Bruins crush Oregon in series opener while Ducks look for a bounce back

In Big Ten baseball, UCLA is a juggernaut, 25-0 in conference play, No. 1 in the country, 16-0 overall on the road.

Last night they run-ruled the Ducks in Los Angeles, 11-1 in seven innings, with two runs in the first and four in the fourth. Bruin first baseman Mulivai Levu smacked two home runs. Duck pitchers walked five and hit two batters. The Ducks made a pair of errors and left seven runners on base.

After the game head coach Mark Wasikowski took his team out to right field for a lecture.

" What I told them is, ‘Think about this one', This one should hurt. It shouldn’t just be a put-your-cleats-in-the-bag-and-get-on-to-the-next-one kind of thing. You should process this one. You should rehearse it in your brain so by the time you go to bed tonight, then you can get it out of your system and you can show up tomorrow and have some competitiveness."

Mike Wasilkowski

At 35-13 the Ducks are a decent team, slotted No. 13 in the latest D-1 rankings. They're in sight of hosting a regional in the NCAA Tournament, but need a strong finish to lock one up.

Wasikowski and his crew have two games remaining in L.A. against the first-place Bruins. The series continues with a 6:32 p.m. PT game tonight on the Big Ten Network, wrapping up Sunday at noon.

They take a few days off before a Thursday-Friday-Saturday home date with the Trojans at PK Park, then the conference tournament. It all counts for seeding. The league standings remain a tenacious battle for second, third and fourth:

Big Ten Baseball Standings through Friday night:

UCLA 25-0

Nebraska 18-7

USC 19-8

Oregon 17-8

Purdue 16-9

With four games to go and then the league tournament, the Ducks need some wins to stay on the road to Omaha. They need to get the bats going again, led by Ryan Cooney, Drew Smith and Angel Laya. Somehow, shortstop Maddox Molony has to rediscover his 2025 form; he's struggled this season hitting just .243 after getting hit by a pitch back in March, injuring his hand.

After hitting 15 home runs last year and leading the team in hitting in 2024, the Academic All-American from Thurston High is showing signs of snapping back from it. Six days ago against Washington he clubbed a pair of homers, 3-3 with six RBIs.

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