Tag: PK Park

Ducks defeat Xavier and will host a Super Regional vs Oral Roberts

Oregon blows out Xavier to win the Nashville Regional and will now host Oral Roberts with a trip to Omaha on the line.

Xavier may not want to schedule Oregon in any sport ever again.

The Oregon Ducks baseball team began this season with a four-game sweep over the Musketeers and just ended the Nashville Regional with an 11-2 win over that same Xavier team.

Now the Ducks will come home and host Oral Roberts in their first Super Regional since 2012. The Golden Eagles were a 4-seed in the Stillwater Regional and upset Dallas Baptist 6-5 to advance. The weekend series will be a Best of 2-of-3 with the winner going on to Omaha for the College World Series.

Playing and defeating Xavier for the sixth time this season was probably the last thing on anyone’s mind when this weekend started. Vanderbilt, a national 6-seed, was the overwhelming favorite to win this regional, but the Ducks beat the Commodores Saturday night and Xavier ousted the host team 2-1 Sunday afternoon.

Although they upset Vandy, Xavier was still in a tough spot. The Musketeers had to beat the Ducks twice in order to advance.

The game was scoreless through three innings until Oregon finally got on the board in the bottom of the fourth on Sabin Ceballos’ 442-foot solo home run to left-center field that left the entire stadium.

The Ducks added to their 1-0 lead in the fifth thanks to some old-time small ball. Rikuu Nishida stole second and the ball went into center field to score Bennett Thompson.

Nishida went to third on the play and two pitches later, he scored on a balk to make it 3-0. Drew Cowley’s double to right-center scored Bryce Boettcher to increase the lead to 4-0.

Boettcher started the game in center as he replaced Colby Shade, who was hit on the wrist by a pitch Saturday night. Thankfully for the Ducks, Boettcher is as good of an outfielder as Shade, so there wasn’t any loss of defense in such a crucial spot.

Xavier managed to score an unearned run in the sixth and then the Ducks absolutely blew the door off in the bottom half with six runs to make it 10-1.

The big blow came off the wooden bat of Nishida with a bases-clearing double to extend their lead to 7-1. Just for good measure, Drew Cowley hit a three-run homer to left-center to put double digits on the scoreboard to erase any doubt.

Perhaps lost in the offensive exploits is the effort on the mound. Oregon used Grayson Grinsell, Ian Umlandt, and Logan Mercado to hold the Musketeers to just two runs, one unearned, and nine hits.

Oregon’s late-season run has been something else. This victory was the Ducks’ ninth straight and if that streak reaches 11 next weekend, they’ll be going to Omaha for the first time in the program’s history.

Ducks home season schedule ends in disastrous fashion

The final home season series with Washington turned into a complete nightmare as the Huskies outscored Oregon 43-18 in the sweep.

This was the absolute last way the Oregon Ducks baseball team wanted to end its home schedule.

Any hopes of hosting an NCAA regional were erased this weekend as the Washington Huskies came into PK Park and swept the Ducks in the weekend series.

Washington outscored Oregon 43-18 in the three-game set, which dropped the Ducks to 31-18 overall and just 14-12 in conference action. The setback also put Oregon into a tie for fifth with Arizona State with one more series to go before the Pac-12 tournament in Scottsdale, Ariz.

Ever since ace pitcher Jace Stoffal has gone down to injury, the Ducks haven’t been the same. They lost two-of-three to USC last weekend and now the sweep to the Huskies, the first time Washington has swept the Ducks since the program was revived back in 2009.

Logan Mercado has taken over the Friday night pitching duties and the Huskies were able to get to him in the fourth inning with five runs. The bullpen wasn’t any better as Washington took the opener 14-5.

It was much worse the next day with the Huskies crossing the plate nine times before the Ducks came up to bat. That 9-0 lead was more than enough for the 18-8 win on Saturday.

