OREGON ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | SUNDAY, MARCH 15, 2026 BASEBALL | @OregonBaseball Laya Delivers Walk-off to Clinch Series Sweep EUGENE, Ore. — Freshman Angel Laya delivered a one-out walk-off single to score Maddox Molony in the bottom of the ninth inning to complete a come-from-behind 7-6 win over Indiana in Big Ten Conference action on Sunday at PK Park. The win completed a series sweep for the Ducks. The Ducks trailed 6-1 before rallying for six runs over the final four innings. Molony started the ninth inning rally with a leadoff base on balls before Smith doubled inside the third-base bag to put runners at second and third. Indiana (7-12, 1-5 Big Ten) elected to pitch to Laya with first base open and the Ducks’ seven-hole hitter made the Hoosiers pay lacing a hard-hit ball between first and second scoring Molony with the winning run. How It Happened: Indiana touched up Oregon fill-in starter Josh Hollis for four runs in 1.1 innings to start the game. Tanner Bradley relieved Hollis with the bases loaded and one out while trailing 3-0. Bradley only allowed one of the inherited runners to score before getting out of the jam. The Ducks (17-3, 5-1 Big Ten) nearly got all four back in the bottom of the second. The Ducks loaded the bases with no outs but a near grand slam turned into a single scoring one run with a second runner thrown out at the plate. Burke-Lee Mabeus lined a shot off the top of the wall that immediately ricocheted to the right fielder who hit the first baseman for a relay throw that got Smith out trying to score from second. Indiana added two more runs in the third thanks to a pair of Oregon throwing errors on the same play. Bradley fielded a sacrifice bunt attempt and threw wild to first allowing the first run to score. Ryan Cooney tracked down the ball and then also threw wildly to first trying to get the batter who rounded the bag widely allowing the second run to score. Angel Laya after the celebration... After stranding a pair of runners in the third and fifth innings, Oregon finally got much-needed hits with runners in scoring position in the bottom of the sixth. Cooney lined a bases-clearing double into the right-field gap to score three and cut the lead to two. One out later, Dominic Hellman doubled to center field to score Cooney and make it a one-run game. Oregon tied it with a run in the bottom of the eighth. Josh Schleichardt started the rally with a five-pitch walk before being replaced by pinch runner Jack Brooks. Cooney moved Brooks to second with a base hit through the left side. Hellman followed with a clutch two-out chopper through the middle scoring Brooks from second. Box Score Notes: Cal Scolari, Oregon’s normal Sunday starter on the mound, missed the game with the flu … Smith extended his reached base streak to 20 games this season and 22 games dating back to 2025 … Oregon’s last walk-off to win a game came on March 21, 2025, when Parker Stinson delivered a game-winning sacrifice fly. On Deck: The Ducks host Northwestern on Friday to open a three-game series. First pitch is at 4:05 p.m. on B1G+. Quotes: Head Coach Mark Wasikowski On Angel Layas performance as a freshman… “He doesn’t act like a freshman. He’s a goliath, acted like an old guy. He looks like a pro, and it looks like if he continues his development he will be a really good pro. It’s a little early still on all that but he’s played very well and he went for it at the end. Lots of times a young guy might doubt himself or back down, he wasn’t scared at all.” On Drew Smith leading the team in RBI and home runs… “He’s a complete player. The bullpen was obviously a real story for us; the other real story was Drew Smith. You know there were offensive heroes. Dominic Hellman overcoming stuff to be able to have two really good at-bats, that’s mental toughness. He wasn’t having a great stretch, and yet when we needed him, he came through twice in the end. That’s leadership. Ryan Cooney, clutch, basis loaded, doubling the gap, that’s leadership. His best three at-bats were the last three at-bats. Drew Smith though, I think it was the third inning where he struck out in a big at-bat, and I think he got run up on a 3-2 count. The only thing that happened next was the next eight hitters came up to the plate for them, five of them shot rockets or balls right to Drews direction. He made every one of those plays, turned a double play, put-out on a double play, which was a rocket ship. Then, he made all the other challenging plays that were hit at him after his most negative part of the game. That’s mental toughness and leadership. That’s something I’m really lucky to be a part of, and I credit Drew Smith and the assistant coaches for helping him get to that mental state, that was special. That was one of the more mentally tough and special performances I’ve ever seen in my coaching career.” Toby Twists and overall team performance… “I thought Toby was really good. I thought Tanner (Bradley) limited the damage when he got in there, and he did a nice job. I thought the entire bullpen did a nice job. Tanner comes in and limits the damage and he extends it a bit, holds it. That was the mound visit that we took, and I don’t take very many mound visits, but when we’re stinking it up at home and we are trying to sweep somebody, and we didn’t get a quality start. We go out there and we are throwing the ball around the yard, it looks like a really bad, Bad News Bears game. The next thing you know, we had to reign guys in and go, hey let’s get over ourselves. We can’t do anything about how bad we’ve been so far, but if we shut them down from here on out, I think we are going to win this game. And sure enough, the guys believed it and as we went, you saw the productive at-bats and solid defensive