After a fairly uneventful series opener, Saturday’s game was anything but. Oregon and Washington State went back and forth for much of the game, but it was Oregon that prevailed, beating the Cougars 14-8 in an offense-dominated contest at Bailey-Brayton Field. 

Six Ducks had multiple hits. Drew Cowley reached base five times, while Gavin Grant hit a grand slam and Tanner Smith had four hits and three RBIs. They combined for 17 hits and nine walks as a team. 

It ended the Ducks’ four-game losing streak, rejuvenating life into a squad that had struggled to keep the energy up over the last few games.

“We’ve been pushing a big boulder uphill the last couple games,” Smith said. “And today, we really wanted to come out and slow everything down, and really capture momentum every pitch and every play. I think we did a really good job with that.”

Washington State struck first with a four-spot in the second inning. Leo Uelmen showed some zip on his fastball in the first inning, but it got bashed around for four hits in the second, three of which were doubles. He finally stopped the damage by recording his third strikeout, but not before the Ducks found themselves in an early hole once again.

In the third inning, Oregon cut that deficit in half. After stranding three runners in the previous two innings, they came through with an RBI double from Sabin Ceballos and a sacrifice fly from Smith to make it 4-2. 

The Ducks accomplished this against Caden Kaelber, who had dominated to the tune of a 2.16 ERA entering Saturday’s game. Ceballos has continued to thrive and act as a spark plug, even when the offense as a unit has struggled. The double brought his average up to .372.

The Cougars responded with three more hits in the bottom of the third, bringing in a run. With the bases loaded, Uelmen settled down and got a strikeout with his fastball, then induced a groundout to end the inning with Oregon trailing 5-2.

The Ducks finally broke out with the offense they’ve been looking for in the fourth inning. It started with a Bennett Thompson walk. Carter Garate, getting his second straight start at shortstop, singled, and Grant perfectly placed a bunt to load the bases. That ended Kaelber’s day after three-plus innings.

Rikuu Nishida greeted reliever Spencer Jones by taking a classic Rikuu slap swing, blooping a single to drive in two runs. Shade laid down another bunt, and Jones threw the ball away, which brought in the tying run. With one out, Smith drove one to the wall and knocked in two more, giving Oregon a 7-5 lead.

Washington State brought in its third pitcher of the inning, Ryan Orr. He induced an inning-ending double play in Thompson’s second plate appearance of the frame, ending the rally after five runs.

But, yet again, Oregon couldn’t contain Washington State’s offense. The Cougars collected three straight hits against Uelmen, the last one blooping in between three Oregon defenders to cut the lead to 7-6. Uelmen’s day came to an end after going 3 1/3 innings and allowing 11 hits.

Austin Anderson entered and issued a walk to load the bases. A sacrifice fly tied it at seven apiece, as the roller coaster of this game continued.

Oregon took the lead back in the sixth. Jacob Walsh drew a bases-loaded walk — the third walk of the inning — and Thompson’s sacrifice fly made it 9-7.

Grayson Grinsell rolled through the Cougars’ offense for 2 2/3 innings, striking out four. With two outs in the seventh, he gave up a double down the right field line for Washington State’s first hit against him. But Nishida, getting the start in right field, made an impressive relay to cut the runner down at home and end the inning. He wore a big smile across his face as he ran into the dugout.

The Ducks blew it open with five five runs in the eighth. Garate drew Oregon’s second bases-loaded walk of the day, and Grant sent one into the trees for a grand slam. More than three hours into the game, it gave the Ducks a 14-7 cushion to work with.

Ian Umlandt threw the final inning. He gave up back-to-back doubles with two outs but otherwise finished the game without any stress. It was the first run Umlandt has given up this year.

Oregon (10-7, 2-3 Pac-12) will look to take the rubber game against Washington State (14-4, 3-2 Pac-12) Sunday at 1 p.m.