In the series finale, the Ducks had a 4-2 lead going into the sixth inning, but the Huskies’ bats came alive with six runs and Washington left Eugene with the 11-5 win and the sweep.

Oregon needs to figure out the pitching problems quickly as the Ducks go to Utah to end the regular season. The series begins on Thursday with a 5:30 pm start and then two day games with Friday and Saturday games beginning at 10 am PST.

Ducks slam Devils to pull within just 1.5 games out of first place

In a huge Pac-12 game, Oregon baseball defeats No. 12 Arizona State 11-5 to pull to within to 1.5 games from first place.

As the kids would say, things just got real.

The Oregon Ducks crushed four home runs, including a Drew Cowley grand slam, in an 11-5 over No. 12-ranked Arizona State inside a packed PK Park.

With the victory, Oregon pulled itself to within 1.5 games out of first place. The Ducks are now 29-12 overall and 12-7 in conference play. The Sun Devils dropped to 28-14 overall and 13-5 in Pac-12 action.

Cowley opened the scoring off in the first inning with a solo shot to give Oregon a 1-0 lead. ASU tied it up in the third, but the Ducks quickly gained the advantage in the bottom half of the frame with Colby Shade’s solo homer to left-center.

Those two home runs were just the appetizer of what was to come in the fourth inning.

Oregon blew its lead wide open in that fourth with seven runs which was capped off with Cowley’s grand salami to make it 9-1 Ducks. Rikuu Nishida just missed a grand slam two batters before Cowley, but he had to settle for a ground-rule double to center that made it 5-1.

Shade walked to load the bases back up and set the stage for Cowley. He jumped all over an 0-1 fastball and deposited it over the left-center field wall.

ASU scored a run in the sixth, two more in the eighth, and one in the ninth, but the Sun Devils couldn’t sustain a meaningful rally to threaten the Ducks. Shade’s RBI double in the sixth and Jacob Walsh’s bomb in the seventh rounded out the scoring for the home team.

Perhaps lost in the offensive explosion was another great outing on the mound for Jace Stoffal. The Friday night ace went 6.2 innings, allowing just two runs, one earned, on four hits and he struck out seven. He is now 6-2 for the year.

The two teams will get together once again Saturday afternoon at 3 pm after the Oregon football Spring Game at Autzen Stadium. The Ducks are scheduled to send Logan Mercado (3-0, 6.15 ERA) and Arizona State will counter with Khristian Curtis (4-2, 5.59 ERA).

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Baseball recap: Ducks sweep Gonzaga ahead of Pac-12 series against ASU

Oregon baseball took care of business against Gonzaga ahead of a huge conference series with ASU and first place on the line.

At this time of the season, non-conference games are almost just as important as conference games. You don’t want to lose games you’re supposed to win, especially with a huge Pac-12 series coming up at PK Park.

The Oregon baseball team started the week off right with a brief two-game series sweep over Gonzaga. The Ducks scored seven runs in the seventh inning to take Game 1 by the score of 11-4.

Offense was the order of the day once again on Wednesday after the Ducks hit a couple of homers and stole seven bases on their way to a 10-5 win over the Bulldogs.

Drew Smith hit his first collegiate home run in the seventh inning and Josiah Cromwick followed with a solo homer of his own in the very next inning.

Gonzaga drew first blood in the opening frame with a three-run home run from Sam Stem. Although going down 3-0 before you even come to bat isn’t usually a recipe for success, the Ducks were able to get off the deck and score 10 unanswered runs.

Oregon scored two in the third and then took the lead for good in the fifth on a single from Smith to make it 4-3. With single runs in the sixth and seventh, Oregon blew the game wide open in the eighth with four more runs.

Gonzaga made it interesting in the ninth as they scored two and had the bases loaded, but Austin Anderson coaxed Stem to fly out to center to end the game.

