Charles Fischer

Ducks Battery Keys Sweep-Clinching Win EUGENE, Ore. — Five Oregon pitchers led by starter Miles Gosztola combined to toss a five-hit shutout leading No. 19 Oregon to a 5-0 win and a series sweep over Penn State on Sunday at PK Park in front of 3,044 fans. The Ducks' battery was excellent in leading Oregon (32-11, 16-5 Big Ten) to the win. Gosztola (2-2), Gabe Howard, Cooper Markham, Cooper Strawn and Leo Uelmen combined for 11 strikeouts with just a pair of walks. Catcher Burke-Lee Mabeus finished 3-for-4 at the plate with three extra-base hits (HR, 2 2B), while also throwing a runner out attempting to steal second base in the second inning. The win allowed Oregon to keep pace with both Nebraska and USC in the Big Ten standings with both winning on Sunday. First-place UCLA was playing a nonconference series this weekend. How It Happened: For the first 22 innings of the series the Ducks struggled offensively, scoring as many as two runs in an inning just twice. Oregon finally put up a three-run inning in the fourth to take a three-run lead. Drew Smith led it off belting the first pitch he saw over the left-field wall for a 1-0 lead. Angel Laya followed with a base hit through the left side before moving to second on a Maddox Molony base on balls. Mabeus made it 2-0 with a double into the right-field corner scoring Laya while moving Molony to third. Naulivou Lauaki drove in Molony with a sacrifice fly to right field. The Ducks tacked on another run in the fifth inning. Smith doubled inside the first-base bag and came around to score on a Laya base hit up the middle. Mabeus continued to swing a hot back in the sixth inning. The Ducks' catcher belted a solo home run 400 feet over the right-field wall for his third extra-base hit of the game and a 5-0 Oregon lead. After giving up base hits to the first two Penn State (12-29, 5-16 Big Ten) batters of the game, Gosztola was in control through his 6.1 innings of work. After the two first inning base hits, he only allowed one more hit during the rest of his outing and that came in the second inning on a batter who eventually was thrown out stealing. Box Score Notes: Oregon has won nine of 10 weekend series this year with four sweeps … The shutout was the seventh of the season for the Ducks … Smith moved into a tie with teammate Dominic Hellman for seventh on Oregon's career home run list with 26 … He also moved into a tie with Ryon Healy (2011-13) for seventh on the career RBI list … His 3-for-4 game gave him 65 career multiple-hit games. On Deck: The Ducks host Gonzaga in nonconference action at PK Park on Tuesday (2:05 p.m.; B1G+) Quotes: Head Coach Mark Wasikowski On completing the series sweep... "Anytime you can sweep. It's fantastic. Miles Gosztola threw the ball very, very well. It's great to see, you know, him passing the ball off to the guys down there in the bullpen. All the way from Gabe to Markham. I thought threw the ball exceptionally well. And being able to have some of your key bullpen guys not need to get into the game is really important. And so we were able to accomplish a lot of goals outside of the sweep as well." Miles Gosztola On Miles Gosztola's first inning and how he settled into the game today... "Yeah. I mean, he made big pitches all day, right? He just didn't give in. It felt like they got a couple of things going there in the first inning, but then he was able to really lock in with his mentality. He started throwing with his best velocity. think he was throwing 88 to 90, his first few pitches of the game. Then he just said, the heck with it. He started ripping low to mid-90s. I just felt like that intent was what he carried through his outing, and that was the difference between maybe him getting bounced in the first and him having the performance that he had today was just that mentality piece that I thought he brought." On Miles only allowing one hit after the first inning... "Well, if you've ever hit against the lefty that's throwing 90 to 94, 95 miles an hour, that's hard already from a lower slot. That's even harder; it's a different look. He's just got really good pitches, and he can command his fastball and his off-speed pitches. When you're doing that, you get it going. That's what you see on TV when you're watching ESPN, Major League Baseball. So, you know, he's got that kind of ability to be pitching on TV, and it's nice to see him improving every outing that he's had." On relying on some young guys in the bullpen and the trust he has in them... "Well, they all have great arms. They're all throwing the ball in the low to mid 90s, and they all have great off-speed pitches. It's just about getting them out in the games and experience. Cooper Strawn, he was dinged up at the start of the year, and so we couldn't get him out there, couldn't get him the experience that we wanted to get him. And Leo Uelmen, he had an arm injury a couple of years back, and he's just getting back on it. Cooper Markham, obviously, is a very talented freshman. When you throw the ball in the high 90s, that's hard to do; that's very rare. And he's just a very talented freshman." On Burke-Lee Mabeus taking over as the primary catcher and the mentality he has to be able to be an everyday catcher... "Yeah, he's strong as an ox. He's ready. He wants to play every single day. He's strong as an ox, and I'll be in the weight room with him probably tomorrow at some point. It's probably an off day, but he'll show up. That kid is as strong as an ox. As far as wear and tear and stuff like that, that doesn't factor for Burke. He's a tough kid." On Burke-Lee Mabeus and his plate approach in today's game... "Well, he probably got lucky on one, and he got swung off on the other, truth be told. But he's using the whole field. Early in the game, the guy was sinking the ball and running away from him, so he stayed on the ball, and he did what he needed to do. And they're over-shifted, and he's been able to do that a few times against opponents. And then later in the game, a guy was going to challenge him with a fastball middle in. And he took the first one down the right field line. That was a big hit for us." On new renovations to PK Park and what the atmosphere means to Oregon Baseball... "Yeah, beautiful