The Oregon baseball team was handed its first Pac-12 series loss of the year Saturday at the hands of UCLA. Similar to Friday’s 3-2 loss, the Ducks’ powerful offense struggled against a good UCLA pitcher. The Bruins’ Max Rajcic outpitched Isaac Ayon, and the UCLA bullpen staved off a late comeback attempt as Oregon lost 4-3 in Jackie Robinson Stadium.

Just like Friday’s game, the Ducks took a 2-0 lead on a two-run homer. This time it was outfielder Anthony Hall, crushing a shot inside the right field foul pole in the second inning.

Ayon worked around baserunners in each of the first two innings. He navigated a leadoff walk in the first, and a single and a hit batter in the second. Catcher Jack Scanlon ended the second inning by throwing out a runner at second.

Ayon gave up another single and walk in the third. This time, he couldn’t escape entirely unscathed. A two-out single cut the Ducks’ lead to 2-1, but Ayon recorded his third strikeout of the inning to limit the damage.

UCLA’s Tommy Beres, who scored the first Bruin run, led off the bottom of the fifth with a double against Ayon. A single and a chopper past third scored Beres for the second time, tying the game with still no outs. An RBI groundout and sacrifice fly gave the Bruins a 4-2 lead.

Ayon allowed another single, which ended his outing after 4 2/3 innings. Christian Ciuffetelli recorded the final out of the fifth.

Ciuffetelli gave up a leadoff single in the fifth, then threw a wild pitch that allowed the runner to advance to second. After recording a pair of outs, he was replaced by Stone Churby, who walked the first batter but collected a strikeout to end the inning.

Churby set down the first two Bruins batters in the bottom of the seventh. Oregon then made another pitching change with two outs. Like Churby in the previous inning, Rio Britton walked the first batter he faced but struck out the final batter of the inning.

Tyler Ganus pinch hit for Scanlon and led off the eighth  with a single, but the Ducks stranded him there as they failed to get a rally going.

Britton walked another batter to start the bottom of the eighth. Logan Mercado entered the game and walked the second straight UCLA hitter, putting two on. After a sacrifice bunt moved the runners into scoring position, Mercado recorded a huge strikeout and fly out to deny the Bruins any insurance.

The first two Ducks in the ninth inning were retired, but they almost clawed their way back. Josh Kasevich and Hall hit back-to-back singles to put runners on the corners with two outs. UCLA then made a pitching change for Kelly Austin, who was greeted by a first-pitch single from Sam Novitske. The potential tying run moved to second base.

But for the second straight day, the game ended in a Josiah Cromwick strikeout. The catcher, who entered the game after Ganus pinch hit for Scanlon, struck out swinging on a ball in the dirt. The Ducks went home with another frustrating loss.

Oregon (18-9) will look to salvage the final game of the series against UCLA (18-8) Sunday at noon.