No. 16 Oregon baseball’s four runs across the first two innings were long gone from the PK Park scoreboard when catcher Burke-Lee Mabeus stepped to the plate with two outs in the 14th inning against No. 17 USC. 

With first baseman Brayden Jaksa standing on third base soon after his sixth stolen base of the season at second, two of the unlikeliest Ducks to be involved in a bunt play gave Oregon the win when Mabeus laid a bunt down the third base line and each player reached their top speed to reach each base safely.

Oregon (38-15, 20-10 Big Ten) came back from dropping Thursday’s opening game to USC (42-14, 20-10 Big Ten) to win the series, staving off a comeback bid from the Trojans in the rubber match. The Ducks raced ahead of the Trojans with four early runs, but USC eventually tied the game at five in the seventh inning, requiring four innings from Oregon closer Devin Bell and two from freshman Jonah Barkoff to set up Mabeus’ walkoff hit.

“I actually thought that Burke was gonna find a way to do it, no matter what, but in the initial play of it, it’s always, ‘What’s the best chance for us to win,’” Oregon assistant coach Jack Marder said. “Third base was playing back, and when that opportunity came, I just looked at it from a percentage standpoint, like, ‘How do we score right here?’”

Ryan Cooney gave Oregon a perfect leadoff at-bat, singling in a full count. After Angel Laya was hit by a pitch, both runners moved into scoring position on a wild pitch with Drew Smith at the plate, allowing his groundout to give the Ducks a 1-0 lead. After staging dramatic comebacks in the first two games, Oregon finally scored first against the Trojans.

“We didn’t do it on Thursday, and we didn’t do it yesterday, in terms of getting it done early on, but our guys came in wanting to execute at least that point of emphasis, and man, I loved the way that we came out,” Marder, who was filling in for head coach Mark Wasikowski while he attended his daughter’s graduation, said.

Maddox Molony extended Oregon’s lead in the second inning, hitting a hanging breaking ball into the Trojans’ bullpen to put the Ducks ahead 3-0. After consecutive outs, Cooney walked and Laya singled into center field to start a rally. Smith gave Oregon a 4-0 lead with a single to right field, ending USC starter Diego Velazquez’s outing.

Trojans catcher Richard Tejeda put an awkward, flailing swing on Oregon starter Miles Gosztola’s 2-2 slider leading off the third inning, but the no-doubt home run that pulled a run back looked like the result of his A-swing.

Through the fifth inning, USC reliever Andrew Johnson slowed down Oregon’s offense, and Gosztola continued feeding the Ducks’ defense as he had all day. USC delivered another blow in the top of the sixth when first baseman Adrian Lopez capitalized on Kevin Takeuchi’s leadoff walk with a home run to right-center field, pulling the Trojans within one run.

After Basseer’s one-out single, Gosztola was pulled at 87 pitches, in which he allowed three runs on six hits while striking out six batters. Toby Twist protected the Ducks’ lead with back-to-back strikeouts.

Johnson’s scoreless 3.1-inning relief outing, in which he pitched around two hits and one walk with four strikeouts, ended in the bottom of the sixth with increased importance after USC capitalized on it. 

Reliever Ben Cushnie quickly found himself in a jam when Jack Brooks advanced to second on a bunt after reaching on a leadoff walk. The Trojans opted to intentionally walk Cooney to get to Laya, and he blew up their plan with an RBI double to right field, putting Oregon ahead 5-3.

Twist remained in the game for Oregon, drawing two weak outs around a bunt single by Walter Urbon. The lefty’s well-timed pickoff as Urbon started for second should have ended the inning, but Cooney dropped Jaksa’s throw covering the base. Takeuchi took advantage of the extra at-bat, pulling a fastball over the wall in left-center field for a game-tying home run.

Oregon closer Devin Bell pitched a 1-2-3 eighth inning with two strikeouts after recording a 23-pitch save in game two. Chase Herrell matched Bell’s efficient inning for USC in his third inning of work, keeping the game tied.

Bell returned at 16 pitches for the ninth inning. USC bounced back from a leadoff strikeout with a single and a double, but Andrew Lamb’s hard-hit line drive was snared by Jaksa, and Bell ended the inning with a strikeout.

In the bottom of the inning, USC reliever Adam Troy retired Smith, Jaksa and Lauaki in order, necessitating extra innings.

Bell, who was nearly pulled during a ninth-inning mound visit when the reliever in Oregon’s bullpen left the mound, returned again on short rest for the tenth inning. His exhaustion showed in three straight balls, but through some mix of stamina and adrenaline, he fought all the way back for a strikeout. Bell kept the bases empty by drawing a groundout and a flyout, tying his season-high pitch count of 43 in the process.

“I just started missing some spots, and knew I needed to lock it back in, so I drew a line and that was that,” Bell said.

The Ducks put more pressure on Troy when he returned for his second inning of work, putting runners on first and second with one out. Troy recovered by striking out Josh Schleichardt and winning a full-count battle with Cooney through a weak flyout.

Bell doubled his previous Oregon high of two innings pitched in an 11th inning with no signs of exhaustion. The senior stranded a two-out single with his seventh strikeout in 58 pitches, his highest pitch count since May 11, 2024, when he threw 66 for Western Oregon University. 

“It’s been a while, but I knew I was capable of it, and just took care of business like I should,” Bell said.

USC  flexed its bullpen depth, bringing in Sax Matson as its fifth reliever of the game. Matson carved through the Ducks, drawing a groundout from Laya, striking out Smith and surviving a hit-by-pitch by striking out Lauaki. 

Freshman Jonah Barkoff took over for Bell in the highest-leverage spot of his now five-appearance career. Barkoff stranded a single at first in a two-strikeout inning. Matson faced no increased pressure from Mabeus, Molony and Brooks in the bottom of the 12th inning, drawing routine outs from all three.

Both pitchers cruised through 1-2-3 13th innings, before Collin Clarke took over for Oregon in the top of the 14th. Oregon’s typical Game 2 starter made his first bullpen appearance of the season on Friday, and in his second, worked a clean inning.

Jaksa began the Ducks’ winning sequence with a one-out infield single, before moving into scoring position with a timely steal on a breaking pitch in the dirt to Lauaki. Lauaki grounded out to move him to third, before Mabeus ended the game-winning small ball sequence.

Oregon required the series win over the Trojans to clinch the No. 3 seed in the Big Ten tournament, and the extra innings heroics will now allow the Ducks to sit out the first round while their opponent is decided.