plays. Without those defensive plays it could’ve gotten really loose. I’ve been a part of a lot of games where that thing gets really away from us because everybody’s quit already. That didn’t happen for us, and I was really happy with the guys to be able to do that.” Ryan Cooney drove in three runs! Dominic Hellman On having mature at-bats... “It was sweet. It was people setting the table before me that helped turn the lineup around. We had dudes all throughout the lineup that we can plug and play anywhere. That’s the neat thing about our team. There’s also a maturity part. Being in a regional and a super-regional, we’ve been there done that. I felt the place rocking today like it was a typical home regional which was sweet.” On Coach Wasikowski’s mid-game talk with the team... “He’s a temperature gauge for sure. He helps us calm down, and he’s a huge part of our success on and off the field whether that is baseball related or things off the field related. He a huge temp gauge for us in the sense that ‘Hey you guys got this and you guys are a good team. What happened, just flip it and get it done’.” On his double with two outs and two strikes... “The whole weekend they were spinning me and bluffing with heaters. I was reflecting and they weren’t landing their heaters that much, so I thought they were going to go to their go-to and try to get me out. As long as I saw it up, it was fine. I was nice and relaxed and just relaxed to it.” On a tide-changing moment in the game... “After Ryan Cooney’s double, I was like ‘we got this’. That moment solidified it. Even before we were getting momentum on our side by our relief pitchers coming in. They were being dominant and putting up zeros for us and holding them to that six for us to keep scoring.” Angel Laya On his walk-off win... “It means a lot. I’ve been preparing for that moment my whole life and I’m glad I was able to do it and do it for the team.” On his confidence at-bats... “I know I have good bat-to-ball skills. I was swinging at almost every pitch, and I got a good pitch today.” On close-game experiences... “It builds confidence. When you’re down six-to-one it’s all about not giving up and keeping our foot on the gas to keep moving.” Toby Twist On his thoughts of his performance... “I felt good from the start. I was trying to stay warmed up, ready to go, and trying to put my team in the best situation to win that game and I thought we did a good job.” On Drew Smith’s defensive performance... “He’s great. You don’t have to worry about anything because you have those guys behind you.” On Cal Scolari’s scratch and a good performance from the bullpen... “I think the bullpen was ready for today. Once we got the talk that Cal wasn’t going to start we got prepared for whatever was thrown at us.”
Can't have winners without losers. https://www.cbssports.com/college-basketball/news/2026-ncaa-tournament-bracket-reveal-winners-losers/
Bad news, no OBD. Good news, Altman keeps his no first round loss streak intact.
OREGON ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | SUNDAY, MARCH 15, 2026 BASEBALL | @OregonBaseball Laya Delivers Walk-off to Clinch Series Sweep EUGENE, Ore. — Freshman Angel Laya delivered a one-out walk-off single to score Maddox Molony in the bottom of the ninth inning to complete a come-from-behind 7-6 win over Indiana in Big Ten Conference action on Sunday at PK Park. The win completed a series sweep for the Ducks. The Ducks trailed 6-1 before rallying for six runs over the final four innings. Molony started the ninth inning rally with a leadoff base on balls before Smith doubled inside the third-base bag to put runners at second and third. Indiana (7-12, 1-5 Big Ten) elected to pitch to Laya with first base open and the Ducks’ seven-hole hitter made the Hoosiers pay lacing a hard-hit ball between first and second scoring Molony with the winning run. How It Happened: Indiana touched up Oregon fill-in starter Josh Hollis for four runs in 1.1 innings to start the game. Tanner Bradley relieved Hollis with the bases loaded and one out while trailing 3-0. Bradley only allowed one of the inherited runners to score before getting out of the jam. The Ducks (17-3, 5-1 Big Ten) nearly got all four back in the bottom of the second. The Ducks loaded the bases with no outs but a near grand slam turned into a single scoring one run with a second runner thrown out at the plate. Burke-Lee Mabeus lined a shot off the top of the wall that immediately ricocheted to the right fielder who hit the first baseman for a relay throw that got Smith out trying to score from second. Indiana added two more runs in the third thanks to a pair of Oregon throwing errors on the same play. Bradley fielded a sacrifice bunt attempt and threw wild to first allowing the first run to score. Ryan Cooney tracked down the ball and then also threw wildly to first trying to get the batter who rounded the bag widely allowing the second run to score. Angel Laya after the celebration... After stranding a pair of runners in the third and fifth innings, Oregon finally got much-needed hits with runners in scoring position in the bottom of the sixth. Cooney lined a bases-clearing double into the right-field gap to score three and cut the lead to two. One out later, Dominic Hellman doubled to center field to score Cooney and make it a one-run game. Oregon tied it with a run in the bottom of the eighth. Josh Schleichardt started the rally with a five-pitch walk before being replaced by pinch runner Jack Brooks. Cooney moved Brooks to second with a base hit through the left side. Hellman followed with a clutch two-out chopper through the middle scoring Brooks from second. Box Score Notes: Cal Scolari, Oregon’s normal Sunday starter on the mound, missed the game with the flu … Smith