As of May 3, No. 13 Oregon baseball leads the Big Ten in home runs, with 86. Of that, its three freshmen — Angel Laya, Brayden Jaksa and Naulivou Lauaki Jr. — have hit 26, the most of any Big Ten team and the second best in the country behind No. 9 Texas A&M.

Laya has the most home runs among the Ducks’ freshmen, with 13, second most on the team and in the Big Ten among freshmen. On April 12, Laya broke the record for home runs by a freshman in Oregon history, surpassing current middle infielder Maddox Molony, who hit 10 home runs in 2024.

“Pretty amazing, right?” Oregon head coach Mark Wasikowski said in a postgame press conference following Laya’s record-breaking home run on April 12. “The kid’s a pretty spectacular talent. Between him and Jaksa, those two freshmen have been really spectacular.” 

Outside of being one of the best power hitters on the team, Laya sits third on the team in hits (49), fourth in OPS (1.008), and sixth in batting average (.302). Recently, he’s also started stealing bases, swiping four bags so far this season after not stealing a base up until April 22 against Oregon State.

Jaksa and Lauaki have been making waves recently after settling into more prominent roles in Wasikowski’s lineup. The pair started this season with minimal plate appearances; Jaksa got an occasional start at catcher. With recent lackluster performances from Gabe Miranda and power hitter Dominic Hellman, Jaksa and Lauaki have found their rhythm after taking over at first base and designated hitter.

Jaksa got off to a bit of a faster start in terms of home runs compared to Lauaki after hitting his first home run in the first series of the year against George Mason. Following that first home run, he went on a bit of a quiet streak before regaining that power in late March with five home runs since then.

Overall, Jaksa has been lethal at the plate, ranking fourth on the team in batting average (.331), sixth in OPS (.949) and has been active on the base path with the fourth most steals on the team with five. 

Since his first home run on April 8 against the University of Portland, Lauaki has been on a tear and has hit six more homers. Notably, he mashed two home runs in two separate games on April 11 and 17 against Nebraska and Illinois, and in the later he hit one of the farthest home runs in the nation this season with a 496-foot three-run homer in the 16-6 win. Lauaki has been off to a hot start overall since he started his role as the team’s designated hitter and currently ranks second on the team in batting average (.355) and first in OPS (1.109). 

One of the more impressive aspects of Jaksa and Lauaki’s numbers is the fact that they have played much less than Laya, who has 149 at-bats to their 118 and 76 at-bats, respectively. One could speculate that they could’ve contributed a lot more to the team if they had been given more play time earlier in the season, especially Lauaki, who didn’t start a game until March 11.

Oregon has two series remaining in its regular season to boost its resume ahead of the postseason. The Ducks have some time off following the cancellation of their series against Grand Canyon University before heading to Los Angeles to face No. 1 UCLA ahead of their final home series against No. 18 USC. 

The young guns have a chance to add to their season totals against the No. 1-ranked team in the country, who have let up 47 home runs this season, tied for sixth most in the Big Ten as of May 3.