Friday, April 10
Eugene, Ore.
3:05 p.m.
University of Oregon
25-9, 9-4
7
vs
6
Nebraska
26-8, 11-2
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Runs R | Hits H | Errors E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nebraska | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 6 | 10 | 0 |
| Oregon | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | X | 7 | 9 | 2 |
Photo by: Rob Moseley/GoDucks.com
Ducks Fight Through Adversity To Win Series Opener
04/10/26 | Baseball
Oregon bounced back from a tough stretch by winning a top-25 matchup Friday, despite a lengthy weather delay.
EUGENE, Ore. — A dominant start and a dominant re-start were the keys to victory Friday for Oregon baseball.
The No. 21 Ducks got six elite innings of work from right-hander Will Sanford, then were the better team coming out of a long mid-game rain delay on the way to a 7-6 win at PK Park over No. 19 Nebraska.
Sanford (5-1) provided exactly what the Ducks needed after they'd dropped four of their previous five games. The sophomore scattered seven hits over six innings and struck out a career-high 12 to give Oregon (25-9, 9-4 Big Ten) a series-opening win in a match-up of ranked teams.Â
"I've been trying to say this since the beginning of the year, but my job is to set the tone," said Sanford, who was coming off his first loss of the season. "Even through adversity, I want to keep competing the way I did. I thought I did a good job at that, and it was a good win."
Sanford bounded off the mound with a roar after striking out his 12th batter to end the top of the sixth. With one out in the bottom of the inning, the two teams were sidelined by what ended up being a weather delay that lasted 1:42, but when play resumed Brayden Jaksa and Ryan Cooney hit back-to-back homers that proved to be the difference after a late Nebraska rally.
Playing well coming out of a weather delay was something UO coach Mark Wasikowski and his staff have emphasized with this year's team. It paid dividends Friday.
"I told the group, I thought I really did a poor job of that last year as leader of the program, and it was one of the things that was a focal point that I really wanted to address; so did my coaches," Wasikowski said. "We didn't feel like we came out of rain delays — or played through the rain delays or challenging conditions — very successfully last year. We've really tried to make that adjustment, and so I was pleased with the way they came out. I mean, if we didn't do that, we wouldn't have won."
How It Happened: A leadoff double and a two-out single gave the Cornhuskers a 1-0 lead in the first. They would manage just one more run off Sanford, a solo homer in the fifth.
After the trouble in the first, Sanford allowed a single and a walk to open the second. But he retired the next three batters in order, the last two on strikeouts.
"Metrically, he's got one of the best — if not the best — fastballs in the country," Wasikowski said. "And it showed tonight."
The Ducks took a 2-1 lead in the fourth, on a two-run double by Naulivou Lauaki Jr. He struck out on a steady diet of sliders in his first at-bat, then got another on the first pitch of his next at-bat and pounced on it.
"Me and Waz have a little saying, 'hit it through the Pepsi sign,' right here in right-center," Lauaki said. "So I was just thinking that, and then he hung a slider and I stayed through it."
After coming two pitches shy of an "immaculate inning" while striking out the side in the fourth, Sanford allowed a leadoff homer in the fifth. He promptly struck out two more in a row to reach 10 strikeouts through five innings, then struck out the last two hitters he faced to make it a dozen.
In between, Drew Smith hit his 11th homer of the season in the bottom of the fifth, a two-run shot that made it 4-2 when Sanford returned to the mound in the sixth. After his final strikeout of the game, Sanford turned toward left field and let out a roar, then pivoted back toward Oregon's dugout and pumped his fist.
"His stuff's electric, and he competes like a son of a (gun) out there," Smith said. "Just a tough, great kid."
The long delay for lightning and rain lasted nearly two hours. When it ended with Oregon batting in the bottom of the sixth, Jax Gimenez doubled with two outs, Jaksa plated him with a two-run homer and Cooney followed with a solo shot for a 7-2 lead.
Those insurance runs made all the difference after Nebraska rallied for four runs in the eighth. It might have been worse for the Ducks, but with two outs and runners at the corners, the Cornhuskers tried to steal second, the runner from third broke for home when the Ducks threw down to second, and UO shortstop Maddox Molony gunned down the lead runner at home plate to end the threat.
"That readiness and just being prepared mentally was really elite by Maddox Maloney," Wasikowski said. "Just being in the game mentally at that level is why he's been such a good player for us."
Devin Bell got the last three outs of the eighth to stanch the bleeding in that long inning by the Huskers, then stranded two runners in scoring position in the ninth to earn his eighth save.
Up Next: Game two of the series is scheduled for Saturday (12 p.m., B1G+).
The No. 21 Ducks got six elite innings of work from right-hander Will Sanford, then were the better team coming out of a long mid-game rain delay on the way to a 7-6 win at PK Park over No. 19 Nebraska.
Sanford (5-1) provided exactly what the Ducks needed after they'd dropped four of their previous five games. The sophomore scattered seven hits over six innings and struck out a career-high 12 to give Oregon (25-9, 9-4 Big Ten) a series-opening win in a match-up of ranked teams.Â
"I've been trying to say this since the beginning of the year, but my job is to set the tone," said Sanford, who was coming off his first loss of the season. "Even through adversity, I want to keep competing the way I did. I thought I did a good job at that, and it was a good win."