extended his reached base streak to 20 games this season and 22 games dating back to 2025 … Oregon’s last walk-off to win a game came on March 21, 2025, when Parker Stinson delivered a game-winning sacrifice fly. On Deck: The Ducks host Northwestern on Friday to open a three-game series. First pitch is at 4:05 p.m. on B1G+. Quotes: Head Coach Mark Wasikowski On Angel Layas performance as a freshman… “He doesn’t act like a freshman. He’s a goliath, acted like an old guy. He looks like a pro, and it looks like if he continues his development he will be a really good pro. It’s a little early still on all that but he’s played very well and he went for it at the end. Lots of times a young guy might doubt himself or back down, he wasn’t scared at all.” On Drew Smith leading the team in RBI and home runs… “He’s a complete player. The bullpen was obviously a real story for us; the other real story was Drew Smith. You know there were offensive heroes. Dominic Hellman overcoming stuff to be able to have two really good at-bats, that’s mental toughness. He wasn’t having a great stretch, and yet when we needed him, he came through twice in the end. That’s leadership. Ryan Cooney, clutch, basis loaded, doubling the gap, that’s leadership. His best three at-bats were the last three at-bats. Drew Smith though, I think it was the third inning where he struck out in a big at-bat, and I think he got run up on a 3-2 count. The only thing that happened next was the next eight hitters came up to the plate for them, five of them shot rockets or balls right to Drews direction. He made every one of those plays, turned a double play, put-out on a double play, which was a rocket ship. Then, he made all the other challenging plays that were hit at him after his most negative part of the game. That’s mental toughness and leadership. That’s something I’m really lucky to be a part of, and I credit Drew Smith and the assistant coaches for helping him get to that mental state, that was special. That was one of the more mentally tough and special performances I’ve ever seen in my coaching career.” Toby Twists and overall team performance… “I thought Toby was really good. I thought Tanner (Bradley) limited the damage when he got in there, and he did a nice job. I thought the entire bullpen did a nice job. Tanner comes in and limits the damage and he extends it a bit, holds it. That was the mound visit that we took, and I don’t take very many mound visits, but when we’re stinking it up at home and we are trying to sweep somebody, and we didn’t get a quality start. We go out there and we are throwing the ball around the yard, it looks like a really bad, Bad News Bears game. The next thing you know, we had to reign guys in and go, hey let’s get over ourselves. We can’t do anything about how bad we’ve been so far, but if we shut them down from here on out, I think we are going to win this game. And sure enough, the guys believed it and as we went, you saw the productive at-bats and solid defensive plays. Without those defensive plays it could’ve gotten really loose. I’ve been a part of a lot of games where that thing gets really away from us because everybody’s quit already. That didn’t happen for us, and I was really happy with the guys to be able to do that.” Ryan Cooney drove in three runs! Dominic Hellman On having mature at-bats... “It was sweet. It was people setting the table before me that helped turn the lineup around. We had dudes all throughout the lineup that we can plug and play anywhere. That’s the neat thing about our team. There’s also a maturity part. Being in a regional and a super-regional, we’ve been there done that. I felt the place rocking today like it was a typical home regional which was sweet.” On Coach Wasikowski’s mid-game talk with the team... “He’s a temperature gauge for sure. He helps us calm down, and he’s a huge part of our success on and off the field whether that is baseball related or things off the field related. He a huge temp gauge for us in the sense that ‘Hey you guys got this and you guys are a good team. What happened, just flip it and get it done’.” On his double with two outs and two strikes... “The whole weekend they were spinning me and bluffing with heaters. I was reflecting and they weren’t landing their heaters that much, so I thought they were going to go to their go-to and try to get me out. As long as I saw it up, it was fine. I was nice and relaxed and just relaxed to it.” On a tide-changing moment in the game... “After Ryan Cooney’s double, I was like ‘we got this’. That moment solidified it. Even before we were getting momentum on our side by our relief pitchers coming in. They were being dominant and putting up zeros for us and holding them to that six for us to keep scoring.” Angel Laya On his walk-off win... “It means a lot. I’ve been preparing for that moment my whole life and I’m glad I was able to do it and do it for the team.” On his confidence at-bats... “I know I have good bat-to-ball skills. I was swinging at almost every pitch, and I got a good pitch today.” On close-game experiences... “It builds confidence. When you’re down six-to-one it’s all about not giving up and keeping our foot on the gas to keep moving.” Toby Twist On his thoughts of his performance... “I felt good from the start. I was trying to stay warmed up, ready to go, and trying to put my team in the best situation to win that game and I thought we did a good job.” On Drew Smith’s defensive performance... “He’s great. You don’t have to worry about anything because you have those guys behind you.” On Cal Scolari’s scratch and a good performance from the bullpen... “I think the bullpen was ready for today. Once we got the talk that Cal wasn’t going to start we got prepared for whatever was thrown at us.”
