Tag: Isaac Ayon

Isaac Ayon goes all the way to propel Oregon to series win over Arizona

Isaac Ayon’s complete game and Gavin Grant’s late-inning heroics propels the Ducks to a series win over No. 25 Arizona.

Starting pitching hasn’t exactly been the strength of the 2022 Oregon baseball team. But Isaac Ayon flipped that narrative this afternoon at PK Park.

Ayon threw the first complete game of his college career and Gavin Grant’s run-scoring single in the eighth helped the Ducks down No. 25 Arizona 4-3 to take the weekend series. Oregon will go for the sweep Saturday afternoon.

The Ducks improved to 34-21 overall and 17-12 in conference play with the victory. The win also clinched Oregon the 4-seed in the Pac-12 tournament next week. Defeating Arizona also improved the Ducks’ RPI and their hopes to possibly host an NCAA regional.

But there’s still a way to go before worrying about the post-season.

The story on this day was Ayon, who finished the game in style as he struck out the final five Wildcats. He struck out 10 total batters and walked just three. Ayon’s pitch count was in his favor the whole way and he finished the contest with 98 pitches.

Oregon’s sophomore hurler wasn’t guaranteed, however, as the game was still tied at 3-3 in the eighth inning. The Ducks needed some two-out lighting to scratch across the go-ahead run. Sam Novitske reached on an error and was replaced by Tyler Ganus as a pinch-runner. Jacob Walsh coaxed a walk and Grant smacked a single to center to score Ganus.

The Ducks scored one in the first and then two more in the second thanks to catcher Bennett Thompson’s first career home run.

Arizona managed to rally with a run in the fourth and two more in the fifth and it stayed that way until Grant’s late-inning heroics.

Oregon will now go for the sweep Saturday at noon as the Ducks will send out Jace Stoffal (0-2, 7.00 ERA) against an unknown Arizona starter. It will be Oregon’s last regular-season home game and quite possibly its last game at PK Park for the 2022 campaign.

Oregon cruises past the Bears 8-3 with a five-run first inning

Oregon scored five runs in the first and cruised to an 8-3 win over California at PK Park.

Oregon Ducks baseball coach Mark Wasikowski probably prefers his offense to spread the runs out a bit more, but as long as the Ducks win, it doesn’t matter all that much.

A five-run first inning gave the Ducks the upper hand and Oregon was able to cruise to a relatively easy 8-3 win over California on a blustery day at PK Park. With the win, the Ducks improved to 28-14 overall and 13-7 in conference play.

Oregon starting pitcher Isaac Ayon pitched six solid innings, giving up three runs on seven hits and striking out seven. He earned his third win of the season.

It didn’t look good for Ayon early on as he gave up a lead-off homer and a double in the first inning. But he was able to settle down and held the Bears off the scoreboard other than that home run.

That was all the Oregon offense needed to get to off the deck in the bottom of the first. The Ducks used three doubles and three singles to score five runs and that was more than enough for Ayon.

Cal scored single runs in the second and third. The Ducks scored a run in the second and at the end of three, it was 6-3 Oregon. It stayed that way until the seventh when the Ducks were able to score two insurance runs on Tanner Smith’s single to left that drove in Anthony Hall and Gavin Grant.

The Ducks will go for the sweep Sunday at noon as they will send out Jace Stoffal to the mound. The Bears haven’t announced their starter.

Oregon scores five in the eighth to win 8-6 and series over Utah

The Ducks score five in the eighth inning to rally past Utah 8-6 to claim the weekend series over the Utes.

Pac-12 baseball teams are quickly learning that the Ducks are never out of a game.

Oregon rallied from a 6-3 deficit in the eighth inning with five runs to stun Utah 8-6 and take the weekend series over the Utes. The Ducks improve to 12-6 overall, 4-1 in conference play, and will now go for the sweep tomorrow morning at PK Park.

The late-inning rally got started after an out was recorded, but then two walks and a hit batter set the table for Gavin Grant’s single to left to make it 6-4 Utes. Tanner Smith, who earlier homered, laced a single to right that scored both Sam Novitske and Josiah Cromwick.

With the scored tied 6-6 and still just one out, Oregon saw the runners move to second and third thanks to a wild pitch. Colby Shade hit a sacrifice fly to right to give the Ducks the 7-6 lead and Brennan Milone, who also homered during this game, drove in Smith for some insurance.

Closer Kolby Somers came into the ninth and earned his second save of the season.

Oregon starting pitcher Isaac Ayon kept his team in the game with his six innings of work where he gave up four runs, one earned, seven hits, and three strikeouts. It could have been worse for Ayon as he buckled down in the sixth. After giving up the go-ahead run, he found himself in deeper trouble with runners on second and third with just one out. Ayon managed to whiff Dakota Duffalo and get Carter Booth to ground out.

In the series finale, Oregon will send out Caleb Sloan (0-1, 2.70 ERA) to go up against Cam Day (1-1, 4.42 ERA) for Utah. The game is scheduled to be televised on Pac-12 Oregon/Mountain at 11 a.m. PT.

Around the horn: Oregon splits a doubleheader and sees winning streak end

Oregon split a doubleheader with UCSB and saw its seven-game winning streak go away with a 5-4 loss in the nightcap.

It’s so difficult to defeat a team seven straight times, but that’s what Oregon was going for as the Ducks attempted to sweep a doubleheader from UC-Santa Barbara.

Oregon went down to UCSB last season and won four straight and won the first two games of this current series with the Gauchos. Even with Josiah Cromwick’s second-inning grand slam, Oregon saw its current seven-game winning streak go away with the Gauchos’ 5-4 win in the nightcap.

The Ducks are now 7-4 on the season, but will attempt to win the series over the Gauchos tomorrow afternoon.

UCSB took the 5-4 lead in the sixth when Oregon centerfielder Colby Shade made a rare error and allowed two runs to score. From there, the Gauchos bullpen held an incredibly hot Duck offense down for 5 2/3 innings. Oregon had a small rally in the ninth with Shade walking to start off, but Cromwick struck out, and last night’s hero, Gavin Grant, grounded into a 6-4-3 double play to end the contest.

In Game 1, Oregon starter Isaac Ayon pitched a great game. He went the entire seven innings, allowing one earned run and five hits with seven strikeouts in the 4-3 Duck win. Drew Cowley drove in three, including a two-run homer.