Boy, we did not see this coming! Gonzaga leads the WCC with a 15-3 record in conference and is 27-14 overall, but a couple of disconcerting notes; they are on a 14 game win streak, and recently swept Portland all three games, and beat Washington twice. (We play Washington this weekend in Seattle, and they just won a series over Michigan...who beat us in Ann Arbor.)

It's a TRAP!

No idea who the starting pitcher is, but I'm hoping that Ryan Featherston is healed or Cal Scolari is healed and ready. Or Waz could run the gamut of young pitchers for an inning each as he did last week? They did well....can they do it again?

3-1 Ducks after one inning. Michael Meckna is the Oregon starter, and he gave up a hit that should have been a single, but a fielding error turned it into a triple....that scored on a wild pitch. Two self-inflicted errors gave up the run!

Jack Brooks hit deep to LF/CF gap to the warning track for a double. Brayden Jaksa's grounder is overthrown at 1st, so he proceeds to second with Brooks arriving at 3rd base. Maddox Molony hits a sac-fly to score Brooks, and move Jaksa to 3rd. Drew Smith joins the party and hits a sac-fly to score Jaksa!

Then Angel Laya scoops a low pitch out with a beautiful swing to put if over the RF wall for a solo homer!

4-1 Ducks after two innings. Looks like the newbie strategy by Waz for pitching, as Jonah Barkoff, a RS freshman is making his first Oregon appearance. He redshirted last year, and was the No. 1 pitcher in the state of Oregon the year before. He gave up a hit, but created two groundouts and his first strikeout with a nice curve/drop-ball to end the inning.

Tyler Jones is making a debut fielding and hitting, and the 6'3" sophomore from WA got his first hit in Eugene. Jack Brooks hits to shallow RF, while Brayden Jaksa walks. Maddox Molony gets his second scoring sacrifice fly to score Jones from third.

4-2 Ducks after three innings. Another young-gun pitcher, Cooper Markham, is on the hill and he gave up two hits and a run on a sac-fly. His first run given up at Oregon in seven total innings pitched this year....

Nothing on offense this innings, as Gonzaga brought in a good relief pitcher.

My Duck-Buddies....these mid-week games that start in the afternoon are tough, as I have an appointment I have to run to that cannot be missed. I will be back later to fill in as I can...

Ducks win 4-3 with a ton of late drama.

First....Waz used NINE pitchers to win this game, with a ton of newbies that only gave up three runs? Fantastic.

Michael Meckna

Jonah Barkoff

Cooper Markham

Shane Johnson

Gabe Howard

Luke Morgan

Toby Twist

Tanner Bradley

Devin Bell

Bradley had runners on the corners with NO outs in the 8th inning, and then bases loaded with one out. Three strikeouts rescued the inning and Our Beloved Ducks.

Then Devin Bell showed his mental growth and fortitude putting down the 'Zag batters 1-2-3 for the save. Whew!

This puts Oregon at a 75% win percentage at 33-11, going up to take on the Bastard Huskies this weekend.

 OREGON ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | TUESDAY, APRIL 28, 2026

BASEBALL | @OregonBaseball

Early Runs Back Nine Pitchers in Midweek Win

EUGENE, Ore. — Two streaking teams collided Tuesday at PK Park, and in the end Oregon was still standing.

 

The No. 13 Ducks ended Gonzaga’s 14-game win streak in a midweek matinee, relying on nine pitchers to throw an inning each on the way to a 4-3 victory. Oregon extended its own win streak to six entering a weekend road trip to Washington.

 

“We just try to focus a day at a time,” UO center fielder Jack Brooks said.  “So tomorrow's gonna be practice; we’re gonna focus on tomorrow. And then when we get to the weekend, we'll focus on Washington. But right now it was Gonzaga, and we did that and we won. So that's kind of our mentality.”

 

Brooks had two hits and scored a run for a UO lineup that scored all four of its runs in the first two innings. Nine pitchers made that enough offense to win, with Shane Johnson (1-0) earning his first win of the season and Devin Bell closing it out for his 10th save.

Tanner Bradley got some BIG outs...

“That helps us a lot, especially with the upcoming schedule we have,” said Tanner Bradley, who escaped a bases-loaded jam in the eighth inning. “UCLA and Washington and USC, these guys are all great teams. Having that depth is going to be good — very, very helpful.”

 

Oregon’s nine pitchers, including Jonah Barkoff in his season debut, combined to allow seven hits and two walks over nine innings, with 10 strikeouts. That came on the heels of a win the week before in which 10 pitchers helped Oregon win at Oregon State.

 

“Every guy that we have on our staff is good,” Brooks said. “They can all go out there and pitch. They can throw every one of their pitches for strikes, and they're really good. So seeing them go out there is just fun to watch.”

 

How It Happened: A triple by the leadoff hitter and a wild pitch put Gonzaga up 1-0 just moments into the game. But Oregon quickly gave its pitching staff the chance to play with the lead.

 

Brooks doubled to lead off the bottom of the first, and advanced on an error that put Brayden Jaksa at second base. Both runners scored on sacrifice flies, and Angel Laya’s 12th homer of the season made it 3-1 as Oregon punched back after Gonzaga landed its early jab.

 

“Just kind of showing the pitchers that we're there for them,” Brooks said. “We got their back, no matter what happens — no matter if that run goes up or doesn’t, we're going to try to score. That's our offense. We're going to come out swinging.”

 

The Ducks made it 4-1 in the second on Maddox Molony’s second sacrifice fly of the day. That scored Tyler Jones, who led off the bottom of the inning with his first hit of the season after Barkoff pitched around a two-out single in the top half.

Angel Laya views his hit clear the wall!

Gonzaga got a run back in the third inning, and another in the seventh. The Bulldogs threatened to tie it up or take the lead in the eighth, loading the bases with one out. But Bradley struck out the next two hitters on seven combined pitches after allowing a hit and two walks.

 

“That's gonna happen, that's baseball,” Bradley said. “I just kind of kept my composure and had a flat heartbeat, not too pumped up where I can't control anything. And so I just stayed calm and got three outs and got off the field.”

 

The Ducks held on despite stranding runners in scoring position in the seventh and eighth innings, and despite playing without regulars Ryan Cooney and Jax Gimenez, who were unavailable. That broke a streak of 99 consecutive starts for Cooney.

 

On Deck: The Ducks open a series at Washington on Friday (7 p.m., B1G+).