The Oregon baseball team secured a decisive 14-2 victory over Yale on May 29 in the opening round of the 2026 NCAA Eugene Regional at PK Park. The win advances Oregon to face Washington State on Saturday evening, following an earlier elimination game between Oregon State and Yale.
The Ducks, seeded No. 11, energized a crowd of 4,278 by scoring six runs through five innings and adding eight more in the eighth. The pitching staff stranded 13 runners on base while holding Yale to two runs. Head coach Mark Wasikowski said, “I’m really pleased with the effort. I was impressed with the fact that our guys were able to pull away in the game there late, I thought that was really important. Then just to be able to get the lead early, I thought that was a really big key, especially with how they run their offense. So, just happy to be 1-0, and it’s one game, but 1-0 in a regional, and that’s a good start.”
Oregon’s offense was led by Angel Laya (4-for-5), Drew Smith (4-for-5), Brayden Jaksa (3-for-4), Ryan Cooney (2-for-6), and Naulivou Lauaki Jr., who hit his team-high thirteenth home run of the season. Starting pitcher Cal Scolari threw four and one-third scoreless innings before relievers Luke Morgan and Toby Twist helped maintain control; Twist earned his fourth win after three scoreless innings.
Laya commented on his pivotal fifth-inning at-bat against Yale starter Jack Ohman: “I want to give credit to (Ohman). He was incredible. He had command of every pitch he had in his arsenal. The atmosphere was amazing, and I was just trying to catch my breath and put the ball in play.” Lauaki’s three-run homer capped off an eight-run eighth inning for Oregon.
Reflecting on moving forward in regional play after last year’s early exit at home, Wasikowski said, “We want to have a clean slate,” adding that each day presents new challenges regardless of previous results: “Tomorrow is a new day…one run or five runs or ten runs doesn’t make any difference…So just going to start fresh tomorrow and nail it.”
