Sports

EUGENE, Ore. ‌— The Oregon Ducks baseball team faced off against the George Mason University Patriots in the fourth and final matchup of the series. Oregon secured the sweep, beating George Mason 11-1 on the back of great pitching and excellent hitting. 

Oregon took the first three games in dominant fashion, outscoring George Mason 34-11. Its offensive explosion was aided by true freshman Angel Laya and veteran senior Drew Smith, who both crushed two home runs headed into the last game of the series.

The Ducks started junior Ryan Featherston for the first time this season. The Patriots started graduate student Thomas Wrehe, a Rice University…

Every player is on the dugout fence. Over the fans, you can hear a band of teammates, who all wear the same pinstriped, green and white jersey. The Ducks are hungry. They want more than the No. 23 label, slapped onto them by USA Today before the season.

They return junior shortstop Maddox Molony, who was named to the preseason Golden Spikes watch list, and is widely projected to go late in the first round of the MLB draft this year. The hometown kid boasts a .969 OPS over his two seasons at PK Park and only looks to improve in 2026.

The Ducks also return senior designated hitter Dominic Hellman, a real threat to lead the NCAA in home runs, a year after hitting .326 with 13 bombs. He started his season off on Friday with a second-inning home run and tacked on a single in the second inning of Game 1 on Saturday.

Not to mention junior second baseman Ryan Cooney, who finished off his 2025 with two Big Ten Player of the Week honors in the last three weeks, propelling…

EUGENE, Ore. – Despite a quick start from George Mason, Oregon answered in the second inning and rode the wave to a dominant win in Game 1 of the doubleheader, 14-5.

Junior Collin Clarke received the start for the Ducks. He pieced together a strong outing, tossing six innings, giving up three hits, two home runs, and striking out 10. 

“It felt great going out there,” Clarke said, reflecting on his outing. “All pitches were in the zone, and that was the main focus.”

One of his two runs came on the second pitch of the game, when George Mason freshman Julius Bagnerise went deep to right, a lightning start for the Patriots.

The Ducks' response: a nine-run second inning, blowing the contest wide open. Freshman Angel Laya started the show with a two-run homer to right, the first of his collegiate career. Oregon, feeding off that energy, proceeded to dominate the inning.

Left fielder Jax Gimenez tacked on another with an RBI single up the middle.…

Fresh off the heels of a 14-5 victory in Game 1 of the doubleheader, the No. 23 Oregon Ducks crushed the George Mason Patriots 14-4 on Saturday afternoon.

Sophomore pitcher Cal Scolari got the start, sitting the top of the lineup down in order in the first inning, working around a one-out walk by picking off the runner.

The second inning brought some more fireworks, as Scolari found himself in trouble with two runners in scoring position after two walks and a sacrifice bunt. But a stellar catch from junior utility man Jack Brooks in center field kept the game scoreless after an inning and a half.

The first run of the game would come when junior second baseman Ryan Cooney scored on an overthrown back pick from George Mason catcher Vincent Cowd. 

In the third inning, Maddox Molony connected on a hanging breaking ball and sent it to the parking lot for his first bomb of the year. Not to be outdone, Drew Smith unloaded one onto the roof of the training…

EUGENE, Ore. – The Bushnell Beacons came searching for their first win in their four-game home stretch on Friday night. In their toughest matchup of the season, they fell short to 14th-ranked Eastern Oregon, losing their third straight home game, 64-54.

Despite the loss, the women fought hard from start to finish. They held Eastern Oregon to just 14 percent shooting from the field in the first quarter, including 10 percent from the three. Bushnell attacked the paint heavily in the first half, as it scored 18 out of its first 26 points in the paint. 

It still wasn’t enough to stop Eastern Oregon. The Mountaineers held onto the 30-26 lead from the first half and never let go. They forced seven turnovers in the second half against the Beacons, made 11 trips to the line putting Bushnell in foul trouble, and improved their shooting from beyond the arc to 23 percent by the end of the game.

Kali Kast led in scoring for Eastern Oregon with 15 points. Her teammate,…

SPRINGFIELD, Ore. — It was an overcast Friday the 13th at Thurston High School, where the 8-12 Colts took on the 17-4 and defending 5A state champion, Crater Comets.