weather. I mean, it's a sports bar, hanging out at a college baseball field. Who's got that? Another awesome Oregon thing. I think if you're a fan of baseball and you're here, a fan of the Ducks, you need to get involved with that deal. If I weren't coaching baseball and I were living in Eugene, Oregon. I'd love to watch this team and be a part of that experience. Joe and Kathleen Karcher, Tim and Shelby Kerr, Joe Giansante, Mark and Carla Byrum, of course, Pat Kilkenny, all of these people are the ones who have gotten this thing rolling now. And that's a high-end deal in there with high-end food, great drinks, great food, great environment. I don't know why you wouldn't want to be in there. We never get any bad weather around here, but if you ever did, it's got a roof over its head too, and I think it'd be a nice place to sit if you ever had weather in Oregon." On Little League Day today at PK Park, and what it means to inspire so many young baseball players... "Yeah, the young girls and guys, we had a lot of young ladies on the field this morning when we were at the anthem, and they were all lined up with us. It was awesome to see and to be able to have the little leaguers here. I remember when my sister played boys baseball when she was growing up, and she was one of the better ones. She was on the all-star team. For these girls who come out, I encourage them to go out and play with the boys, show them what you've got. Beat them. I think it's great, you know. For me, when I saw those girls come out, I was really excited with all the other Little Leaguers, whether it be just fulfilling their dreams and getting better at baseball and having fun, right? That's what it's all about. And they're all here today, which is really great." On the series sweep and what it means for B10 positioning... "I don't know. We'll get to that. It's a win today. We got one in a row for three days in a row, and that's what we wanted to do. Good day off tomorrow, and then we're back on it on Tuesday with a really good game against Gonzaga, who's a Hot Club. I think they've won a bunch of games in a row. I don't know how they did today, but I think they've won a bunch of games in a row, and their RPI is really good. We scheduled them. We need fan support. It's a 2 p.m. game, so skip work and come to the ballpark." Miles Gosztola On how he felt in his long outing… "It felt great. I think after that first inning of not having the best command of all my pitches, I think I really settled in. Burke and I talked a lot in those first two innings in the dugout about throwing the slider with a little more conviction and getting the change-up down. Then things clicked." On how his first inning set him up to only allow one hit through the following five and a third… "I think all the longer outings, you're going to have bumps and bruises along the way, whether runs score or not. I think the higher pitch count in the first was a little more time to kind of massage in all the rest of the pitches. Then, after that was really just to settle in and get the ball to Burke's goal as much as possible. Ryan Cooney got injured earlier in the game, and he just put his head down and ground through that game. That was awesome. Seeing that guy still make plays behind me, even after that big-time roll of his ankle and not being able to finish the game, still being out there for a couple of innings was amazing." On Burke-Lee Mabeus behind the plate… "That guy is crazy back there. He's framing balls left and right. Throws a guy out, which was huge. I think that was the end of the third or fourth. You can't speak enough about him. That's our MVP for the day, if not the weekend." Drew Smith On his thoughts on the series sweep… "We didn't crush the ball all weekend, but I thought we just had gritty at-bats. It was just a great weekend. I don't think we scored more than five in all three games. So, the pitching staff did a great job, and the hitters did enough to get the sweep." On his home run... "They were flipping me a lot of breaking balls this weekend. So, I kind of just sat on it that at-bat and came right in my barrel and did enough to get it out here." On the teams' identity… "Just tough. I think everybody, one through nine, all the guys on the bench, and the staff, it's just a bunch of tough guys that just want to win at the end of the day." Burke-Lee Mabeus On how he thought the pitchers performed today… "They killed it. I think we did a really good job of staying with each pitch and being present. One thing we've been working on, if you know you make a mistake, let's be present enough to overcorrect, even if it means we miss drastically on the other side of the plate or whatnot. I saw that from our pitchers today. They went for it, kind of executed the plan that we were going for, and just competed the right way on the mound. I think that really led us, even on the offensive side. We feed off that. Their leadership that they took on the mound today helped the team win, for sure." On his ability at the plate to use the entire field… "Yeah, just, just trying to free it up and let the head work a little bit. We talked about good rhythm, good timing, and stuff like that, and being freed up to the middle of the field, that was my approach. I felt like maybe the day before, I was getting away from my game plan, not ambushing the pitch that I want, and being a little passive. I was just trying to fix that today, and it worked out better for me." On how he is handling being the everyday catcher now… "Perfectly fine. Ultimately, I'm just trying to do anything I can to help the team win. If that means catching every game on the weekend, two games on the weekend, midweeks, whatever it is, I'm up for the challenge. Brayden is doing a good job at first base and obviously swinging. We need his bat in the lineup, so if that requires me to catch all three games on the weekend, so be it. Ultimately, I want to play pro ball. Those guys play a lot of games up there. So, what they're asking me to do isn't too crazy right now, just making sure I take care of my body off the field, seeing the trainer, stuff like that. The guys we have on staff here do a great job of making sure we're all prepared physically."

