Trying to add a payment method? You can do this on the 
QuickTake:
Oregon opened the Eugene Regional with a 14-2 win over Yale, but a Washington State upset of Oregon State means the Ducks and Beavers can’t meet until at least Sunday.
The Oregon Ducks did their part.
History, however, will have to wait until at least Sunday.
The Ducks blasted Yale 14-2 Friday evening at PK Park in Oregon’s opening game of the Eugene Regional, a victory that moved Oregon into the winner’s bracket of the tournament.
Washington State will be meeting Oregon on Saturday, though, which is a surprise after the region’s No. 2 seed, Oregon State, dropped its opener Friday afternoon 3-2 to the Cougars.
The Ducks and Beavers have never faced each other in the postseason, and now it’ll only happen if Oregon State can regroup with a win Saturday afternoon against Yale.
“That’s the mission,” Oregon State coach Mitch Canham said. “As soon as that last out happens, you have to start preparing to get ready for the next game.”
While the Beavers will spend the night in Eugene trying to flush away a game that saw the Cougars tie it 2-2 in the sixth and go ahead 3-2 in the eighth on a Dustin Robinson double, the Ducks will be just fine keeping their momentum rolling.
“I was impressed with the way the guys were able to pull away there late in the game,” Oregon coach Mark Wasikowski said of the 11 runs Oregon scored from the fourth inning on.
It was far from a perfect game for the Ducks. Starting pitcher Cal Scolari didn’t give up a run in his 4 1/3 innings, but he walked five Bulldogs and hit another, forcing the Ducks to dip into their bullpen earlier than they wanted in a potential four-day tournament.
Fortunately for Oregon, the Ducks were already comfortably ahead by then.
Oregon plated three runs in the first, two in the fourth and another in the fifth on an RBI double from two-hitter Angel Laya after a 14-pitch at-bat. The Ducks’ top four hitters in the lineup finished with 13 hits, including six doubles and eight RBI. Wasikowski was particularly impressed because two of those four hitters — Brayden Jaksa and Laya — are freshmen competing in their first college postseason.
“It was just quality at-bats,” Wasikowski said. “They looked old, even though you’re talking about several freshmen who are up there doing that. They don’t take at-bats like freshmen. They don’t look like freshmen, either.”
It was a veteran, though, who put Oregon in great position heading into Saturday’s game against Washington State.
After Yale tagged reliever Collin Clarke for a two-run home run with no outs in the sixth, Toby Twist came into the game and shut the Bulldogs down for the next three innings. Pitching through the eighth, the junior struck out five of the 12 batters he faced and allowed only two runners on base. He came into the game with a 6-2 lead. After Oregon scored eight runs in the eighth inning — punctuated by Naulivou Lauaki Jr.’s 452-foot three-run moonshot — Twist gave the ball to Leo Uelman to finish the job. Uelman struck out the side in the ninth to close the game — limiting Oregon’s bullpen usage any further.
“I think it’s just not making the job bigger than it is,” Twist said. “It’s going out there and executing pitches and just getting our offense back in there.”
Added Wasikowski: “I thought Toby showed Leo the road map, and Leo was dominant in the ninth inning.”
But for as much as the Ducks would like to bask in a regional rout — especially after the team went two-and-out in last year’s home regional — that’s not how these things work.
PK Park will start filling again around noon for the Oregon State-Yale elimination game. The Beavers’ backs are against the wall, but they’re also a veteran squad that reached the College World Series a year ago after beginning the postseason this very same way.
The Ducks have less experience here. Most of the players who contributed to Oregon’s Friday night win had never won a postseason game before.
That, Wasikowski said, is why Oregon’s approach after the final out won’t be a whole lot different than Oregon State’s.
There are games tomorrow. It’s time to move on.
“Clean slate, right?” Wasikowski said. “Tomorrow’s a new day. 1-0. It doesn’t matter what the score is at the end of the day. One run or five runs or 10 runs, it doesn’t make any difference. 1-0 was the goal today and we accomplished that goal.”
