No. 18 Oregon (17-9) baseball’s record fell to 2-6 in Pac-12 play following its 9-5 loss to Arizona (20-6) on Saturday night. The Ducks recorded 10 hits but suffered from three errors, bringing their total errors to eight in the past two games.
Freshman pitcher David Peterson started for the Ducks and allowed just one hit until one blowup inning cost the team the game. He finished with a brutal line of seven earned runs on seven hits and three walks in 4.1 innings pitched.
To lead off the game for Arizona, Scott Kingery took a Peterson fastball over the scoreboard in left field. Kingery (.450) is one of six regular Wildcats starters hitting above .300.
The Ducks made little noise offensively until the top of the fourth when Phil Craig-St. Louis blasted a two-run home run, his first as a Duck, to give Oregon a 2-1 lead. Jakob Goldfarb, who hit 3-3 in Oregon’s 7-2 loss Friday night, then tripled to deep right-center and Daniel Patzlaff knocked him home on a muffed grounder by the second baseman with the infield in.
Aside from the leadoff jack, Peterson was untouchable until the bottom of the fifth, when he unraveled. He faced eight Arizona batters in the inning and gave up six runs on six grounders which all found holes in the infield. Arizona catcher Riley Moore cracked a bases-clearing double off the glove of Brandon Cuddy, then scored on a Kevin Newman single to put the Wildcats up 7-3.
Trent Paddon relieved Peterson and produced a strikeout and comeback grounder that should have ended the disastrous inning for Oregon. Paddon hesitated with the ball in his glove, however, which caused him to rush his throw to Cuddy at first. The errant ball squirted past Cuddy and into foul territory, allowing both runners to score and giving Arizona a 9-3 cushion.
The eight-run fifth inning proved more than enough insurance for the Wildcats to win the game and series. Arizona starter Robby Medes gave up three runs in three and a third innings, but reliever Nathan Bannister protected the lead for the following three.
Craig-St. Louis accumulated three RBIs and two runs on his double and home run, while Cuddy and Daniel Patzlaff also hit safely twice.
The Ducks have lost the Friday and Saturday games in all three conference series and look to salvage another split with Cole Irvin on the mound Sunday. Oregon will play game three of the series at 11 a.m. at Hi Corbett Field on Pac-12 Networks.
Follow Kenny Jacoby on Twitter @kennyjacoby