If Oregon Ducks coach Mark Wasikowski had fingernails before the game tonight, he probably doesn’t have many left now.
Closer Kolby Somers flirted with disaster in the ninth by walking two batters, but he eventually earned his first save of the season and the Ducks upset No. 2 Stanford 4-3 in the opening game of a three-game weekend series down on The Farm.
Oregon moves to 9-5 overall and 1-0 in conference action. Stanford fell to 8-4 and 0-1.
The Cardinal jumped on the Ducks early with two runs in the first due to a couple of fielding errors. But Oregon settled down and starter Caleb Slaon, who was filling in for injured Adam Maier, pitched two innings before giving way for RJ Gordon. He pitched 4 and 2/3 innings, allowing no runs on three hits and 5 strikeouts. But more importantly, he kept Oregon in the game in order to let the offense get on track.
They got on that rack in the fifth with two runs in the fifth. It stayed 2-2 until the eighth when Colby Shade’s bases-loaded walk gave the Ducks a brief 3-2 lead. Stanford managed to tie the game in the bottom half on the inning, but Tanner Smith’s lead-off homer in the ninth gave Oregon the 4-3 lead and eventual win.