Tag: Jack Scanlon

Trojans bullpen halts Oregon winning streak and knots the series up with 6-5 win

USC scratches out a late run and ties the weekend series with a 6-5 win over the Ducks at PK Park.

Oregon finally ran into a bullpen that might be just a little better than its own.

The USC relievers threw four scoreless innings against the best offense of the Pac-12 in the Ducks, which allowed the Trojans to scratch an eighth-inning run to win the game 6-5 Saturday afternoon at PK Park.

With the loss, Oregon falls to 15-7 overall and 6-2 in conference action. It also ended the Ducks’ winning streak at five. USC managed to improve its record to 14-7 overall and 4-4 in league play.

Although the Trojans lost the series opener, their relievers threw five scoreless and were able to back that performance up today with the combination of Carson Lambert and Matt Keating.

Lambert threw three innings and got the win and Keating earned his third save of the season by getting the final five outs of the game.

It was 5-5 in the eighth when the Trojans used two walks and a single off of Oregon reliever Matt Dallas to load the bases with just one out. The Ducks almost squirmed out of the jam after a failed safety squeeze. But Dallas plunked D’Andre Smith to force home Nick Lopez.

USC was up 3-1 in the fourth inning thanks to a home run from designated hitter Tyler Lozano. Ironically, however, the fireworks occurred after the homer. Lozano stomped on home plate, said something to the Oregon dugout and that prompted umpire Mark Buchanan to throw out the Trojan DH.

Obviously fired up, the Ducks didn’t wait long to answer.

In the very next half-inning, catcher Jack Scanlon belted a three-run homer to right field to give the Ducks the 4-3 lead. USC tied the game up on Adrian Colon-Rosado’s home run and then managed to take the lead back later in the sixth to go up 5-4.

Colby Shade’s double to left-center scored Sam Novitske to tie the contest up once again 5-5 in the sixth. But Oregon wasn’t able to score after that.

These two teams will go at it one more time on Sunday with the weekend series on the line. Oregon will call upon Caleb Sloan (0-1, 3.48 ERA) to start on the mound and the Trojans will counter with Charlie Hurley (3-1, 2.19 ERA).

First pitch is scheduled for 12 p.m. and will be streamed on goducks.com.

Around the horn: Ducks rally late to stun No. 2 Stanford 16-13

Oregon rallies and shocks No. 2 Stanford 16-12 to take the weekend series over the Cardinal.

Stanford and the rest of the Pac-12 and the entire country are now seeing this Oregon baseball team is for real.

The Ducks were down 9-3 after three innings of play, but then the bats went to work as they scored 13 unanswered runs to shock the No. 2 Cardinal 16-13. Oregon moves to 2-0 in conference action and 10-5 overall, while Stanford falls to 0-2 in Pac-12 play and 8-5 overall.

Oregon also claimed the weekend series and will go for the surprising road sweep tomorrow afternoon.

The day didn’t go so well for starting pitcher Isaac Ayon, who turned in his first clunker of the season. Ayon lasted just 1.1 innings and gave up eight earned runs.

But the offense, which is turning out to be one of the more explosive in the country, let Ayon off the hook. Oregon scored one in the fourth, four in the fifth, and six huge runs in the eighth.

Now the Ducks will get the brooms out in hopes of the sweep and the Cardinal will try to salvage one of the three in this weekend set. Game 3 is scheduled for 12:05 p.m.

Ducks baseball secures second place in the Pac-12

Oregon finishes in second place of the Pac-12 with the 6-5 win over Cal. Now the Ducks await their post-season fate set for Monday.

Oregon Ducks baseball was picked to finish seventh in the 11-team Pac-12 by the media before the season began. Coach Mark Wasikowski and his Duck squad proved they were severely underrated.

The Ducks secured second place in the conference with a 6-5 win over California Saturday afternoon and hopefully, that success will earn them the right to host a Eugene Regional in the NCAA tournament next weekend.

