The Oregon Ducks learned a tough lesson in the opening game of the first annual Pac-12 tournament in Scottsdale, Ariz. and that’s when you get runners in scoring position, you have to find a way to score.
Also, giving up two home runs to Arizona’s best hitter isn’t exactly a good formula for winning.
Daniel Susac belted two home runs to help the Wildcats avenge that three-game sweep at PK Park to take an 8-6 win over the Ducks. Now Oregon will have to fight their way out of the loser’s bracket. They’ll face the loser of the Stanford/Arizona State game tomorrow at 9 a.m.
Oregon left two runners on base in the seventh and eighth innings that ended a potential rally. The Ducks scored one in the ninth, but they couldn’t come all the way back.
Arizona took a 3-0 lead, but the Ducks managed to cut into the deficit with run-scoring singles from Colby Shade and Brennen Milone. It was 4-2 Wildcats in the sixth when Anthony Hall crushed a pitch off of the right field foul pole for a three-run homer and the Ducks had a brief 5-4 advantage.
But pitcher RJ Gordon ran out of gas in the seventh, loaded the bases and gave way to the bullpen. Unfortunately, Arizona was able to score two and re-take the lead at 6-5.
Oregon gave itself chance after chance in the late innings, but it could never get that one big hit to get over the hump. Susac’s second homer, which came in the ninth inning, was the two insurance runs Arizona needed. The Ducks scored one run on Drew Cowley’s RBI double, but it wasn’t enough.