Seven runs will usually be enough to come out on top of a baseball game, but in the last day of the Shriners Children’s College Baseball Showdown, that offensive output for the Ducks wasn’t against Texas Tech.
The Red Raiders handed Oregon its first loss of the year with an 11-7 victory. The Ducks are now 2-1 as they come home to host Lafayette for a four-game series with a doubleheader next Saturday.
It was an uphill battle for Oregon nearly the entire game. The Ducks found themselves down 6-0 after two innings. Starter Turner Spoljarik just didn’t have it on this day. He went just 1 1/3 innings, giving up five runs on four hits.
The big blow of the inning came off of freshman reliever Toby Twist as he was greeting rather rudely with a three-run home run from Austin Green. After that bomb, however, Twist was effective in his college debut. He struck out six in his 3 2/3 innings of work. His efforts also allowed the offensive to do their best to climb back into the game, which it did in the fifth inning.
Oregon managed to put up four runs in that frame. Drew Smith got the Ducks on the board with a two-run single up the middle to make it 6-2 before Jeffrey Heard and Bennett Thompson each brought home runs with singles.
Unfortunately, whenever Oregon would make a dent into the deficit, the Ducks couldn’t get an all-important shutdown inning. Texas Tech added a run in the bottom half of the fifth to make it 7-4.
But back came the Ducks with two more runs in the sixth on Smith’s single to score Bryce Boettcher. Left fielder Damian Bravo booted the ball that allowed Carter Garate to also score to make it a one-run game once again at 7-6.
The Red Raiders had an answer in the bottom half of the sixth with a solo homer and later an RBI single and it was 9-6. To their credit, the Ducks never threw in the towel. They scored once in the seventh on Garate’s single and it was 9-7. But that was all Oregon could muster and Texas Tech put the game away with insurance runs in the seventh and eighth.
Garate reached base five times with two doubles, two singles and a walk. He also scored twice. Smith also had four hits and drove in three.
Oregon’s home opener with Lafayette is on Friday with a scheduled first pitch at 4 pm. The Leopards are 0-3 on the season after being swept at East Tennessee State.
