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Oregon pitcher Cal Scolari throws a pitch as the Oregon Ducks host the USC Trojans on May 14, 2026, in Eugene, Oregon. | Ben Lonergan/The Register-Guard / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
The Ducks were taking on a familiar foe in the B1G baseball tournament. After Washington won their 1/2 of the double elimination between seeds 6,7,10, and 11 during the week they had a rested Duck team waiting for them early Saturday Morning.
As a result of inclement weather on Friday the Ducks and Huskies got their win or go home quarterfinal game started at 8 AM with the winner having the opportunity to play Nebraska Saturday evening.
With a potential double header on deck the Ducks would need a strong start from their starting pitcher to save the bullpen for the potential Semi-Final game later the same day.
Wazikowski decided to give the ball to Cal Scolari and Scolari came out firing early striking out the side in the 1st.
Scolari would hold the Huskies scoreless in the 2nd inning as well and in the bottom of the 2nd the Ducks lineup got to work.
Lauaki, Brooks, and Miranda were all able to reach base to load the bases with only one out for Ryan Cooney who would draw a bases loaded walk followed by another bases loaded walk from Angel Laya to make it a 2-0 game. Sadly both Drew Smith and Brayden Jaksa would strike out preventing Oregon from really opening things up early but nonetheless they had an early 2 run lead.
Meanwhile on the mound Scolari continued to cut down Huskies with some help from his defense in the 3rd.
In the bottom half the Ducks would add to their lead thanks to a Naulivou Lauaki Jr. solo home run to opposite field.
Scolari continued to deal picking up 3 more strikeouts in the 4th to continue to keep the Huskies scoreless.
In the 5th inning though Scolari ran into his first real trouble of the day. The first 2 Washington batters would reach base. Scolari would get the next 2 batters out but then issue a free base to load the bases with 2 outs. Luckily he was able to dial in to pick up his 10th K of the day to end the threat and keep the Huskies off the board.
After 95 pitches it was an excellent way to punctuate Scolari’s start. On the day he pitched 5 innings, allowing 0 runs and striking out 10. Probably not the ideal length on the day of a double header but holding the opposition scoreless for over 1/2 the game still should be considered an excellent start from Scolari. In the bottom half of the inning the Ducks offence would give the Bullpen some room to work with back to back home runs. First from Drew Smith.
Followed by Brayden Jaksa.
With a 5 run lead Toby Twist would pitch a scoreless 6th and the Ducks would double dip again in the bottom of the 6th to really flex their power over Washington. This time it was Jack Brooks.
Followed by Gabe Miranda
With the game well in control Wazikowski elected to keep Toby Twist in for a long relief appearance and save arms for the evening and Twist was dealing to keep the Huskies scoreless in both the 7th and 8th in addition to the 6th.
For good measure Oregon tacked on two more runs in the 8th thanks to an Angela Laya RBI single followed by a Drew Smith sac-fly.
In the 9th Twist would strike out the lead off batter but then allow 2 runners to reach. Michael Meckna came on in relief and did allow another batter to reach followed by a grand slam to make it 9-4 Oregon, but it was far to little far to late for Washington and Meckna would get the next two batters out to close out the game for the Ducks and advance them to the B1G Semi-finals against Nebraska.
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