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QuickTake:
The Ducks rallied from four runs down and briefly had Texas on the ropes, but a late Longhorns answer ended Oregon’s season in the Super Regionals for the third time in four years.
AUSTIN — Logic says one day Oregon’s season will end in Omaha.
The Ducks have been circling the College World Series this entire decade, with this year’s Austin Super Regional marking the third time in four years Oregon made it one round from history.
With the bulk of the roster returning in 2027, the Ducks’ window to break through didn’t close just because Oregon fell just short, yet again, in the Supers.
Texas finished off its sweep with a 6-5 thriller that ended just before midnight Sunday at UFCU Disch-Falk Field. Texas led 4-0 early. Oregon came all the way back to take a 5-4 lead in the seventh. The Longhorns scored two off Oregon closer Devin Bell in the eighth. And in the ninth, sophomore Jax Gimenez, freshman Angel Laya and junior Ryan Cooney went down in order.
Game over. Series over. Season over.
“The task to beat Texas,” Oregon coach Mark Wasikowski said, “is you’re going to need to beat a lot of Big Leaguers to beat Texas.”
The Ducks do have potential big leaguers on their club. Redshirt freshman Naulivou Lauaki Jr., who emerged to become one of the Big Ten’s most feared sluggers, could end up there. So, too, could catcher Burke-Lee Mabeus, starting pitcher Cal Scolari, Cooney and more.
The Ducks weren’t at a drastic talent disadvantage and, a year from now, if they reach this far again, there will be talk of the experience gained during these dismal two days in Texas.
Saturday was about the missed opportunities at the plate and an inability to find the strike zone that did the Ducks in an 11-3 defeat.
Sunday was far more cruel.
The Ducks battled back after starter Will Sanford gave up back-to-back home runs to the first two batters of the game. A 4-0 deficit in the second turned into 4-1 with a Lauaki RBI single and 4-3 with run-scoring hits from Drew Smith and Brayden Jaksa in the third. The Ducks tied it at 4-4 in the fifth when Mabeus grounded out with the bases loaded, then took the lead in the seventh with another run-scoring fielder’s choice off the bat of Jaksa.
It was Oregon’s first lead of the series and, for a moment, Disch-Falk Field fell silent except for a chant of “Let’s go Ducks!” from the pockets of green in a sea of 8,000 UT fans in orange.
The cheers for Oregon were quickly drowned out by boos from the home fans, then silenced by what happened next.
After 3 ⅓ innings of one-hit ball in relief of Sanford from Tanner Bradley, the Ducks brought in left-hander Toby Twist. Twist, a junior, got two outs on three pitches before walking Carson Tinney to bring up left-handed freshman Anthony Pack Jr.
Instead of sticking with the lefty-on-lefty matchup, Wasikowski elected to bring in right-handed closer Devin Bell. Wasikowski said it was because of Pack’s reverse splits, which saw him hit .388 this season against left-handers and .348 against righties.
“Bell’s our closer, No. 1,” Wasikowski said. “You want him in the game when the game is on the line, and that was when it was in balance. … When you (look) at the last 20 games and he was absolutely railing left-hand pitchers, we’re going with our closer in that spot. We had already pre-pitched that and planned that out if and when that situation did happen.”
The plan was there.
The execution was not.
Bell hit Pack Jr. on a 1-1 count, gave up a single to Temo Becerra and Disch-Falk erupted when Adrian Rodriguez followed with a two-run double down the left-field line.
When Texas handed the ball to closer Sam Cozart for the final two innings, he retired all six batters he faced and ended the night in a bear hug with his catcher after striking out Cooney to book Texas’ 39th trip to the College World Series.
The dejected Ducks watched from the top step of the visitor’s dugout as the Longhorns celebrated on the field, with the returners surely storing the scene as fuel to begin next year’s pursuit.
But next year doesn’t do much for someone like Smith, a senior.
Smith went through his battles. He already gained the experience of twice losing in the Super Regionals and turned himself into a machine in 2026 in hopes of a breakthrough. He was Oregon’s best hitter. He played top-level defense at third base. In his last game as a Duck, he had two doubles.
What makes baseball devastatingly beautiful is it guarantees nothing.
“I remember being a freshman at the first super regional and how nervous I was,” Smith said as his voice trailed off with emotion. “Guys like Brayden or Angel or Junior, all those guys have a bright future and I’m excited to see what they do. I wish I could play three more years with those guys.”
It doesn’t work like that, though.
Smith finished his Oregon career with a .330 average, 28 home runs, a Big Ten championship and was a key player during Oregon’s most successful four-year run since the program was reinstated in 2009.
But it’ll have to be another group to become the Oregon team that gets remembered forever.
