After back-to-back dominant wins yesterday, the Ducks were in for a battle against No. 1 UCLA with the Big Ten Tournament Championship on the line. The clash of titans which defined both programs’ regular seasons, was back and forth through 11 innings until a Devin Bell hit-by-pitch on Phoenix Call secured the Bruins’ 3-2 win.

A strong outing from Miles Gosztola (5.0 IP, 4 K, 3 H, 1 ER) and clutch home runs from Naulivou Lauaki Jr. (2-5, HR) and Burke-Lee Mabeus (2-4, HR) were not enough to secure No. 14 Oregon baseball’s (38-15, 20-10 Big Ten) first Big Ten Tournament Championship over UCLA (25-31, 12-18 Big Ten). 

The game got off to a slow start, with both teams getting very little offense in the first two innings, with only two singles from UCLA shortstop Roch Cholowsky and Oregon first baseman Brayden Jaksa. 

The bottom half of the second looked like it was going to be a turning point for the Bruins, who put runners on second and first via a hit by pitch and a walk with no outs. Their high hopes were quickly shot down when a sacrifice bunt from catcher Cashel Dugger was fielded by Drew Smith, who threw it to Maddox Molony at third, who rifled the ball to first to turn the double play. 

UCLA drew first blood in the bottom of the fourth with right fielder Payton Brennan scoring on an RBI triple from center fielder Will Gasparino. Shortly after the scoring play, Dugger grounded out to third, but Gasparino got caught in the middle of a pickle and ended up trucking Smith. The officiating crew ruled the contact had malicious intent, and Gasparino was ejected from the game.

With two outs in the top of the fifth, Cervantes’s hold on the Ducks began to crack with two outs after he allowed Ryan Cooney to single to right, followed by back-to-back walks from Angel Laya and Smith to load the bases. A groundout from Jaksa killed any chances of a tying run, and the Ducks started running out of time with no runs through the midway point of the game.

Following a pitching change, which brought on Justin Lee for Cervantes, Mabeus crushed a game-tying home run deep to right field on the second pitch of Lee’s outing. For the third time this weekend, the Ducks hit back-to-back home runs after Lauaki sent a ball deep to left-center field following the leadoff bomb from Mabeus. The go-ahead bomb ended Lee’s nightmare outing and brought on Ian May, who had a 2.13 ERA entering the game. 

May walked Molony to start his day on the bump before a sacrifice bunt from Jack Brooks advanced him to second. Following a strikeout from Gabe Miranda, Cooney was intentionally walked, but Laya was unable to put another run on the board with two on after grounding out to second.

After five impressive innings from Gosztola, Collin Clarke took the mound. With one out, Brennan slashed a triple to the left field corner, but Clarke was able to hold the Bruins to no runs with a strikeout and a flyout to Brooks in center field. 

UCLA made a change of its own in the seventh after Landon Stump took over for May. With one out, Jaksa hit a first-pitch single to left-center before a double play grounder from Mabeus quickly flipped the inning over. 

In the bottom of the eighth, Oregon head coach Mark Wasiskowski made his second call to the bullpen to bring on Tanner Bradley, who has been one of the Ducks’ best relievers this season. On the first pitch, he hit Cholowsky with a runaway pitch but recovered with a strikeout and a double play to send the Ducks into a pivotal top of the ninth.

In a tough spot, UCLA brought out one of the best arms in the Big Ten, Easton Hawk. Hawk held the Ducks to no base runners to give the Bruins some momentum heading into the final frame. 

A four-pitch walk sent Brennan to first before a sacrifice bunt from right fielder Jarrod Hocking sent him to second. Bradley struck out Dugger looking for the second out before an RBI single from Espinoza tied the ball game at two apiece heading into the tenth.

Hawk got off to a strong start in the tenth after two swinging strikeouts from Smith and Jaksa secured the first two outs. Mabeus slashed a single to left field on the first pitch of his at-bat, but a fly out from Lauaki ended the top half of the inning.

Oregon’s closer Bell took the mound in a crucial spot in the bottom of the tenth. A groundout to Molony for the first out before Cholowsky got on base with his third single of the game. Mulivai Levu, the Bruins’ go-to walkoff hero in the past two games, was unable to pull off the hat trick after hitting a lineout to Smith who turned the double play at first.

Oregon continued to struggle against Hawk, who struck out two to hold the Ducks to yet another scoreless frame since taking the mound in the ninth.

Third baseman Roman Martin smashed a single into right-center field with no outs to put the go-ahead run on base for the Bruins. Brennan followed suit shortly after with a single to center field to put runners on first and second with no outs. A sacrifice bunt down the third base line loaded the bases after a close call at third was ruled in favor of the Bruins. Back-to-back swinging strikeouts wouldn’t be enough after Call’s helmet was clipped by a runaway pitch to send the winning run home to hand UCLA its first Big Ten Tournament Championship.

Oregon will learn its Regional hosting fate on Sunday, when hosts are announced, before beginning NCAA postseason play next week.