Sanford bounded off the mound with a roar after striking out his 12th batter to end the top of the sixth. With one out in the bottom of the inning, the two teams were sidelined by what ended up being a weather delay that lasted 1:42, but when play resumed Brayden Jaksa and Ryan Cooney hit back-to-back homers that proved to be the difference after a late Nebraska rally.
Playing well coming out of a weather delay was something UO coach Mark Wasikowski and his staff have emphasized with this year's team. It paid dividends Friday.
"I told the group, I thought I really did a poor job of that last year as leader of the program, and it was one of the things that was a focal point that I really wanted to address; so did my coaches," Wasikowski said. "We didn't feel like we came out of rain delays — or played through the rain delays or challenging conditions — very successfully last year. We've really tried to make that adjustment, and so I was pleased with the way they came out. I mean, if we didn't do that, we wouldn't have won."
How It Happened: A leadoff double and a two-out single gave the Cornhuskers a 1-0 lead in the first. They would manage just one more run off Sanford, a solo homer in the fifth.
After the trouble in the first, Sanford allowed a single and a walk to open the second. But he retired the next three batters in order, the last two on strikeouts.
"Metrically, he's got one of the best — if not the best — fastballs in the country," Wasikowski said. "And it showed tonight."
The Ducks took a 2-1 lead in the fourth, on a two-run double by Naulivou Lauaki Jr. He struck out on a steady diet of sliders in his first at-bat, then got another on the first pitch of his next at-bat and pounced on it.
"Me and Waz have a little saying, 'hit it through the Pepsi sign,' right here in right-center," Lauaki said. "So I was just thinking that, and then he hung a slider and I stayed through it."
After coming two pitches shy of an "immaculate inning" while striking out the side in the fourth, Sanford allowed a leadoff homer in the fifth. He promptly struck out two more in a row to reach 10 strikeouts through five innings, then struck out the last two hitters he faced to make it a dozen.
In between, Drew Smith hit his 11th homer of the season in the bottom of the fifth, a two-run shot that made it 4-2 when Sanford returned to the mound in the sixth. After his final strikeout of the game, Sanford turned toward left field and let out a roar, then pivoted back toward Oregon's dugout and pumped his fist.
"His stuff's electric, and he competes like a son of a (gun) out there," Smith said. "Just a tough, great kid."
The long delay for lightning and rain lasted nearly two hours. When it ended with Oregon batting in the bottom of the sixth, Jax Gimenez doubled with two outs, Jaksa plated him with a two-run homer and Cooney followed with a solo shot for a 7-2 lead.
Those insurance runs made all the difference after Nebraska rallied for four runs in the eighth. It might have been worse for the Ducks, but with two outs and runners at the corners, the Cornhuskers tried to steal second, the runner from third broke for home when the Ducks threw down to second, and UO shortstop Maddox Molony gunned down the lead runner at home plate to end the threat.
"That readiness and just being prepared mentally was really elite by Maddox Maloney," Wasikowski said. "Just being in the game mentally at that level is why he's been such a good player for us."
Devin Bell got the last three outs of the eighth to stanch the bleeding in that long inning by the Huskers, then stranded two runners in scoring position in the ninth to earn his eighth save.
Up Next: Game two of the series is scheduled for Saturday (12 p.m., B1G+).
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Sanford, Will (5-1)
L: Timmerman, Tucker (2-1)
S: Bell, Devin (8)
Batting:
2B: Moyer, Mac 1
HR: Moyer, Mac 1 ; Carey, Dylan 1
RBI: Moyer, Mac 1 ; Carey, Dylan 3 ; Buck, Jett 1 ; Stokes, Rhett 1
SH: Stokes, Rhett 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Moyer, Mac 2 ; Sanderson, Case 1 ; Carey, Dylan 1 ; Freeman, Preston 1 ; Buck, Jett 1
CS: Overbeek, Joshua 1
HBP: Sanderson, Case 1 ; Carey, Dylan 1 ; Overbeek, Joshua 1
Batting:
2B: Gimenez, Jax 1 ; Molony, Maddox 1 ; Lauaki Jr., Naulivou 1
HR: Jaksa, Brayden 1 ; Cooney, Ryan 1 ; Smith, Drew 1
RBI: Jaksa, Brayden 2 ; Cooney, Ryan 1 ; Smith, Drew 2 ; Lauaki Jr., Naulivou 2
Base Running:
RUNS: Gimenez, Jax 1 ; Jaksa, Brayden 2 ; Cooney, Ryan 1 ; Smith, Drew 2 ; Mabeus, Burke-Lee 1
SB: Jaksa, Brayden 1
CS: Mabeus, Burke-Lee 1
HBP: Jaksa, Brayden 1 ; Cooney, Ryan 1 ; Laya, Angel 1
Game Leaders
AB
4
R
2
H
2
RBI
2
AB
5
R
2
H
2
RBI
2
lf/rf
AB
3
R
1
H
1
RBI
0
AB
4
R
1
H
1
RBI
1
Players Mentioned
RHP
/ Baseball
INF
/ Baseball
INF/OF
/ BaseballC
/ Baseball
INF/RHP
/ Baseball
INF
/ Baseball
RHP
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INF/OF
/ BaseballMark Wasikowski | Postgame vs. Nebraska (Game 2)
Saturday, April 11
Naulivou Lauaki Jr. Postgame vs. Nebraska (Game 1)
Saturday, April 11
Drew Smith | Postgame vs. Nebraska (Game 1)
Saturday, April 11
Will Sanford | Postgame vs. Nebraska (Game 1)
Saturday, April 11