After a much-needed day off, the Ducks will now prepare for the first-place Sun Devils to make their way to PK Park for a big weekend series. Arizona State is ranked 12th in the nation with a 28-13 overall record and 13-4 in conference action.

Meanwhile, Oregon will come into the series with a 28-12 record and 11-7 in Pac-12 play, 2.5 games out of first. A sweep would be huge for the Ducks’ chances to host a regional, but even winning the series would go a long way toward that goal for postseason play.

Game 1 with the Sun Devils is set for Friday at 5:05 pm.

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Everything you need to know about attending Oregon’s spring game

Highlighted by Oregon’s spring game, Saturday will be packed with activities around Eugene. Here’s everything you need to know.

The annual Oregon Duck football Spring Game is set for a 1 pm kickoff, but football isn’t the only thing on the docket for Duck fans to check out in and around Autzen Stadium on Saturday.

Once fans get to Autzen, they can check out an exhibition soccer game before football and a big Pac-12 baseball game after football.

The United States Military will also play a big role in the Spring Game, a tradition that began with former coach Chip Kelly.

For those who can’t attend the game, it will be shown on the Pac-12 Network.

Here’s all that is going down around the Autzen area in what should be a pleasant afternoon. The weather is calling for 75 degrees and sunny because of course, it NEVER rains at Autzen Stadium.

Baseball recap: Ducks return to win column with brief series with USF

Oregon needed to return to its winning ways this week and the Ducks did just that with a brief two-game series win over San Francisco.

After a disappointing weekend that saw the Oregon Ducks baseball team drop two straight to the Beavers, they received the remedy in the form of the San Francisco Dons for a midweek two-game series at PK Park.

The Ducks took advantage and got themselves back into the win column with a 5-3 win on Tuesday and then a huge 16-6 win for the sweep Wednesday afternoon.

Oregon improved to 22-9 overall.

The Ducks bats came alive in the series finale as they went ahead 6-1 after two innings and 12-4 after just the fourth inning before cruising to victory.

Sabin Ceballos and Bryce Boettcher each homered and Drew Cowley drove in four runs for the Ducks. Austin Anderson earned his third win out of the bullpen.

In the opener, Oregon grabbed a quick 5-0 lead before having to hold on for the two-run win. Closer Josh Mollerus came on in the eighth and recorded the last six out for his sixth save on the season.

Cowley and Ceballos each drove in a pair of runs.

Oregon’s homestand continues this weekend as a big Pac-12 series is on the docket with No. 8 Stanford coming to town. The Cardinal are currently in first place in the conference standings at 10-2 and 22-8 overall.

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Baseball recap: Stoffal and Ducks shut out Beavers 2-0 in series opener

Jace Stoffal threw seven innings of one-hit ball and that was just enough for the Ducks to defeat the Beavers 2-0 to win series opener.

For a while, the fans were thinking no-hitter.

Although Oregon starting pitcher Jace Stoffal didn’t get the no-no with a single in the seventh, the Ducks are more than happy with the 2-0 victory over Oregon State Friday night at PK Park.

The win is Oregon’s 11 straight and now the Ducks are 20-7 overall and 7-3 in conference play. The Beavers dropped to 18-12 overall and just 5-9 in Pac-12 play.

In front of a near sold out PK Park, Stoffal turned in the best start of his Oregon career, going seven innings and just that one hit with nine strikeouts and three walks.

OSU didn’t threaten to score until the seventh when Stoffal was running out of gas. The Beavers managed to load the bases with one out, but the Ducks right-hander coaxed Brady Kasper to pop out and Tanner Smith to fly out to center to end the potential rally.

Oregon’s bats weren’t exactly hot either. Beavers starter Trent Sellers was matching Stoffal pitch for pitch, but the Ducks had many more base runners and just couldn’t get one to cross home.

That was until the fifth inning.

Colby Shade finally got the Ducks on the board with a liner off of Beavers shortstop Mikey Kane’s glove to score Gavin Grant. Oregon made it 2-0 later in the same inning when Sabin Ceballos doubled home Shade.

