Penn State baseball (12-28, 5-15 Big Ten) dropped yet another heartbreaker to No. 19 Oregon (31-11, 14-6 Big Ten) on Saturday night in Eugene, Oregon, falling 5-4 in 10 innings.

In the first extra-inning contest of the year for the Nittany Lions, they jumped out to an early 4-0 lead behind a Spencer Barnett home run, but the Ducks slowly chipped away and eventually won in extra innings after drawing four walks in the bottom of the 10th. Ben Hudson tossed six strong innings and got a no-decision.

How It Happened

Collin Clarke got the start for Oregon in this one, and he was rudely greeted in the first. After plunking Jayden Davis and getting a groundout, he coughed up an RBI double to Bryce Molinaro before Barnett smashed a 1-1 pitch to dead center for his sixth home run of the season to quickly make it 3-0 Penn State.

Spencer Barnett! He goes yard for the 6th time this year!

T1 | PSU 3, No. 19 UO 0#WeAre pic.twitter.com/MuCTB4Zyxx

— Penn State Baseball (@PennStateBASE) April 25, 2026

The rally didn’t stop there, as Kevin Karstetter was plunked with two outs, stole second, and scored on an RBI single by Avery Smith, capping a four-run first inning rally.

Smith smacks a single to left to bring in Karstetter!

T1 | PSU 4, No. 19 UO 0#WeAre pic.twitter.com/KEaTVLTmKY

— Penn State Baseball (@PennStateBASE) April 25, 2026

Ben Hudson got the ball for Penn State with a big early cushion, but nearly gave it all back. Three consecutive singles to open the game loaded the bases with nobody out to bring the tying run to the plate, but Hudson squeaked around certain doom by only giving up one run on an RBI groundout by Angel Laya, cutting the deficit to 4-1.

Davis singled with one out in the second and immediately got into scoring position with a wild pitch, but was stranded. Gabe Miranda did the same in the bottom half and met the same fate.

Jack Porter and Karstetter both singled with one out in the third to put more pressure on Clarke, but the junior right-hander weaseled his way out of the jam. Oregon took another run off the Nittany Lions’ lead in the bottom half, as Laya followed up a Drew Smith single with an RBI double to make it 4-2 after three. It could’ve been a lot worse, though, as Porter robbed Ryan Cooney of a home run at the start of the inning.

We've got a robbery! Jack Porter goes up and brings this one back!!!#WeAre #SCTop10 pic.twitter.com/nbdVxQYYmX

— Penn State Baseball (@PennStateBASE) April 25, 2026

Clarke and Hudson exchanged zeroes in the fourth and fifth, both pitching around a walk in the fourth. Preston Yaucher smacked his second double of the series with two out in the sixth to finally chase Clarke for Owen Morgan, but the Ducks got out of another jam with a Davis strikeout.

Hudson finished up six strong innings of two-run ball with a 1-2-3 sixth to complete a quality start. Mason Butash was first out of the bullpen, but gave up a single, a walk, and a sacrifice bunt to put the tying run in scoring position. Mason Horwat tried to put out the fire behind him, but Oregon scored a pair of runs on two fielder’s choices and an error, tying the game at four after seven.

Toby Twist, who pitched a scoreless seventh with three strikeouts, struck out the first two he faced in the eighth, but a dropped third strike allowed Karstetter to reach. A Yaucher single eventually pushed the go-ahead run to third with two out and forced a pitching change, but Devin Bell got an inning-ending strikeout to extinguish another rally.

Horwat started the bottom of the eighth and walked a batter before being replaced by Ben DeMell with two outs. The senior successfully prevented further damage with an inning-ending groundout.

Bell struck out two in a 1-2-3 ninth for Oregon. DeMell stayed on and got the first two outs of the ninth, but allowed a two-out single to Cooney, who immediately stole second. With the winning run on second, DeMell blew an 0-2 pitch by Smith to send this game to extra innings.

Unlike in MLB, there’s no automatic runner in extras in college, so Penn State went down quietly in a 1-2-3 top of the 10th without the ball leaving the infield against Bell. DeMell struggled with command all inning as Mike Gambino tried not to keep extending the bullpen, and Oregon ultimately walked it off with four walks in the 10th, with DeMell getting ahead of Jack Brooks 0-2 with two outs and the bases loaded before firing four straight balls to walk in the winning run.

Takeaways

• Four runs in the first, shut out in the last nine innings. Penn State routinely got a runner in scoring position inning after inning, but finished the game 0-for-6 with RISP after getting hits on their first three opportunities in the first. Against a fantastic pitching staff, it’s easier said than done, but the inconsistency has been hard to watch.
• If Penn State had any hope of winning a series against a ranked opponent, it needed great starting pitching. While they’ve dropped the first two games, they’ve gotten two quality starts from Colin Fitzgerald and now Ben Hudson, who’ve combined to strike out 17 batters and allow five runs in 12 combined innings. In what has been a terribly inconsistent season for the team’s weekend rotation, they’ve gotten what they needed so far this weekend.
• It’s been a strong series from shortstop Preston Yaucher, who entered the series with the lowest OPS on the roster. He’s 3-for-8 with two doubles through two games against a strong pitching staff that might be pitching in Omaha come June.
• Penn State led in the seventh inning in both games of this series. They had a five-run lead at one point in the series opener against a ranked Nebraska team earlier this month. In now six games against ranked opponents, the Nittany Lions are 0-6, but have fought hard with five losses by three runs or less.

What’s Next?

The Nittany Lions will look to avoid the sweep in Eugene against No. 19 Oregon at 3:05 p.m. on Sunday, April 26. The game will be broadcast on BTN+.