It wasn’t always looking good as the No. 11 Oregon baseball team’s rookie pitching staff looked in the NCAA Eugene Regional.
The Ducks (43-16, 20-10 Big Ten) went 3-0 with wins over Yale, Washington State and cross-town rival Oregon State on a tough weekend at PK Park to move to their third best in four years, largely due to the strength of their pitching staff.
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In the three wins, Oregon gave up just four runs. In that same victory, all against good innings, the starting trio of Cal Scolari, Will Sanford and Miles Gosztola allowed one run over 16 2/3 innings pitched while striking out 27.
“The performance we saw in this district was special,” said coach Mark Wasikowski.
All three have challenges to overcome over the past few seasons, and this year as well. But all three stood out when they were given the chance this weekend.
Scolari, who moved from San Diego and followed his coach, Matt Florer, to Oregon, has been on and off as a starter but has shined in recent weeks. The redshirt sophomore issued a few walks that put runners on base against a bad Yale team but did allow a run in 4 1/2 innings pitched in a 14-2 victory.
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Sanford got the ball next and didn’t let Washington State do anything in the Ducks’ 4-0 win, throwing 14 in a game that was his best after a rocky season last year.
Gozztola, who is transferring to Gonzaga, admitted at the beginning of the season that a crowd like PK Park could have affected him badly. But thanks to Florer and Wasikowski, he was encouraged instead.
Wasikowski said Florer’s impact on his staff was evident from the moment he arrived.
“He’s got buy-in from the players and his personality is engaging,” Wasikowski said of Florer, Oregon’s first coach. “He’s a great communicator and he and (director of game development) Dan Straily have just been great for our servers.”
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After a blowout in the 2025 Eugene Regional, where the nationally-seeded Ducks went 0-2 in front of thousands at PK Park, and a long history of up-and-down postseason struggles, Oregon’s starters set the tone all weekend in three standout performances.
“It seemed like they were commanding the fastball, throwing the second pitch for a strike and getting it out of the zone when it needed to be and their mindset was very good,” Wasikowski said.
Perhaps no pitcher on Oregon’s pitching staff embodies its growth like Gosztola, who has appeared this season in a variety of roles and admitted to having many shortcomings early in the season.
Along with his command of high-quality moments and big crowds, Gosztola also struggled to contain the opposition’s running game. With a big hit in the sixth inning of Oregon’s win over Oregon State, Gosztola caught a Beaver runner at first and struck out Jacob Galloway to end the inning without a hit.
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“Miles, I challenged him a few weeks ago to stop acting well, because he’s not good, he’s good and he had to do that,” said Wasikowski. “I think they did well this weekend with the way they played. We had an amazing run in the Big Ten tournament. Even before that, you can see the team spirit come together and that’s one of the things I’m so grateful that we get this blessing to be able to continue to play and be with these guys every day.”
The challenge will be enhanced when compared to the No. 6 Texas in the at-large regional round, just two wins away from Oregon’s first Men’s College World Series appearance in more than a century. But Wasikowski believes this team has a lot in the tank.
“I feel like we haven’t reached our potential,” said Wasikowski. “That’s when you want to get hands-on with the boys and be with them a lot.”
Oregon’s Miles Gosztola produced an impressive performance in his debut against Oregon State as the Ducks closed out the NCAA Eugene Regional at PK Park. Gosztola allowed five hits, one run and three walks on eight strikeouts in six innings of Oregon’s 4-1 victory.
Alec Dietz covers University of Oregon football and women’s basketball for The Register-Guard. You can find him at adietz@registerguard.com.
This article appeared in the Register-Guard: Starting pitching key to Oregon Ducks’ NCAA baseball regional win
