With two runners in scoring position, two outs, the Ducks had their leadoff hitter Tanner Smith stepping to the plate. A battle against reliever Sam Whiting resulted in six foul balls and an eventual full count. The left fielder stayed patient and took his free base, finishing 3-4 on the day.
Loading bases for the team’s hottest hitter, Drew Cowley, is all Oregon coach Mark Wasikowski could have asked for. His stingy 2-0 plate approach set up a fastball down the middle. Down two in the eighth with a chance to do serious damage, he just missed it, slapping a pop up to left and ending the biggest threat of the ball game.
In the highest scoring game of the four-game series, the Ducks couldn’t secure the series win, losing 7-5 to the UC Santa Barbara Gauchos.
“We had plenty of chances in the game and we just didn’t get the big hit when we could have gotten it,” Wasikowski said. “We felt like we had clearly the right guys at the plate — with bases loaded and Drew Cowley hitting. He’s been about as good of a hitter as we had and unfortunately he didn’t come through there.”
The command woes that Andrew Mosiello had against the Gauchos on Saturday transitioned over to Tommy Brandenburg Sunday afternoon. The freshman had a difficult time finding the strike zone, nailing two batters and walking two more before narrowly escaping, allowing three runs.
“When we got good starting pitching we won two games, when we had bad starting pitching we lost two games,” Wasikowski said.
The three quick runs for UCSB could easily have equated to more if not for Josiah Cromwick’s quick defensive reaction on a passed ball to get an advancing runner out at the plate.
Brandenburg’s 31 pitch first inning shortened his tenure as his day was finished after two innings.
Ryan Gallagher came into the game with a 1.50 ERA for the Gauchos but struggled to keep the Ducks off the basepaths. He gave up three runs on six hits before his day ended in the fourth after failing to record an out in the inning.
Ellis came in for Brandenburg with shaky command as well. The sophomore gave up an infield single before giving right fielder Brock Mortenson his second bruise of the ball game. The defense helped him escape without any damage after center fielder Colby Shade gunned an advancing runner out at second. He finished with two strong innings before being replaced by Christian Ciuffetelli.
The Ducks missed a chance in the second to chip away at the lead, leaving runners on the corners. The offense started to heat up in the third. A sacrifice groundout got Oregon its first run of the ball game, and Jacob Walsh followed it up with a laser RBI double to get his team back within one.
The harder throwing Ciuffetelli stood by his fastball. The Gauchos noticeably had to adjust to the mid 90s on the radar. The third batter Ciuffetelli faced was ready for it as he blasted one towards the Oregon dugout to take a 4-2 lead.
The Ducks retaliated in the bottom of the fifth with their own right field bomb by Tanner Smith. UCSB went to their third pitcher of the inning after another RBI double from Walsh tied the game at four runs apiece.
The bats woke up for the Gauchos in the sixth. Four straight hits brought in two runs while a potential third was gunned at the plate in a bang-bang play that sidelined Leo Mosby.
A couple more hits in the seventh for the Ducks had them back to a one run game. Kolby Somers started on the bump in the eighth inning looking to give his team a chance. The left-handed senior gave up the first run charged against him this year on a deep blast by Christian Kirtley that returned the lead to two.
Oregon left the bases loaded in the eighth and was easily put away by Gaucho closer Ryan Harvey in the ninth. The second straight loss left the Ducks with a series split. Oregon looks onward to a game against the Portland Pilots Tuesday at 4 p.m. before traveling to Stanford for a series against the Cardinal next weekend.
