After Oregon State got dumped by the Cougars, on a night when No. 1-seed UCLA, No. 4-seed Auburn, No. 9-seed Southern Mississippi and No. 10-seed Florida State all lost, Oregon baseball took care of business with a 14-2 splattering of the Yale Bulldogs at PK Park Friday night.
In the fifth, freshman Angel Laya capped a 14-hit at-bat by crushing a ball off the right field wall to drive in Jax Giminez to give the Ducks a 6-0 lead.
ON THE 14TH PITCH OF THE AT-BAT!
— Big Ten Baseball (@B1Gbaseball) May 30, 2026
Angel Laya drills one off the wall to make it 6-0 @OregonBaseball
đź“ş: ESPN+ pic.twitter.com/wsWZigLvRq
Laya clubbed four of the Ducks' 18 hits in their opener at the Eugene Regional, joining senior third baseman Drew Smith, who also mashed four, all singles. But the biggest blow came in the eighth inning when Junior Lauaki sent the 1-0 pitch, a hanging curve, into the parking lot beyond left field, an absolute moon shot.
NAULIVOU LAUAKI JR DAGGGGGERRRRR 🔥🔥🔥
— 11Point7 College Baseball (@11point7) May 30, 2026
OREGON BLOWS IT OPEN. Ducks on their way to face Washington State tomorrow night pic.twitter.com/4RxvtS3Vdc
Naulivou's blast carried 456 feet and measured 109 mph off the bat.
Oregon's other fabulous freshman, catcher/first baseman Brayden Jaksa ripped a pair of doubles and drove in two, 3-4 on the night.
The game got a little nervous in the sixth when Yale closed within 6-2 after Brady Ruiz-Weiss homered off Collin Clarke, but junior lefthander Toby Twist shut it down with three innings of scoreless relief to earn the win, striking out five.
Ducks avoid first-round chaos as brackets bust all around the NCAA
The decisive win was a sharp contrast to the chaos in the first round around the country. At the College Station Regional USC fell to Texas State 5-4 with a costly error in the 9th inning. The Trojans booted a chopper to third to open the door, then gave up a two-run home run by Chase Mora.
Washington State's Nick Lewis cast a spell over the Beavers in the Eugene Regional opener, a complete game 3-2 win in which he struck out just one while scattering six hits. That sets up a winner's bracket game between the old PAC-12 rivals, 6 p.m. PT at PK Park, televised on ESPN+.
In their regional UCLA became the first overall No. 1-seed to lose their opener. On a day of upsets, Mark Wasikowski and the Ducks got big blows from their three fabulous freshmen to stay in the winner's bracket. Now they have a chance to take a commanding lead in their quest to advance to the Super Regional.
Their foe would likely be No. 6-seed Texas. At the Austin Regional the Longhorns swam past the deluge of upsets, demolishing Holy Cross 19-1 as freshman Anthony Pack Jr. blasted three home runs. They meet Tarleton State today for the opportunity to stay in the winner's side of the double elimination regional.
Add us as a preferred source on Google