Oregon didn’t need any late-inning heroics this afternoon.
The Ducks scored first, broke a 2-2 tie with three runs in the fourth and eventually cruised to an easy 7-2 win over Utah Sunday afternoon at PK Park.
With the victory, Oregon completed the three-game weekend series and is now in first place of the Pac-12 with a 5-1 mark. They also improved to 13-6 overall. Utah came into this series with an impressive 11-4-1 overall record, but now the Utes are reeling after this trio of defeats.
Josh Kasevich and Anthony Hall both singled in the second to set up the Ducks’ first two wins of the game in the second inning. Josiah Cromwick drove in Kasevich with a ground out and Gravin Grant later singled home Cromwick for the 2-0 lead.
Utah managed to tie it 2-2 with single runs in the third and fourth. But as usual, Oregon seems to take it personally when the opponent gets back into a contest. Hall homered for the second time of the series to give Oregon the lead for good at 3-2.
But the Ducks were far from finished.
Cromwick singled to set up Tanner Smith’s two-run home run to right-center to make it 5-2 Ducks.
Meanwhile on the mound, the Oregon bullpen was stellar once again. Starter Caleb Sloan flirted with danger in the first three innings and probably can consider himself lucky he only allowed two runs in 3 2/3 innings. But the combination of Logan Mercado, Dylan Sabia, Stone Churby, Christian Ciuffetelli, Rio Britton and Matt Dallas went 5.1 innings, no runs, three hits and eight strikeouts.
Oregon will now head up to Spokane to take on Gonzaga for a non-league contest on Tuesday before coming back to the friendly confines of PK Park to host USC for yet another three-game weekend series.