Lockley is a Rivals 4-Star, and besides Oregon was offered by Alabama, Penn State, Ohio State, Texas A&M, Michigan and LSU. You Lose!

Ducks win 5-0 as it got a little dicey in the 9th. Sophomore transfer from Weatherford College, Cooper Strawn, got an out, but put two on base. Leo Uelmen relieved him, and walked a batter to load the bases...but got two more outs. Whew! This was the best pitching from an opponent that had bad ERAs coming in. They held Oregon to just five runs per game all weekend.

5-0 Ducks after eight innings. It was a surprise to see true freshman Cooper Markham (6'3" 229 lbs.) pitching for Oregon, but he got the three outs with his 95-96 mph fastball, and a nice curve-drop ball from the highly heralded player from Washington. You can tell that Waz is trying to work in lightly-used pitchers like Howard and Markham to give them experience. We will need it in the season-end tournaments! Nothing on offense this inning.

5-0 Ducks after seven innings. Miles Gosztola got an out, but gave up a hit and a walk and looks like he ran out of gas. What a great day holding PSU scoreless, and he was relieved by sophomore Gabe Howard from West Linn. Howard got the two outs and kept the scoreboard empty for the 'Lions! Nothing on offense this inning...

5-0 Ducks after six innings. Miles Gosztola was back and after giving up a walk--he generated a grounder that turned into a sweet double-play! Then he finished the inning with a strikeout. He has 78 pitches...will we see him in the 7th? Burke-Lee Mabeus just destroyed a pitch and sent it over the RF wall for his second homer of the weekend.

4-0 Ducks after five innings. Geez...Miles Gosztola is feeling it--more with another 1-2-3 dispatch of 'Lion batters. Drew Smith hit a double into the RF corner with two outs, and then Angel Laya hit opposite to LF (again) with a liner that went deep enough to score Smith from second. Finally! A timely hit!

3-0 Ducks after four innings. Oregon's Miles Gosztola made short work of the batters again. Great to see... Drew Smith got the scoring started with a dinger into the PSU bullpen. Angel Laya hits opposite field again (to LF), while Maddox Molony walks. Burke-Lee Mabeus hits a missile to RF that bounces off the wall, and sends Laya home to score and Molony to 3rd from first. Naulivou Lauaki hits a deep sacrifice fly to RF to score Molony, and we stranded a runner on third.

0-0 after three innings. Oregon's Miles Gosztola is feeling it, as he put the 'Lions down 1-2-3. It's a good thing, as this freshman pitcher we are facing is pitching lights-out against us.

0-0 after two innings. Miles Gosztola got two strikeouts, and gave up a hit, but Burke-Lee Mabeus threw a perfect strike to second to allow Ryan Cooney to apply the tag easily for the third out. Oregon stranded a runner on third...

0-0 after one inning. Oregon's Miles Gosztola gave up a couple of hits and had runners on first and third, but then got three straight outs to preserve the inning. We have some defensive changes, as I imagine Jax Gimenez is hurt, as Elijah Cook replaces him at LF. On 1st base, we have Brayden Jaksa instead of Dominic Hellman or Gabe Miranda. With Jaksa's hot bat lately--that makes sense. On offense....the Ducks strand two on base.

Today we have Oregon's Miles Gosztola on the hill, (4.85 ERA) vs the 'Lions Isaiah Shayter at a 12.48 ERA. Again...the last two starting pitcher for Penn State had ERAs of 7.00 and over 8.00 but they pitched GREAT against us. I expect the same today... The rumor is that Cal Scolari was injured, and Gosztola was replacing him on Sundays, but that may not be the case today. We play Gosztola's old team in a mid-week game, Gonzaga, and if anyone would know his pitching--they do. Smart to play him today, and Scolari during the week if available. Let's break out the bats today! Miles Gosztola

