EUGENE, Ore. (April 24, 2022) – Washington State scored twice in the eighth inning, twice in the ninth inning and used a base-loaded walk in the tenth to beat No. 10 Oregon 8-7 in ten innings at PK Park Sunday afternoon and clinched their first series in Eugene since 2012.
 
WSU notches its second road series win over a Top-10 team in the last three weeks after taking two of three at No. 9 Arizona two weekends ago. It's the first time in program history with two road series wins over Top-10 teams.
 
The Cougars (16-22, 7-14 Pac-12) received three-hit games from Jack Smith and Justin Van De Brake while Jacob McKeon homered for the third straight game. Reliever Duke Brotherton earned the win with three scoreless innings in the seventh, eighth and ninth innings and Caden Kaelber picked up his third save of the season with a scoreless tenth.
 
Oregon (27-12, 12-6 Pac-12) used a five-run second inning to own a 6-0 lead after innings but WSU scored three times in the sixth, twice in the eighth and twice in the ninth to tie the game before scoring the go-ahead run with a bases-loaded walk in the tenth.
 
KEY MOMENTS OF THE GAME
In the first inning, Oregon used a walk and a pair of hits to push a run across. The Ducks followed with a five-run second inning despite getting just one hit in the frame, a three-run triple for a 6-0 advantage.
 
The Cougar bullpen settled in with scoreless frames over the next three innings. The WSU offense heated up as a Van De Brake two-out single to left-centerfield was just off the glove of the leaping shortstop to allow a run to score. One batter later, Hainline doubled home a pair of runs to cut the Oregon lead to 6-3.
 
Oregon added a run in their half of the sixth for 7-3 lead but the Cougars started the comeback in the eighth as McKeon hit a two-run home run to centerfield to make it a two-run game.
 
In the ninth, Kyle Russell singled to right field with one out, Kodie Kolden followed with a walk and Bryce Matthews singled to right-centerfield to score Russell and make it 7-6 Oregon. Smith followed with a sacrifice fly to centerfield to score Kolden as the tying run.
 
Brotherton retired the first eight hitters he faced before allowing a two-out single in the ninth but Oregon was thrown out at second by catcher Will Cresswell to end the inning.
 
In the tenth, Van De Brake singled to centerfield, Cresswell was hit by a pitch and Collin Montez walked to load the bases with one out. Kolden worked the count full before taking ball four to score Van De Brake for the go-ahead run. Kaelber retired Oregon in order in the tenth.
 
 INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
Jack Smith singled in the 1^st inning to extend his on-base streak to 22 games
 
NEXT UP
The Cougars host Gonzaga Tuesday evening at 6 p.m.