtesy of four straight baserunners, as junior utilityman Jack Brooks legged out an infield single, and subsequently scored on a double off the bat of junior second baseman Ryan Cooney. A single by senior third baseman Drew Smith brought Cooney home, making the score 5-0.
“To get a lead early is a really big key,” Oregon’s seventh-year head coach Mark Wasikowski said. “I was impressed with the fact that our guys were able to pull away in the game.”
The insurance runs meant Scolari, whose pitch count sat at 89 through four innings, could come back out and face a few more hitters. But Scolari put runners on the corners with just one out, and his day was done. Sophomore righty Luke Morgan came in to relieve Scolari and sat down the first two hitters he faced, as Yale stranded two more runners in scoring position.
The onslaught of Oregon offense continued in the fifth inning, when, on the fourteenth pitch of his at-bat, freshman outfielder Angel Laya roped a two-out, two-strike single off Yale’s weary sophomore righty Jack Ohman after battling for 14 pitches. The throw from right field sailed into foul territory on the third base side, allowing Laya to reach third base, and sophomore utilityman Jax Gimenez to score from first.
Yale showed signs of life offensively in the sixth inning, as sophomore outfielder Brady Ruiz-Weiss hit his first collegiate home run into the Oregon bullpen, making the score 6-2. The Bulldogs, whose lineup sports the second-fewest home runs in the Ivy League, cleared the dugout to congratulate Ruiz-Weiss.
Yale loaded the bases again after the home run, but left them loaded once more.
The bullpens locked it down until the eighth inning, when a Laya double and a Smith bunt single paved the way for a Jaksa double, extending the Oregon lead to 7-2. Freshman catcher Burke-Lee Mabeus put runners on the corners and added to the Ducks' run total, now sitting at eight, which brought up freshman designated hitter Naulivou Lauaki Jr.
Lauaki proceeded to launch a 458-foot moonshot, extending the lead to 11-2, and putting the game out of reach for the Bulldogs.
Four batters later, with runners on first and second, Cooney launched a two-out double, tacking on two more runs. Cooney himself became the 14th run of the evening on the second Laya double of the inning.
The score would stay 14-2.
“We can start fresh tomorrow,” Wasikowski remarked. “1-0 was the goal.”
Game 3 of the Eugene Regional will come at noon on Saturday, in which Yale takes on Oregon State, before Game 4 at 5 p.m., in which Oregon takes on Washington State.