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It hasn't always looked as smooth as the No. 11 Oregon baseball team's starting pitching staff made working through innings look in the NCAA Eugene Regional.
The Ducks (43-16, 20-10 Big Ten) went a perfect 3-0 with wins against Yale, Washington State and in-state rival Oregon State over a raucous weekend at PK Park to advance to their third super regional in four years, mostly thanks to the strength of its pitching staff.
In three victories, Oregon gave up just four runs. In those same three wins, all against good offenses, the Ducks' starting trio of Cal Scolari, Will Sanford and Miles Gosztola allowed just one run over 16 2/3 of the possible 27 innings available while striking out 27.
"The pitching we’ve seen in this regional has been special," coach Mark Wasikowski said.
All three have had their challenges to overcome over the last few seasons, and even this year. But all three dominated when given the chance this weekend.
Scolari, a transfer from San Diego who followed his pitching coach, Matt Florer, to Oregon, has been in and out as a starter but lights out in recent weeks. The redshirt sophomore issued a few walks that put runners on the bases against a scrappy Yale team but didn't allow a run in 4 1/2 innings pitched of an 14-2 victory.
Sanford got the ball next and didn't allow Washington State to do anything in a 4-0 Ducks win, striking out 14 in a career-best performance after a rocky freshman season a year before.
Gosztola, a Gonzaga transfer, admitted earlier in the season a crowd like the one at PK Park would have affected him in a negative way. But thanks to Florer and Wasikowski, it fueled him instead.
Wasikowski said Florer's impact on his pitching staff has been evident since the moment he arrived.
"He’s got the buy-in of the players and his personality is really one that embraces others," Wasikowski said of Florer, Oregon's first-year pitching coach. "He’s a great communicator and him and (director of pitching development) Dan Straily have just been marvelous for our pitchers."
After the implosion at the 2025 Eugene Regional, when the nationally seeded Ducks went 0-2 in front of thousands at PK Park, and a long history of up-and-down pitching in the postseason, Oregon's starters set the tone all weekend in three dominant showings.
"It looked like they were commanding the fast ball, throwing a secondary pitch for a strike and getting it out of the zone when they needed to and their mentality was tremendous," Wasikowski said.
Perhaps no pitcher on Oregon's staff encapsulates its growth like Gosztola, who has featured this season in a variety of roles and admitted he had several deficiencies at the start of the season.
Along with his command in high-leverage moments and with big crowds, Gosztola also struggled with containing the opposing team's run game. In a huge sequence in the sixth inning of Oregon's win over Oregon State, Gosztola held off a Beaver runner at first and struck out Jacob Galloway to end an inning unscathed.
"Miles, I challenged a few weeks ago to quit acting good, because he’s not good, he’s great and he needed to act that way," Wasikowski said. "I think they did this weekend for sure and down the stretch they’ve been outstanding. We got tremendous pitching in the Big Ten tournament. Even before that, you can just see it coming together in the momentum of the team is one that I’m really thankful that we’re getting this blessing to be able to continue to play and be around these guys every single day."
The challenge will be amplified against No. 6 Texas in the super regional round, just two wins away from Oregon's first Men's College World Series appearance in over half a century. But Wasikowski believes this group has more in the tank.
"I just feel like we haven’t even reached our potential yet," Wasikowski said. "That’s when you just want to really dig in with the guys and be with them more."
Alec Dietz covers University of Oregon football and women’s basketball for The Register-Guard. You may reach him at [email protected].
This article originally appeared on Register-Guard: Starting pitching key to Oregon Ducks' NCAA baseball regional win
Continue reading...
The Ducks (43-16, 20-10 Big Ten) went a perfect 3-0 with wins against Yale, Washington State and in-state rival Oregon State over a raucous weekend at PK Park to advance to their third super regional in four years, mostly thanks to the strength of its pitching staff.
In three victories, Oregon gave up just four runs. In those same three wins, all against good offenses, the Ducks' starting trio of Cal Scolari, Will Sanford and Miles Gosztola allowed just one run over 16 2/3 of the possible 27 innings available while striking out 27.
"The pitching we’ve seen in this regional has been special," coach Mark Wasikowski said.
All three have had their challenges to overcome over the last few seasons, and even this year. But all three dominated when given the chance this weekend.
Scolari, a transfer from San Diego who followed his pitching coach, Matt Florer, to Oregon, has been in and out as a starter but lights out in recent weeks. The redshirt sophomore issued a few walks that put runners on the bases against a scrappy Yale team but didn't allow a run in 4 1/2 innings pitched of an 14-2 victory.
Sanford got the ball next and didn't allow Washington State to do anything in a 4-0 Ducks win, striking out 14 in a career-best performance after a rocky freshman season a year before.
Gosztola, a Gonzaga transfer, admitted earlier in the season a crowd like the one at PK Park would have affected him in a negative way. But thanks to Florer and Wasikowski, it fueled him instead.
Wasikowski said Florer's impact on his pitching staff has been evident since the moment he arrived.
"He’s got the buy-in of the players and his personality is really one that embraces others," Wasikowski said of Florer, Oregon's first-year pitching coach. "He’s a great communicator and him and (director of pitching development) Dan Straily have just been marvelous for our pitchers."
After the implosion at the 2025 Eugene Regional, when the nationally seeded Ducks went 0-2 in front of thousands at PK Park, and a long history of up-and-down pitching in the postseason, Oregon's starters set the tone all weekend in three dominant showings.
"It looked like they were commanding the fast ball, throwing a secondary pitch for a strike and getting it out of the zone when they needed to and their mentality was tremendous," Wasikowski said.
Perhaps no pitcher on Oregon's staff encapsulates its growth like Gosztola, who has featured this season in a variety of roles and admitted he had several deficiencies at the start of the season.
Along with his command in high-leverage moments and with big crowds, Gosztola also struggled with containing the opposing team's run game. In a huge sequence in the sixth inning of Oregon's win over Oregon State, Gosztola held off a Beaver runner at first and struck out Jacob Galloway to end an inning unscathed.
"Miles, I challenged a few weeks ago to quit acting good, because he’s not good, he’s great and he needed to act that way," Wasikowski said. "I think they did this weekend for sure and down the stretch they’ve been outstanding. We got tremendous pitching in the Big Ten tournament. Even before that, you can just see it coming together in the momentum of the team is one that I’m really thankful that we’re getting this blessing to be able to continue to play and be around these guys every single day."
The challenge will be amplified against No. 6 Texas in the super regional round, just two wins away from Oregon's first Men's College World Series appearance in over half a century. But Wasikowski believes this group has more in the tank.
"I just feel like we haven’t even reached our potential yet," Wasikowski said. "That’s when you just want to really dig in with the guys and be with them more."
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Alec Dietz covers University of Oregon football and women’s basketball for The Register-Guard. You may reach him at [email protected].
This article originally appeared on Register-Guard: Starting pitching key to Oregon Ducks' NCAA baseball regional win
Continue reading...
