After being swept over the weekend by Cal State Fullerton at PK Park, Oregon bounced back strong on Tuesday with a doubleheader sweep of Seattle University. The performance of the day came from senior right fielder Tyler Baumgartner, who went 3-for-5 in each game and drove in the game-winning hit in the eighth inning of the nightcap.
“It was huge,” Baumgartner said of Tuesday’s sweep. “Especially after a weekend like last weekend – getting swept at home is something you never want to do. It feels real good to get this one done.”
Baumgartner set the pace from the onset, hustling out an infield single in the first inning of the opener that gave Oregon a 1-0 lead. He would reach on an error in the fourth inning (and score later in the frame) and lined an RBI ground rule double into the right field bullpen in the fifth inning that gave Oregon a 4-1 lead.
The Ducks would blow the game open with a six-run seventh inning, which started with a triple to right field off the bat of Baumgartner. Oregon would bat around in the frame with Baumgartner flying out his second time at bat – finishing a home run short of hitting for the cycle.
Oregon took the first game by a final score of 10-2, but the nightcap was a much tighter contest. The Ducks jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first, fueled by a Mitchell Tolman triple that drove in Austin Grebeck and Baumgartner. However, the Redhawks would score a pair of runs in the second inning and knotted things up in the fifth. The game remained tied at 3-3 until the bottom of the eighth.
With Mark Karaviotis on second base and two outs, Baumgartner came to the plate against Seattle’s Will Dennis, a left-handed submarine pitcher.
“I’ve never seen a lefty submarine guy in my life before, so I wasn’t really sure what to expect,” Baumgartner said. “He started me a first-pitch slider and I just swung through it. I saw him really well and then he came with the fastball and I was just able to stay short and poke it through the middle.”
Karaviotis came around to score and give the Ducks a 4-3 lead, which closer Jake Reed was able to preserve in the ninth inning.
For Baumgartner, the six-hit day is the most recent highlight in his breakout season for the Ducks. Last season, he managed a sub-par .272/.316/.420 slash line and didn’t become a full-time regular for Oregon until a few months into the season.
This year, he’s thrived in the three-hole and has made several highlight-reel defensive plays in right field. After Tuesday’s pair of games, he boasts a .378/.421/.528 line.
“I think a lot of it has to do with confidence,” Baumgartner said. “It’s kind of nice not having to worry about coming off the bench and just always being in the game. As much as you try to be in the game, it’s hard to come off the bench, especially during this time of the year and in the clutch for your team.”
While much of Oregon’s offense has been predicated on small ball, Baumgartner has been one of the few Oregon hitters that have demonstrated gap-to-gap power.
“Tyler has a lot of different weapons,” head coach George Horton said after Tuesday’s games. “He uses the whole field and he’s not a one-dimensional hitter … With Tyler’s skill set, he can adjust on the fly better than anybody we have and he’s a tremendous hitter. He’s our third hitter for a reason.”
After losing Ryon Healy and Brett Thomas to the draft, it was unclear how the Ducks would fill the void left by arguably their two best hitters. With Kyle Garlick tearing the cover off the ball and Baumgartner enjoying a breakout season in his senior year, it appears that the Ducks have found their middle-of-the-order bats.
Follow Chris Mosch on Twitter @chris_mosch