When Naulivou Lauaki Jr’s hard-hit fly ball came down in University of Portland right fielder Landon Kauffman’s glove as he crashed into the wall, the Ducks’ third warning track flyout of the game represented what could have been in a two-hit loss.

Oregon (23-6) struck out just five times in the shutout 3-0 loss to Portland (18-8), making any loud out loom large, and the Pilots’ two difference-making home runs in a pitchers’ duel emphasized those moments of suspense. 

“It was a fairly clean game — there weren’t any errors in the game — but that’s baseball,” Oregon head coach Mark Wasikowski said. “You line out, and you hit them where the guys are standing versus where the guys aren’t standing, and they did a better job of that tonight than we did.”

The Pilots struck first in the third inning when center fielder Brady Bean drove a 2-0 fastball from Miles Gosztola the opposite way for a solo home run.

In the bottom of the third, Portland left-handed starter Logan Anderson preserved the newfound lead in his final inning of work, facing just one batter over the minimum by feeding a flawless Pilots defense to leave Ryan Cooney’s leadoff single as the Ducks’ lone hit. 

Portland followed Anderson with fellow lefty Aaron Louis, who started with a clean fourth inning before falling into a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the fifth via a hit-by-pitch and consecutive four-pitch walks. Cooney and Jax Gimenez were unable to capitalize for Oregon, ending the inning with a strikeout and a dribbling groundout to third.

Gosztola settled in after the home run to put together an excellent outing, striking out seven batters to hold the Pilots to one run on three hits across 5.2 innings. 

The Gonzaga transfer now looks like a revelation after throwing seven scoreless innings and striking out eight batters in by far his longest outing of the season last week against UC San Diego. In that start, Gosztola pushed his season-high pitch count from 55 to 91, and his comfort with a rising pitch count showed against Portland when he struck out the final two batters he faced. 

“He was working really hard at his delivery, and getting consistent with it, landing his pitches, and he’s doing a great job,” Wasikowski said.

Louis matched Gosztola’s performance to make it a pitcher’s duel, pitching around a walk in the seventh to finish a hitless four-inning appearance with five walks and three strikeouts. 

Oregon turned to small ball in the eighth inning to put new pitcher Callum Young in a one-out jam, with Gimenez placing a bunt single in no man’s land between the first baseman, second baseman and pitcher, and Dominic Hellman drawing a walk. The Pilots responded with a mid-inning pitching change, and right-hander Alex Via escaped the jam by drawing consecutive pop outs.

Luke Morgan extended the strong day for Oregon’s pitching staff into the ninth inning, surrendering a leadoff walk but ending his 1.2 inning appearance by drawing a lineout. Michael Mechna relieved Morgan and crawled back from misses on his first two pitches before second baseman Jonas Salk homered on a 2-2 fastball to give the Pilots a 3-0 lead. 

Lauaki’s deep flyout was the closest thing to a response the Ducks could find, and it was a fitting end to a frustrating night of consistent harmless balls in play.

Oregon will make its longest road trip of the season so far to face Michigan this season, starting on April 2 at noon.