One day after defeating St. Mary’s 3-2 on a walk-off sacrifice-fly by Tanner Smith, Oregon baseball retook a rain soaked PK Park looking to take both ends of the doubleheader against the Gaels. The team did just that, beating St. Mary’s 6-2 in the first game then 5-4 in the following game.
Game 1
A dominant pitching performance by starting pitcher Ryne Nelson paired with a three-RBI day from freshman designated hitter Aaron Zavala gave Oregon a strong 6-2 game-one victory.
Nelson, making just his second career start on the mound, smoothly navigated through the St. Mary’s lineup. One week after surrendering seven runs and four walks in 4.1 innings against top-10 Texas Tech, the former closer and shortstop commanded the zone, rarely allowing solid contact. He went six innings, allowing an unearned run and four hits while striking out nine.
“He was really special,” head coach George Horton said. “When he’s in the strike zone he’s got some special stuff.”
After Nelson departed, sophomore relievers Robert Ahlstrom and Peyton Fuller teamed up to finish the game. Ahlstrom shut down the Gaels for two innings, before surrendering a run on back-to-back doubles in the ninth. From there, Fuller took the mound and limited the damage to secure the win.
Zavala continued the hot start to his freshman season, going 3-4 with three singles, two RBIs and a run scored to bring his average up to .542.
Offensively, Oregon succeeded by pairing Zavala’s day with a successful small-ball approach.
“He’s got a bright future,” Horton said. “We were real high on him when he came here, and he’s locked down that DH position in a big way.”
In the second, Zavala’s leadoff single started a freshmen rally. Last night’s walk-off hero, freshman Tanner Smith originally started his at-bat showing bunt, but after three straight pitches outside of the zone, he was able to work a walk.
Junior catcher Cameron Campbell, who has been struggling at the plate thus far, had a perfect sacrifice bunt to put both runners in scoring position for another freshman, Kyle Froemke.
Froemke, in his first at bat of the season, lined a single to right to score the first two runs of the ball game.
The Ducks extended their lead one inning later with an RBI single by Zavala. In the fifth, Zavala recorded another RBI single, knocking in Gabe Matthews to bring the score to 4-1.
Oregon tacked on two more runs to bring the score to 6-1. In the sixth, Johnny DeLuca knocked in Campbell with a sacrifice-fly and Campbell added on with a home run in the eighth. The home run marks his second on the season and the first at PK Park in 2019. He is also the lone Duck to homer in 2019.
Game 2
The Ducks took the lead thanks to a burst of offense in the middle of the game. Zavala had another solid performance, going 3-4 again with one RBI. Starting pitcher Cullen Kafka won the game pitching six innings with seven strikeouts, giving up four walk.
“Six hits in one game, can’t really ask for more,” Zavala said. “I was just feeling good at the plate, super comfortable, just doing my thing.”
For the first half of the game, Carlos Lomeli’s timely strikeouts kept the Ducks at bay. In the bottom of the fourth, Oregon finally scored on a two out single from designated hitter Aaron Zavala, who knocked in Spencer Steer. The following inning, the Ducks opened with two base hits, one from Sam Novitske and another from Johnny DeLuca. Lomeli was replaced by Andrew Hansen, and Oregon’s offense started rolling.
Gabe Matthews launched a ball far into right field, and Green, the right fielder, appeared to come down with the ball, but dropped it over the fence when he collided with it, making it a three-run homer for Matthews. Goldfarb was hit by a pitch, then Zavala and Adams both singled to load the bases.
With Michael Hobbs pitching, Smith hit a grounder that looked to be a double play, but outran the throw to first, and Goldfarb came across to home plate on the fielder’s choice to take a 5-3 lead.
St. Mary’s took the initial lead, when JC Santini hit an RBI single in the first. The Gaels added to their lead by loading the bases on a single, a hit batter and a walk before Conor Thane doubled to make it a 3-0 game.
The Gaels put a lot of pressure on Oregon’s pitchers for the next few innings, never making the lead feel comfortable. In consecutive innings, they advanced runners into scoring position early due to wild pitches. In the sixth Kafka threw three wild pitches, and walked Santini to load the bases, but struck out Thane to prevent any damage.
The same situation occurred in the next inning, when Keaton Chase gave up two hits before striking out the next two batters. He walk Diaz to load the bases, struckout Chauvin struck out swinging to end the inning.
Despite the Gaels finally adding another run in the eighth on a fielder’s choice, Horton was pleased with how the pitchers handled the tense situations.
“That’s about mentality,” Horton said. “Instead of caving in they got better.”
Follow Maverick Pallack on Twitter @mavpallack
Follow August Howell on Twitter @howell_august
