Oregon walks its way to Super Regionals

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The Ducks waited on the balcony.

Behind coach Mark Wasikowski and players Jack Brooks, Miles Gosztola and Drew Smith, PK Park’s lights were still shining as the stadium’s video board displayed a graphic reading “Super Ducks.”

In front of the Ducks, through the glass of Autzen Stadium’s east end zone terrace, the Oregon State Beavers were going through the annual ritual that all but one team in the college baseball postseason must face.

The Beavers lost the Eugene Regional 4-1 to the Ducks. Their season was over. And in a five-minute-long opening statement, OSU coach Mitch Canham spoke with emotion about the tears he just saw in his daughter’s eyes, the adversity his team overcame as an NCAA independent and how much he was going to miss the players who led one of college baseball’s powerhouses to yet another postseason.

“I’m telling you, Albert Roblez is the best hugger in the world,” Canham said of his team’s closer. “And that guy had tears in his eyes because of how much this group and season meant to him.”

The entire Oregon State press conference lasted 18 minutes. And the Ducks waited patiently because, well, they’ve been there before — every season, in fact, since baseball was brought back to Eugene in 2009.

They knew that pain.

But not on this night.

Because while the road to Omaha is a long one, the Ducks began their trek there by winning the Eugene Regional on foot.

Knotted at 1-1 in the top of the seventh, Oregon drew four walks, with the final two coming with the bases loaded, to drive in the game’s go-ahead runs.

The Ducks loaded the bases with a single by Maddox Malony and walks by Brooks Lee Mabeus and Maddox Molony. Sensing the gravity of the situation, Oregon State pulled reliever Isaac Yeager for Roblez, the team’s closer, who entered Sunday with a 1.50 ERA and 53 strikeouts in 30 innings pitched.

But with a sold-out PK Park roaring, Roblez couldn’t find the zone either.

Of his first 11 pitches, eight were balls. Brooks drew the go-ahead RBI walk. Ryan Cooney pushed the lead to 3-1 with another walk. And while Roblez eventually found the zone, it wasn’t before Angel Laya hit into a run-scoring fielder’s choice to complete Oregon’s damage.

And while the crowd was roaring during both teams’ at-bats, it was Oregon’s pitching staff that figured out how to channel it.

“I think the key is not letting the game speed up and really working to get my breath under me,” said Oregon starter Miles Gosztola, who allowed one run on five hits and struck out eight in six innings. “I really credit this coaching staff a lot. At the start of the year, I let the environment get to me sometimes. And I think over the course of the season, with walks in particular, I was really working on not allowing myself to make the moment too big. It was being present, taking my breath and taking it one pitch at a time.”

The rest of Oregon’s arms followed suit.

After Devin Bell got Easton Talt to ground out to first base to end the game, Oregon’s pitchers finished the regional having allowed only three runs in 27 innings.

Both teams had seven hits Sunday. Both teams left men on base — Oregon stranded five, Oregon State stranded nine. Both teams had their diehards out in droves.

But the reason it was the Ducks watching the Beavers emotionally put a bow on their season Sunday night was simple, according to Oregon’s coach.

“Mental game,” Wasikowski said. “Just being in control of yourself to where you can execute.”

That theory is about to face its toughest test of the year.

With the win, Oregon advances to the super regional round for the first time since 2024, where it will travel to No. 6 Texas for a best-of-three series. The Longhorns swept through their three games in the Austin Regional by outscoring opponents 41-7 in front of a home crowd twice the size of Sunday’s in Eugene.

The Ducks will be underdogs against a program that has reached the College World Series a record-setting 38 times.

Then again, Oregon was once an underdog against Oregon State, whose coach ended his press conference talking about the resilience needed to bounce back from disappointment.

“The hard route is the way,” Canham said.

The Ducks know that feeling.

They’re channeling it as the season turns Super.

“I really think this locker room is really special in embracing the hardest path,” Wasikowski said. “Not wanting an easier opponent or a different scenario, but really wanting the toughest road possible.”