That was just enough to hold off OSU. Relievers Matt Dallas and Josh Mollerus kept the Beavers off the scoreboard and preserved the win.

The two rivals will get after it for Game 2 of the series on Saturday with first pitch scheduled for 3 pm.

Baseball recap: Santa Barbara hands Ducks their first defeat of the season

Santa Barbara came up to Eugene and handed the Ducks their first setback of the season 6-2.

Can we call it a do-over and move this series back to Santa Barbara?

The Oregon Ducks baseball team might be wondering just that as the Gauchos came up to PK Park and handed the Ducks their first loss of the young season by the score of 6-2

This series was scheduled to be in Southern California, but that area is experiencing some torrential downpours and there would be no way the two teams could have got the four-game series in. So the Gauchos came up to Eugene for a three-game set.

It was a couple of long balls that hurt the Ducks. Santa Barbara cracked the scoreboard in the third inning on a two-run homer from Zander Darby. It stayed that way until the fifth as Drew Cowley singled home Rikuu Nishida to make it 2-1.

But the big blow came in the seventh as Ivan Brethowr crushed a grand slam down the left field line to make it 6-1 and it put the proverbial nail in Oregon’s coffin.

Oregon snaps losing streak with 15-6 blowout of UC-San Diego

The Ducks baseball team was able to snap their six-game losing skid with a big 15-6 win over UC-San Diego at PK Park.

The Oregon Ducks baseball team needed a victory in the worst possible way and they finally got it this afternoon at PK Park.

Oregon ended its six-game losing streak, which included 18 scoreless innings, with a 15-6 blowout win over UC-San Diego. With the win, the Ducks moved to 29-20 overall and they will now head to the desert to face Arizona State for a weekend three-game series.

The Tritons were able to hold Oregon to just one hit on Tuesday, but the Duck bats got off the deck in a big way with five runs in the second inning and five more in the third to grab a 10-1 lead.

Josh Kasevich ended the scoreless streak that eventually reached 19 innings with a home run to left. Later in the inning, Sam Novitske belted a two-run homer to left-center and the Ducks were off and running.

In the third, the long ball wasn’t necessary. Oregon scored five runs on six hits. Up with a comfortable nine-run lead, the Ducks could relax and it showed on both ends of the diamond. Oregon scored three more in the fifth on Brennan Milone’s three-run double to make it 14-5.

Hopefully the Ducks are out of their slump and can focus on the rest of the season that has just seven more regular season games left. They go down to Tempe to take on a Sun Devil team that is 24-25 overall and 12-12 in conference action.

Game 1 is scheduled for Friday, May 13 with a 7 p.m. first pitch.

Oregon’s freefall continues with 3-0 loss to UC-San Diego

Oregon baseball is mired in a six-game losing streak as the Ducks lost to UC-San Diego 3-0 at PK Park.

This very well could be rock bottom for this year’s Oregon Ducks baseball team. The good news, however, is that there’s nowhere to go but up.

Unfortunately, the Ducks’ scoreless streak was extended to 18 innings as they lost 3-0 to UC-San Diego Tuesday night at PK Park. The loss was also Oregon’s sixth straight and now even making the post-season isn’t exactly a sure thing.

The Ducks dropped to 28-20 overall.

Somehow, someway, Oregon needs a victory in the worst way. The Ducks will immediately get another chance Wednesday afternoon with the series finale with the Tritons.

In this first game with UCSD, the Tritons scored single runs in the fourth and fifth with an insurance run in the eighth with a home run from catcher Blake FitzGerald.

Meanwhile, the Ducks couldn’t muster up any offense. They were held to just one hit, a Gavin Grant single in the sixth. The Tritons used four pitchers to hold the Oregon bats in check.

The two teams will be at it once again Wednesday at 4 p.m. Neither team has named a starting pitcher.