Flocks of fans wearing both green and orange attended PK Park Tuesday night to attend No. 25 Oregon’s first baseball game of the year against rival No. 2 Oregon State. The Ducks put up a fight against the vaunted Beavers, but they struggled to take advantage of opportunities and didn’t collect a single extra-base hit. 

Oregon State (32-8) won 4-2, handing Oregon (26-14) its third straight loss. It was a competitive but tough start to the teams’ 2022 matchups, which will continue next Tuesday.

“I thought it was a really good college baseball game,” Oregon head coach Mark Wasikowski said. “It was a tight game the whole way through. I thought it was well played by both teams and exciting for fans. Definitely a rivalry game.”

Right-hander Christian Ciuffetelli got his second career start for the Ducks. Sitting 93 mph with his fastball, he gave up a single to the first batter he faced. After a bunt hit put runners on the corners, Oregon State took a 1-0 lead on a double play, but the Ducks were able to minimize the damage. The run was unearned due to a Jack Scanlon passed ball.

The Beavers went with right-hander Daren Hunter, who came into the game with a 5.47 ERA. Drew Cowley and Brennan Milone hit back-to-back singles against him in the first inning, but Jacob Walsh grounded into an inning-ending double play.

Ciuffetelli went on to retire eight in a row while relying on his fastball. He made it through three innings with just the one unearned run charged against him.

“Ciuff was really good,” Wasikowski said. “I thought he got after them… His stuff’s really good, we’ve all seen that, but his competitiveness was really good. He was able to land a couple of different pitches for strikes, and I liked what I saw out of Christian.”

Scanlon singled in the third inning, but he was stranded at third base as the Ducks struggled to rally against Hunter.

Stone Churby took over for Oregon in the fourth. He gave up a double and a two-run homer to Justin Boyd, making it a 3-0 game. Dylan Sabia retired the final batter to prevent further damage.

Milone was hit by a pitch in the bottom of the fourth, but Walsh lined into an unassisted double play. It was an unlucky break for Walsh, hitting into his second double play of the evening.

Sabia walked a pair in the fifth, then nearly gave up another homer to Boyd. Colby Shade was able to catch it at the warning track, keeping the game within reach.

Shade and Gavin Grant drew walks in the bottom of inning, but Scanlon was robbed of a home run and Tanner Smith lined out to center, as the Ducks missed another opportunity. Scanlon’s robbed homer proved to be the difference in the game.

Caleb Sloan pitched a scoreless sixth inning with help from a tremendous play by Josh Kasevich. 

In the bottom of the sixth, the Beavers’ pitching finally cracked. After Cowley and Kasevich each collected a hit, Anthony Hall and Shade hit back-to-back RBI singles to make it a one-run game.

Sloan allowed a leadoff single in the seventh, then came out after the runner advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt. Lefty Rio Britton entered and was immediately greeted with a run-scoring single up the middle. An infield hit and a walk loaded the bases, but Britton battled hard to work out of the jam, staving off any more damage.

Milone led off the bottom of the ninth with a walk, but Walsh hit into his third double play of the night to kill another potential rally.

“He’ll remember this one as a negative in his life,” Wasikowski said of Walsh. “And he’ll be able to respond from that. This is an opportunity for him.” 

Britton pitched a perfect eighth for Oregon, and Logan Mercado threw a perfect ninth.

With the Ducks down to their final three outs, their dugout was loud and energized, cheering emphatically on every pitch. The crowd repeatedly chanted “Let’s go Ducks!” louder than they had all season.

“I’d like them to be like that every single game,” Wasikowski said. “It was a great environment tonight at PK Park, no doubt about it.”

Hall led off with a single, only increasing the buzz in the stadium. With one out, Wasikowski curiously elected to pinch hit for Scanlon with William Riley, who only had five at-bats on the season.

“It wasn’t a situation where the ball was gonna be flying out of the yard late at night. We needed baserunners,” Wasikowski said. “A left-handed hitter in that situation that’s more of a line drive contact hitter was the thought. Lefties were hitting much better than righties against their reliever.”

Riley and Grant each flew out to center as the Ducks fell short. A loud cheer erupted from the Beavers fans who made the trip.

“Unfortunate, but you’ve gotta tip your hat to them,” Wasikowski said. “That’s a very good baseball team. They played like it, and I thought we played like a very good baseball team too, and we came up just a little short.”

The Ducks will take on Cal (20-20) this weekend before playing four consecutive games against Oregon State.