Feature piece by Charlie Martindale on sophomore starting pitcher Will Sanford is available now!
EUGENE, Ore. — The No. 11 Oregon Ducks (42-16, 20-10 Big Ten) and the Washington State Cougars (31-27, 15-9 Mountain West) faced off in the opening game of the Eugene Regional winner’s bracket on Saturday night, and the Ducks asserted their dominance accordingly with a 4-0 win.
The narrative switched multiple times throughout the game. An instant classic pitchers’ duel preceded a mad dash for an insurance run that ended with a flourish.
Both starting pitchers began the game strong, each facing the minimum through two innings. Oregon’s sophomore righty Will Sanford did so by way of the strikeout, while Washington State’s senior righty Luke Meyers pitched to contact.
Sanford’s early strikeouts included two of senior shortstop Gavin Roy in the first and fourth innings.
“I thought he was good,” Roy recalled. “Early, he attacked with the fastball, and did good establishing that, and then did a good job working his other stuff off it.”
When a pitch hit Washington State’s junior catcher Cam MacLeod, it produced the game’s first baserunner. MacLeod proceeded to steal second, recording just his second stolen base of the year, and first since March 13.
But Sanford made sure MacLeod didn’t advance again, striking out freshman outfielder Trevor Smith in a laborious 10-pitch at-bat.
Even with all of Sanford’s prowess on the mound, it was Meyers who dominated the early story. He was perfect through his first 4 ⅓ innings, continuing to pitch to contact without allowing Oregon hitters to work counts.
It wasn’t until the fourteenth Oregon plate appearance of the game that a Duck saw a pitch he liked, when freshman catcher Burke-Lee Mabeus launched a one-out double into the right field power alley. Mabeus, standing on second base, rallied the PK Park faithful, which reached its loudest of the day to that point.
Two batters later, Maddox Molony worked a two-out walk, which prompted a mound visit from Washington State head coach Nathan Choate.
With the struggling sophomore outfielder Jax Gimenez coming to the plate, the inning appeared lost — the game destined to remain scoreless.
“Yeah, I just really wanted the moment,” Gimenez said following the game. “Really excited to come through for the team.”
But Meyers remained rattled, as Gimenez shook off an 0-for-3 game yesterday and roped a single through the right side, bringing home Mabeus and giving the Ducks the lead.
The long inning appeared to wear on Sanford, as he went back out and didn’t look quite as sharp. His no-hitter was broken up with two outs, as MacLeod found his way on base for the second time of the evening courtesy of a smash through the left side. But Sanford was able to wriggle out of the jam, as he has all year, and struck out sophomore shortstop Kyler Northrop to end the frame.
Both pitchers carried on business as usual. Meyers kept shutting the Oregon offense down by pitching to contact.
Sanford kept missing bats. By the time the seventh inning rolled around, he sat at 99 pitches, but assistant coach Matt Florer sent him out for an encore.
“Going into the sixth, we were like ‘empty the tank here,’ but it was a great 1-2-3 inning,” Sanford remarked after the game. “I was just really excited to go back out there.”
It took an excited Sanford five pitches to strike out his 14th batter of the day, which set a new career high, and equaled former Oregon starter Jason Reitz’s total against Utah Valley one year ago to the day.
But a subsequent walk spelled the end of Sanford’s day. Head coach Mark Wasikowski made the long walk out to the mound, where he shook Sanford’s hand and sent him to the dugout with a standing ovation from the sell-out crowd.
Both bullpens picked up where the starters left off. A scoreless eighth inning put both clubs on edge, as the game remained 1-0. A potential ninth-inning insurance run was more than necessary for Oregon.
Freshman outfielder Angel Laya put his best foot forward when roping a leadoff single, and Brayden Jaksa put the Cougars in an unenviable position, working a four-pitch walk to give the Ducks their best chance all evening. A fielder’s choice off the bat of Mabeus put runners at the corners, and that brought up freshman designated hitter Naulivou Lauaki Jr.
“It’s a fresh slate,” Lauaki said after the contest. “We’re gonna do whatever we can do to win.”
Friday’s grand slam hero, Lauaki, boasts some of the most prodigious power in college baseball, and he showed it off, going the opposite way to blast a monster home run when his team needed it most for the second day in a row.
Lauaki celebrated all around the bases, as the PK faithful erupted arguably the loudest it has all year.
After a lockdown ninth inning from senior righty Devin Bell, Oregon sealed the 4-0 victory and went home, heads held high for the second straight day.
Game 5 of the Eugene Regional will come at 1 p.m. on Saturday, in which Washington State takes on Oregon State, before Game 6 at 6 p.m., in which Oregon takes on Game 5’s victor.