Tag: justin cassella

Oregon’s bats stay hot in the desert with a rout over GCU

Oregon baseball completed the brief two-game sweep over Grand Canyon with a 13-5 victory in Phoenix.

Justin Cassella crushed the first pitch of the game and that was a sign to come as the Oregon baseball team hit four home runs in the 13-5 win over Grand Canyon Wednesday afternoon in Phoenix.

Mason Neville, Jacob Walsh and Ryan Cooney joined Cassella in the home run derby.

With the win, the Ducks improved to 9-3 overall, while the Lopes dropped to 6-7.

The win was Oregon’s second straight win as the Ducks now head into Pac-12 play. Fortunately, they won’t have to travel far to Tempe where Arizona State awaits for a three-game weekend set.

After Cassella’s first-inning homer, GCU took a 2-1 lead in the bottom, but the Ducks responded right away in the second with Cooney’s solo shot to right to tie the game 2-2.

Grand Canyon scored two more in the third to take a 4-2 lead. Oregon answered in a big way when Walsh hit an absolute bomb to right where the ball may still haven’t landed.

After the third inning, Oregon pitchers set down 13 straight batters led by Ian Umlandt’s four perfect innings out of the bullpen. While the Lopes were being held off the board, the Ducks were lighting it up.

Oregon scored two runs in the fourth and fifth and then five huge runs in the sixth to take an 11-4 lead. The Ducks scored two more in the seventh just for good measure. The Ducks had 21 hits and were walked seven times.

Now the very last Pac-12 season gets underway Friday where the Ducks are the defending conference champions after winning the league tournament in Scottsdale, Ariz. last season. The Sun Devils come into the series with a 6-6 record.

Oregon puts Leopards in a tough spot with doubleheader sweep

Oregon completed a doubleheader sweep from Lafayette and will go for the series sweep Sunday afternoon.

The Oregon Ducks baseball team keeps rolling as they just completed a doubleheader sweep over Lafayette.

After easily taking the first game 15-3, the Ducks had to work a little harder in the nightcap but came away with the 7-4 win. The  Ducks improved to 5-1 overall this year and the Leopards are still without a victory at 0-6.

Michael Freund earned the win in relief and while it wasn’t a save situation, Logan Mercado pitched the ninth and he made it interesting. He walked four, including a run, but whiffed the final two batters to end the game.

Oregon jumped on Lafayette in the bottom of the second with two runs on a Ryan Cooney single and later on a fielding error.

The Ducks added a run in the third Jeffrey Heard on his solo homerun to make it 3-0.

Starting pitching Toby Twist threw four scoreless innings and a combination of three relievers out of the bullpen held off the Leopards. They cut the 4-0 deficit to 4-2, but Oregon added three insurance runs in the seventh thanks to a fielding error and another Heard double.

Game 1

Oregon pounded Lafayette 15-3 in the doubleheader opener thanks to three home runs, two coming off the bat of Justin Cassella. He nearly blasted four homers, but the Leopard centerfielder Easton Brenner made two outstanding catches at the wall.

The Ducks had 13 hits and six batters were plunked. Cassella drove in five runs and Jacob Walsh also drove in five, including a two-run shot that was his 25th career home run.

While the offense was doing its thing, starting pitcher Grayson Grinsell dominated. The left-hander whiffed 10 batters in his four innings of work. Reliever Ryan Featherson threw four innings and was credited with the win.

Oregon moved to 4-1 on the season and Lafayette is still searching for its first win of the season.