Cal’s starter was pulled in the middle of the sixth inning after silencing the Ducks’ offense all night. Oregon gained some life off of the new reliever and Anthony Hall found himself in a two-out situation with two runners in scoring position. Down one to the Cal Bears, he found his pitch and lasered it to the left field wall, giving the Ducks their first lead of the night.
With the baseballs wet from the rain at PK Park on Friday, the game turned into a pitcher’s duel. The Ducks came into the contest on a three-game losing streak after their red hot seven-game win streak came to an end against Washington State.
The streak finally ended as the No. 25 Oregon Ducks (27-14, 12-7 Pac-12) narrowly survived, winning 7-2 against the Cal Golden Bears (20-21, 10-12 Pac-12).
RJ Gordon started on the bump for Oregon after the bullpen was used heavily in the 4-2 loss to Oregon State on Tuesday. His above-six ERA saw a nice decrease as the sophomore came in with excellent efficiency. He threw only 18 pitches in his first two innings and sat down the first nine batters he faced before giving up a single to Dylan Beavers in the top of the fourth.
“Good game, well played,” Oregon coach Mark Wasikowski said. “The pitching staff really carried the torch tonight.”
The bats have been keeping the Ducks’ season alive this year as they only had one player in their lineup not hitting over .300. Much like the visiting Golden Bears, it was a slow offensive start. Cal’s starter on the mound was Steven Zobac, and he too saw a drop in his ERA.
The first run of the ball game came from some questionable play in the field. Beavers’ fourth inning single was followed by a Caleb Lomavita double that was not fielded cleanly by Tanner Smith. The bobble allowed Beavers to make it all the way home.
Another error by Drew Cowley put another runner on base while a wild pitch moved both runners into scoring position. A second wild pitch scored the second run of the ball game as the Ducks trailed 2-0 heading into the bottom of the fourth.
Gordon was able to return to form after the rocky fourth. He threw 1 2/3 more innings without giving up any more runs before being relieved by Rio Britton for the lefty on lefty advantage. Zobac was also replaced in the sixth after throwing 5 1/3 innings of shutout ball before the reliever, Josh White, gave up a double that scored the stranded runner left on the basepaths by Zobac.
“I worked really fast today and that was my plan,” Gordon said. “I feel like as a staff we’ve been taking our time with things and not getting momentum as a team. That’s our job as a pitching staff to supply momentum. Just working quick and throwing strikes with all my stuff is really my adjustment.”
White began to crumble in the eighth inning as three straight walks set up a bases-clearing triple by Anthony Hall, giving him five RBIs on the day.
“Us Ducks love the rain,” Hall said. “I wouldn’t have all those RBIs and hits without those guys in front of me.”
The bullpen of Britton, Christian Ciuffetelli, Matt Dallas and Kolby Somers came in clutch at the end. They held the Golden Bears’ offense to zero runs in the final five innings to seal the game.
The Ducks play two more games against Cal to finish the weekend off before a four-game series against the Beavers, which has a lot of potential to shake up the Pac-12 standings.
