Although a sweep would have been nice, the Oregon Ducks baseball team has to be satisfied with its trip down to the Bay Area.
The Ducks were able to take two of three games from California, including a 9-3 rout in the rubber game of the series Sunday afternoon. With the win, Oregon improves to 26-11 overall and 11-6 in Pac-12 play.
Game 3 was tied 1-1 in the fourth inning, but the Ducks were able to grab the lead with a 2-run double from Bennett Thompson and then a fielding error later in the frame that scored the Oregon catcher for the 4-1 advantage.
Oregon blew the game wide open in the ninth with four runs on five hits, including a home run from Rikuu Nishida.
Matthew Grabmann was assigned his first Sunday start of the season and he came through nicely with four innings pitched, allowing just one run on four hits. Turner Spoljarik was credited with the win in relief.
The series opener was quite an exciting game that saw the Ducks take a 4-1 lead, only to watch the Bears tie it up late with three runs in the seventh. Fortunately for Oregon, the offense was able to muster up one run in the eighth and closer Josh Mollerus shut the door for the five-out save and the Ducks won 5-4. It was the seventh save for Mollerus.
Oregon had to rally itself in Game 2 to erase a 6-2 deficit. But the Bears responded late and took their only win of the series 8-6 on Saturday. Starter Logan Mercado, who shut down Stanford the week before, had a hard time of it against the Bears, going 3.1 innings and giving up six runs and walking five.
The series win also washed a bad taste in the team’s mouth from a disappointing 10-9 loss earlier in the week at Portland.
Oregon now returns home for a busy week that features five games in six days. The Ducks host Gonzaga for a quick two-game series beginning Tuesday before Arizona State comes to town for a weekend set.
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