Thurston came into this game on a three-game losing streak that stretched all the way to Jan. 30th, in its win over Ashland. Meanwhile, Crater had been hot as of late, winning its last three games, all in dominant fashion. The two teams’ previous meeting earlier this year resulted in a 61-19 Crater victory on Jan. 16th. 

Crater was ranked as the third best team in 5A going into this one according to OSAA, hoping to add another victory to its already promising season, and continue its quest of winning back-to-back state championships. Thurston was rated as the 18th best team coming into the game, on the outside looking in, when talking about playoff implications.

Early full-court pressure from Crater was a lot to handle for Thurston early on, resulting in a 25-0 Comet run to start the game, led by…

EUGENE, Ore. – It was the fifth inning of Oregon’s 2026 season opener against George Mason, and junior center fielder Jack Brooks laid down a perfect bunt. Brooks got in safely to first, and a bad throw from the Patriots’ third baseman allowed freshman right fielder Angel Laya to score all the way from second. That play gave the Ducks their sixth run of the game, and their last one, as they beat George Mason by a final score of 6-2.

“I thought Jack Brooks played real well,” Oregon head coach Mark Wasikowski said. “He had the game under control all night.”

The Ducks entered this season after an unfortunate end to last year, when they lost three in a row while hosting a super regional. But Oregon’s lineup looks much different from just a year ago, as 22 new players joined the team, a mix of freshmen and transfers. Leading the way for the newcomers was Angel Laya, who picked up three hits in his first three collegiate at-bats. 

“Mentally, he’s good,” senior…

COOS BAY, Ore. — Freshman guard Max Ainsworth went off for 40 and the Marshfield Pirates (13–7, 6–2 4A) cruised to a 74–40 victory over the Cottage Grove Lions (5–16, 3–6 4A) at Hoffine Court on Friday night.

Twenty-six of Ainsworth’s points came in the first half of action, and the Pirates held a 47–19 stranglehold over the Lions halfway through the contest. They never looked back.

“I think that the team galvanises around it, and one of our mantras is that everybody’s success is everybody’s success,” Marshfield head coach Jesse Ainsworth said. “So if I score, I score. You get a stop, I get a stop. If you get a steal, I get a steal. We talk about five becoming one, and Max [Ainsworth] just had it going early, and he got a hot hand. You know, as a freshman, he’s pretty talented.”

Junior guard/forward Keller Vilyard scored 13 points. Sophomore guard Brett Butler Jr. added eight more. Marshfield has now strung together six consecutive wins.

Sophomore forward…

Week 3 of the NAIA Baseball season kicked off on a cloudy Friday in Springfield, as the Bushnell Beacons took on the Saint Martin’s Saints in a doubleheader. The Beacons came into the weekend with a 5-3 record after splitting the four-game series last weekend against The Masters University Mustangs. 

The Beacons looked to stay more consistent on offense as they were shut out in both losses to the Mustangs. One of the struggles so far this season for Bushnell has been leaving runners on base. Coming into this series, they had left 65 runners stranded, so they needed to take a leap with their offense. 

Saint Martin’s entered the weekend 2-5 with a two-game losing streak that they hoped to bring to an end. The Saints needed the bats to get hot to get back to .500, as they are yet to hit a home run on the season and only have seven extra-base hits. 

Game 1: Bushnell 9, Saint Martin’s 1

Austin Wolfe started this Friday the…

COOS BAY, Ore. — Senior forward Makya Alsup finished with a team-leading 22 points in only three quarters of action, and the Cottage Grove Lions (12–9, 4–5 4A) snapped their three-game losing streak with a 56–23 victory over the Marshfield Pirates (3–18, 0–9 4A) at Hoffine Court on Friday evening.

Nine of Alsup’s points came in the second quarter, and it helped the Lions pull away in a game where they only led by three after the first.

“Well, because nobody on their team could stop her,” Cottage Grove head coach Kim Beer said. “[Alsup] is a great team player, she’s not used to taking shots all the time, but when she does, she can hurt them.”

Lions’ Senior guard Mariah Bailey added 13 more to the total against the same Pirates team that she scored her 1,000th career point against back in January. Cottage Grove won that game 57–32, and it was their last win until tonight.

Junior forward Alicia Perez led Marshfield in scoring with eight points, but the effort…