Oregon smacked four homers in the nightcap of Saturday’s doubleheader and rewarded Collin Clarke’s solid outing in an 8-3 win over Columbia. The second contest of the game was the closest thing to a normal baseball game that PK Park has seen on the weekend, but the result was the same: a fully-controlled Ducks win.
No. 11 Oregon (9-2, 0-0 Big Ten) moved its win streak to a season-high six games and dropped the Lions to 1-5 in 2025.
“We just want to win games,” Oregon head coach Mark Wasikowski said of the doubleheader sweep. “It was a really good offensive performance.”
Oregon sent Clarke to the mound after slaughtering Columbia 35-1 earlier on Saturday, looking to sweep the doubleheader. He needed only nine pitches in the first inning and retired the first five hitters he faced.
Coen Niclai got the scoring started in the second with a two-run homer to dead center. His first-career homer drove in Maddox Molony — who had a 1-3, two BB — and he came around to score on an RBI single from Carter Garate (1-4).
Anson Aroz (1-3) added to the lead in the third with his fifth blast of the season. His solo shot reached the parking lot in left-center field and might still be rolling.
Columbia starter Jagger Edwards had the best start a Lion has had all weekend, but he was still roughed up for four runs on four hits across his four innings of work. He earned the loss as the Ducks took the series.
Niclai brought home another in the fifth on an RBI groundout. The freshman backstop had a solid 1-3 day with three RBIs to add to his solid start to the season. He’s hitting .250 on the young season.
Mason Neville cranked his sixth homer of the season off the roof in right field in the sixth to break open a 7-0 lead. Six of Neville’s first 13 hits of the season have now left PK Park.
Hits were incredibly even on Saturday (eight for Oregon and six for Columbia), but the Ducks had some serious power behind theirs. Half of their hits left PK Park.
“That’s a cool stat,” Molony said. “That’s awesome.”
Clarke was very good again on Saturday. He was virtually untouchable until the seventh inning, when he finally got tagged for three runs on a Hunter Snyder ground-rule double and a Ben Fishel sacrifice fly.
Clarke finished with 6.2 innings of five-hit, three-run ball. Across his 93 pitches, he fanned a career-high eight hitters and earned his first win of the season.
“I got them to roll over, swing and miss and [have] weak contact,” Clarke said.
Gabe Howard came in to relieve Clarke and he worked an inning of scoreless ball before Santiago Garcia entered to face just one batter. Cole Stokes recorded the final four outs to earn the series win and the doubleheader sweep.
“We had solid pitching all day,” Wasikowski said. “I was excited about the way guys got after it on the mound. I thought it was a complete effort.”
Dominic Hellman crushed a baseball out to center field in the bottom of the eighth for an unnecessary, but helpful, insurance run. Hellman’s third homer in as many games drove in his 15th RBI of the season — good for second-most on the team (Walsh, 18).
“He’s a special kid,” Wasikowski said. “He’s a special talent.”
The Ducks look to take the series sweep from the Lions tomorrow as Will Sanford takes the mound. Oregon hasn’t lost a Sanford start yet. First pitch is set for 12:05 p.m.
