OMAHA, Neb. – Months ago, the Oregon Ducks made winning a Big Ten championship a goal for this season.
But first, they had to get through today: a quarterfinal matchup against Pacific Northwest rival Washington followed by a semifinal matchup against second-seeded Nebraska, which drew a loud, partisan crowd to Charles Schwab Field.
After beating Washington 9-4 earlier in the day, the Ducks earned their way into Sunday’s championship game against the No. 1 team in the country, UCLA, with an 8-0 shutout of Nebraska, getting six shutout innings from starter Will Sanford and four RBIs from No. 3 hitter Drew Smith.
The Ducks immediately got a runner on the pond, with Ryan Cooney leading off the game with a double. He advanced to third on a ground out to second by Angel Laya and then took off on contact and scored when No. 3 hitter Drew Smith grounded out to third to give Oregon a 1-0 lead.
In the fourth, Maddox Molony hit a two-out solo homer, his 12th of the season, to give Oregon a 2-0 lead, and an inning later, Angel Laya’s 14th homer of the season made in 3-0.
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All the while, Sanford made short work of the Cornhuskers in the early innings. The San Diego native was perfect through three innings, struck out two batters in the first four innings, and didn’t allow a hit until Nebraska’s Jett Buck singled with one out in the fifth.
“I just thought competing, going pitch to pitch. I made some mistakes, and just trusting myself and trusting to fight back, and just trusting all my pitches,” Sanford said when asked what the key to his success against Nebraska was. “I just had full belief in myself, full belief in the guys behind me, and we just came to play today.
With one out in the seventh, Cooney on second and Laya on first, Drew Smith broke the game open for the Ducks, hitting a triple to deep right center field to score two runs.
“We have a really good idea of what we’re gonna go into the game, game plan wise, and the coaches do a really good job of scouting and giving us a good game plan to go out and execute. … I think we just did that today,” said Smith.
Next came Brayden Jaksa, who deposited a belt-high fastball into the Nebraska bullpen to make it 7-0 and silence the Nebraska-heavy crowd. It was the 100th homer of the season for the Ducks, and it silenced the crowd of 12,083, most of whom were hoping to see the Huskers advance to tomorrow’s championship game.
The atmosphere, though, only served to pump up the Ducks.
“I just think it’s more fun when there’s more people,” Smith said. “I love whenever there’s that many people and I thought it was just a great time. I thought our team fed off of it, and we just went out there and executed and won the game.”
The Ducks added another in the top of ninth when Elijah Cook scored on a sac fly to center by Drew Smith.
They have one more win to go to accomplish the goal they set for themselves earlier in the season, and they’ll need to beat a Bruins team that took two of three in their three-game series two weeks ago.
“Playing against Coach Savage’s teams, right, it’s kind of an old Pac-12 matchup. And we’ve gone back and forth with UCLA since I’ve been in Oregon, either as an assistant coach or as a head coach. And they’ve had a really good program, and right now they’re number one in the country and that’s enough for our guys to wanna play this season,” said Oregon head coach Mark Wasikowski. “We really wanted to play them in the championship game of this tournament, and so we were really excited when UCLA won that game earlier today. We know it isn’t gonna be an easy game. It’s probably the hardest game in the country to play, and our guys want that.”
NCAA Tournament Implications – With the win, Oregon, which was No. 16 in the RPI as of Saturday morning, likely cements their status as a regional host. Nebraska, which was No. 9 in the RPI on Saturday morning, will almost certainly host a regional at Haymarket Park in Lincoln for the first time since 2008.
“I told the team, I think it’s a slam dunk,” said Nebraska head coach Will Bolt about the Huskers having home games in the NCAA Tournament’s opening weekend. “I can’t wait to wake up in the morning and find out that we’re hosting a regional in Lincoln. Our body of work … it speaks for itself, and 40-plus wins, second in the league and a top 10 RPI and whatever it is. I mean, we’ve done everything we possibly can to play home baseball next weekend.”
Where to Watch – The entire 2026 Big Ten Baseball Championship will be broadcast live on the Big Ten Network and the games will also be available on the FOX Sports App.
2026 Big Ten Tournament Schedule
All times Eastern Daylight Time
All games played at Charles Schwab Field, Omaha, Nebraska
Tuesday, May 19
No. 12 Michigan State 8, No. 5 Purdue 4 – Game 1 – Recap
No. 8 Iowa 10, No. 9 Illinois 6 – Game 2 – Recap
No. 7 Michigan 10, No. 10 Rutgers 0 (Seven Innings) – Game 3 – Recap
No. 11 Washington 8, No. 6 Ohio State 6 – Game 4 – Recap
Wednesday, May 20
No. 5 Purdue 3, No. 9 Illinois 1 – Game 5 – Recap
No. 6 Ohio State 3, No. 10 Rutgers 2 – Game 6 – Recap
No. 12 Michigan State 4, No. 8 Iowa 3 – Game 7 – Recap
No. 11 Washington 7, No. 7 Michigan 1 – Game 8 – Recap
Thursday, May 21
No. 5 Purdue 8, No. 8 Iowa 1 – Game 9
No. 7 Michigan 3, No. 6 Ohio State 0 – Game 10
Friday, May 22
No. 4 Southern California 7, No. 12 Michigan State 0 – Game 11
No. 1 UCLA 4, No. 5 Purdue 3 – Game 12
No. 2 Nebraska 6, No. 7 Michigan 4 – Game 13
Saturday, May 23
No. 3 Oregon 9, No. 11 Washington 4 – Game 14
No. 4 Southern California vs. No. 1 UCLA 4 – Game 15
6 p.m. – No. 2 Nebraska vs. No. 3 Oregon – Semifinal 2 – Game 16
Sunday, May 24
3 p.m. EDT – Championship Game
Photo: Brayden Jaksa hit a two-run homer as part of a four-run inning to power the Oregon Ducks past the Nebraska Cornhuskers and into the Big Ten championship game. (Photo via Oregon Ducks Baseball on Instagram)