OREGON ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | SATURDAY, APRIL 25, 2026 BASEBALL | @OregonBaseball Walk-off Walk Caps Comeback by Ducks EUGENE, Ore. — In a hole early, Oregon regrouped, reversed momentum and rewarded a near sellout crowd with a walk-off win. After the No. 19 Ducks fell behind by four runs to Penn State in the first inning Saturday, the UO staff bounced back with 8.1 innings of shutout pitching. The Oregon lineup, meanwhile, methodically chipped away at that lead, forcing extra innings and then ending it in the 10th on a bases-loaded walk for a 5-4 victory. Jack Brooks drove in the winning run by drawing Oregon’s fourth walk in the bottom of the 10th. He came up with two outs, fell into an 0-2 hole, worked the count full and then took ball four to the delight of the 16th-largest crowd in PK Park history, 3,946 fans. “It’s a little nerve-racking going into it — the stadium's loud, everyone's on their feet,” Brooks said. “But you’ve got to embrace the moment, just have fun with it. It's still the same game that you played all your life; can't make the moment too big. Just kind of got it done, so that's cool.” Jack Brooks and the Team Celebrates... Collin Clarke started for the Ducks and allowed three of the first four batters he faced to score, part of a four-run first inning for the Nittany Lions. But he rebounded to pitch into the sixth, before Luke Morgan, Toby Twist and Devin Bell blanked the Nittany Lions the rest of the way. “Whenever Clark's on the mound, he gives the entire staff just this boost of energy all the time,” said Bell (2-4), who got the last seven outs for the win. “Even if it's not going his way, he holds his composure well. And I think that's just what leads to our pitching staff doing good coming out of the bullpen.” Many in the crowd Saturday evening began their day at the Oregon football team’s Spring Game, next door to PK Park at Autzen Stadium. Then they migrated to the ballpark and created an atmosphere that helped fuel the Ducks’ comeback. “It’s good to have that backing you up, because I know it's hard to play in an environment like that,” Brooks said. “But when it's on your side, it's a lot easier.” How It Happened: The third batter of the game hit an RBI double off Clark, and the Penn State clean-up hitter followed with a two-run homer. Brooks, playing in center, had a bead on that ball but wasn’t able to haul it in at the wall; he made up for it later in the game, but the play was still on his mind. “Our thing is, if it's arms reach away, you should be able to catch it,” Brooks said. “I should have caught it. Sorry to Clarke, but the way that he responded to that — what did we have, eight shutout innings after that? I mean, the pitching staff is electric. It's fun to watch.” A two-out RBI single made it 4-0 before the Nittany Lions were done in the first. But they were also done for the day. Oregon quickly began to rally, loading the bases in the bottom of the first on three singles and making it 4-1 on an RBI groundout by Angel Laya. A two-out rally in the third got the Ducks within 4-2, when Drew Smith singled and Laya followed with an RBI double. Twist replaced Clarke after a two-out double in the sixth, and Twist struck out the first batter he faced on three pitches. He then struck out the side in the seventh, and Oregon tied it in the bottom of the inning when Brooks bunted to advance Naulivou Lauaki Jr. and Jax Gimenez into scoring position, before each came home on a fielder’s choice. Toby Twist Twist struck out the first two hitters in the eighth before the next two Nittany Lions reached. Bell entered the game with runners at the corners, stranding the go-ahead run at third base with a strikeout. “We had two outs; I just had to get weak contact or strike them out,” Bell said. “I struck them out, and it felt great.” Bell rolled through the top of the 10th, throwing a 1-2-3 inning. Laya walked and stole second to open the bottom of the 10th, Maddox Molony walked to put two on, Lauaki was walked intentionally with one out and first base open, and Brooks followed with his high-drama, two-out walk to end the game. “The guys in front of me did their job,” Brooks said. “I mean, they all got on base, so that's props to them. They did what they had to do, and then all I had to do is just try to keep it simple and do what I could do.” The win clinched the series for the Ducks entering Sunday’s finale, giving Oregon wins in 22 of 24 series over the past two seasons. On Deck: The Ducks host the series finale Sunday (noon, B1G+).

Ducks win 5-4 again! Closer Devin Bell generated two groundouts, and a pop-up to keep the 'Lions at bay. Angel Laya walks, and steals second. Maddox Molony also strings out the at-bat to get a walk when both batters were at full-count. Burke-Lee Mabeus sacrifice bunts to the mid-pitcher/3rd base area to move both runners into scoring position. Naulivou Lauaki was intentionally walked, and after an out--Jack Brooks also got it up to full count...bases loaded, and the next pitch decides it all. The Penn State pitcher threw too low, and thus Brooks was walked, and a run came in to win the game for Oregon. Now THAT is truly a "Walk-Off" victory!

4-4 after nine innings. Devin Bell gets two strikeouts and a groundout to go 1-2-3, and the last one was sweet as after the heaters--he throws a changeup that puts the batter in knots. We had a runner in scoring position at second, but could not win the game. On to the 10th!