"Called" victories in sports, where a player or team overtly predicts, guarantees, or acts with supreme confidence to win a seemingly unlikely game, are some of the most iconic moments in athletic history. Here are some of the greatest "called" victories in sports: 1. Joe Namath: Super Bowl III (1969) The Call: Days before Super Bowl III, New York Jets quarterback Joe Namath appeared at a dinner and told fans, "We’re going to win the game. I guarantee it". 2. Babe Ruth: "Called Shot" (1932) The Call: In Game 3 of the 1932 World Series at Wrigley Field, with the Yankees-Cubs series intense, Babe Ruth was heckled by the Cubs dugout. After taking a strike, Ruth famously pointed toward center field—a gesture widely interpreted as calling his home run. 3. Conor McGregor: UFC 194 (2015) The Call: Leading up to his fight against the dominant, undefeated (for 10 years) Jose Aldo, McGregor predicted he would knock Aldo out in the first round. 4. Steve Kerr/Stephen Curry: "Called Game" (2019) The Call: In Game 5 of the 2019 Western Conference Semifinals, with the Blazers-Thunder series tied, Damian Lillard hit a 37-foot three-pointer at the buzzer to eliminate OKC, immediately pointing to his wrist, saying "Game". 5. Charles Fisher: Called Comeback (2026) The Call: Down 6-1 , after blowing two defensive plays at first base and stranding two men on base in their half of the inning, things looked a bit dire for OBD. Not to worry, as Mr. Fishduck confidently declared, "Boy, are we in for a great comeback!" And so it was. Great call Charles!
Amazing comeback. When was the last time Oregon had a freshman steely-eyed clutch player like Laya?
My favorite is the 2015 Rose Bowl win over Florida State. The Ducks clobbered them. And that Winston fumble along with what resulted was the icing on the cake.
I love comebacks in baseball!
Dakorien Moore And Dante Moore Flash Chemistry At Oregon PracticeThe Oregon Ducks spring practices are offering an early glimpse at the chemistry between quarterback Dante Moore and receiver Dakorien Moore. Oregon Ducks On SIDakorien Moore And Dante Moore Flash Chemistry At Oregon...The Oregon Ducks spring practices are offering an early glimpse at the chemistry between quarterback Dante Moore and receiver Dakorien Moore. The former five-s
Great read as always Jon. The solutions to these problems are so simple, and college football is superior to the NFL in so many ways. But there is a reason why the NFL is ten times bigger than CFB, and it's not because of the fans. CFB fans are by far more rabid, they are willing to give money to schools that most of them have no real association with. Despite the fact these athletic programs are rich beyond belief. Imagine a Seahawks fan giving money to that billionaire freely, without it being some levy or whatever nonsense. CFB has a tribal problem. You have two main tribes that have the same goal, but are too blind to see the easy solution. If Sankey and Petiti could get their heads out of their rears, they could push for a far better product. Instead it's about who's better. It's "Our way is best. You must concede!!!", imagine a world with the SEC/B1G football challenge every year. Mix in the ACC/Big 12. Imagine what Jon has written about countlessly with great consistency, and common sense. A world with real rules, real scheduling balance, real off-season, and coach/player movement that makes sense. A playoff where we get great matchups, where the regular season has true merit. That would be something. But instead, we are stuck on this tired foolish debate of best league. Something the NFL has no issues with. You don't hear AFC and NFC fanbases argue about this. They just care about their individual team, and hope their favorite aces the draft, coaching hires, and free agent class when the time comes. It happens in a set period, not while the season is on going.