Oregon finished the regular season with an overall record of 37-14 and 20-10 in the Pac-12, just a game behind Arizona. Anything is possible (ask softball), but it would be a shocking development if the Ducks don’t host three other tourney teams at PK Park for the first time since 2014.

But one has to give California credit, who is squarely on the bubble to make the tournament, they didn’t make it easy on the Ducks.

The regular-season finale went back and forth all day long before catcher Jack Scanlon belted his third home run of the season in the eighth inning to give Oregon the lead for good at 5-4. Scanlon came into the series with the Golden Bears with just one homer to his name, but he crushed two home runs over the weekend.

Even with the one-run advantage, Oregon had to work itself out of a major jam just to maintain its slim lead.

California managed to load the bases off of Colby Somers with just one out. Wasikowski decided to bring in Andrew Mosiello to face the Pac-12’s leading home run hitter Dylan Beavers with the game on the line. Bill Walton most likely would have said the fate of the known universe was a stake, but here it was just the game and maybe the Eugene Regional.

It turned out to be the best decision possible as Mosiello coaxed Beavers, who had hit three homers this weekend, to ground out to first baseman Gabe Matthews who forced Keshawn Ogans at home. That was only the second out. Mosiello then struck out Nathan Martarella looking to end the threat.

Oregon was able to add a much-needed insurance run as it turned out in the top of the ninth with Kenyon Yovan’s RBI single to right to make it 6-4.

The Bears weren’t done though. Quentin Selma hit his 16th homer, a solo shot, in the bottom half of the ninth to make it 6-5. But Mosiello was able to shake that off and get the next two outs to end the game.

Now the Ducks will have to wait until Monday morning at 9 a.m. on ESPN2 to wait to see if they are hosting and who they are hosting.

Oregon baseball goes for the sweep after defeating UCLA in extra innings

Sam Novitske’s single gave Oregon the 3-2 extra-inning win over UCLA at PK Park Saturday.

In what Winnie the Pooh would consider a blustery day, the Oregon Ducks baseball team had to go 10 innings to defeat UCLA for the second straight game.

Both Oregon and the Bruins had their chances to score throughout the day, but it was Sam Novitske’s single to left that scored Bryce Boettcher for the victory.

With the win, Oregon goes to 24-8 overall and 10-4 in conference play. The Ducks also moved ahead of Oregon State for first place, a half-game ahead of the Beavers, who aren’t playing conference games this weekend.

Kenyon Yovan got the 10th inning started the right way with a solid single to right. Boettcher replaced the Duck’s power hitter on the bases and moved up to second on an errant pick-off play. With first now open, Aaron Zavala was intentionally walked.

Josh Kasevich hit into a fielder’s choice, putting runners on the corners with one out. Gabe Matthews also received the intention pass as UCLA wanted to put a force on every base, hoping to wiggle out of the jam. But Novitske was able to rip a 2-0 pitch to left for the win.

Wiggling out of jams seemed to be the theme of the day for both teams. Oregon managed to get themselves in a major pickle in the top of the ninth as the Bruins managed to have runners on second and third with no out.

Duck pitcher Andrew Mosiello struck out Michael Curialle for the first out. Then the fireworks began.

Noah Cardenas grounded to Kasevich at shortstop, who processed to throw home, getting Mikey Perez in a run down. Catcher Jack Scanlon ran Perez back to third where UCLA had to runners at third base. Jack Filby, who was on second, was the runner that was out, but in the confusion, Bruins third base coach Rex Peters put his hands on Scanlon. This sent Oregon coach Mark Wasikowski bursting out of the dugout demanding what was going on.

After order was restored, Mosiello whiffed Kyle Karros to end the inning.

Kolby Somers, who earned his seventh save in the series opener, came on to pitch a perfect 10th inning and was credited with the win.

Oregon will go for the series sweep Sunday afternoon with Brett Walker (4-1, 3.53 ERA) on the mound where he will go up against Jesse Bergin (4-2, 4.29 ERA) for a noon start time at PK Park.

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