Sometimes it takes just one swing to win a game. Sometimes it takes just one swing to lose one also.
For the Oregon Ducks baseball team, that one swing came from the Beavers. More specifically, a three-run homer from Oregon State’s Micah McDowell was enough to send the Ducks home with a 4-2 defeat Saturday afternoon at PK Park.
The loss erased Oregon’s 11-game winning stream and dropped the Ducks to 20-8 overall and 7-4 in conference play. The Beavers improved to 19-11 overall and 6-8 in Pac-12 action.
Oregon was able to grab a 2-0 lead thanks to an RBI single from Rikuu Nishida and a run-scoring double from Drew Cowley in the third.
It remained that way until the next half-inning as OSU’s Brady Kasper hit a monster homer to right to make it 2-1 Ducks. Then in the top of the seventh, the Beavers managed to get two runners on to set the stage for Micah McDowell.
The Oregon State designated hitter sent a Matthew Grabmann fastball over the left-center wall to make it 4-2. It was just the senior’s second career home run.
Closer Ryan Brown threw two perfect innings to earn the save.
These two teams will meet on Easter Sunday, weather permitting, for the rubber game of this three-game set with the first pitch scheduled for noon.
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