The Oregon baseball team capped off a three-game sweep of Oregon State on Sunday, winning 5-4 in the 11th inning.
Right-hander Brett Walker (4-1, 3.41 ERA) started on the mound for the Ducks. He started off with a seven-pitch first inning and retired the first eight batters he faced.
Oregon got a one-out baserunner in each of the first two innings — an Anthony Hall walk in the first and a Gabe Matthews single in the second — but nothing else.
With two outs in the third, the Beavers collected their first hit on a weak grounder past the mound. The ruling would later be changed to an error on Walker. Regardless, the next batter reached on catcher’s interference to put two on, and then Walker allowed a liner for the Beavers’ first actual hit as they took a 1-0 lead.
Kenyon Yovan led off the fourth with a walk. Aaron Zavala followed with an opposite field single. Josh Kasevich bunted to advance the runners into scoring position, and then Matthews tied the game with a sacrifice fly to left.
Walker stayed locked in, with just one hit recorded against him through the first five innings.
After gracing the PK Park crowd with some karaoke on the scoreboard, Jack Scanlon led off the bottom of the fifth with a ground-rule double. He advanced to third on a balk, but was tagged out at the plate on a Tanner Smith fielder’s choice. Hall grounded out and the game remained tied 1-1 after five.
Walker allowed his second hit in the sixth, but with two outs Smith made a nice catch moving back in left field to keep the game knotted at one apiece.
The Beavers rallied in the sixth to retake the lead. A walk, a hit batter and an RBI single made it 2-1. The next batter hit a grounder to Matthews, who thought about throwing home but then turned to first, where Gavin Grant was late covering the base. Everyone was safe as a run scored.
A two-out single extended the Beavers’ lead to 4-1 and knocked Walker out of the game. RJ Gordon came in and walked the first batter but induced a flyout to get out of the bases loaded jam.
Matthews doubled to lead off the seventh, but the next three Ducks were retired.
Gordon came back out for the eighth and allowed a walk and a double. Fellow freshman Isaac Ayon replaced him and clamped down, recording two strikeouts and a groundout to get out of the jam unscathed. On his second strikeout, the ball got by Scanlon and a run came home, but the runner was sent back to third after it was ruled that the ball hit the batter’s foot.
Back-to-back walks from Hall and Yovan in the eighth forced OSU to go to the bullpen again. Zavala greeted the new pitcher with an RBI single that cut the Beavers’ lead to 4-2. Kasevich struck out, but Matthews walked to load the bases with two outs for Sam Novitske.
With the Oregon dugout and crowd cheering on every pitch, Novitske drew a four-pitch walk to make it 4-3. Pinch-hitter Tyler Ganus then came up looking for his first collegiate hit, and on an 0-2 count, got hit on the ankle to force in the tying run. Tristan Hanoian flew out, so the damage ended there and the game was tied going to the ninth.
Yovan made solid contact in the ninth, but the Ducks went down one-two-three as the game went into extra innings.
Breault allowed a one-out double in the 10th and intentionally walked the next batter. A groundout moved both runners into scoring position, but Breault induced a comebacker to keep the game tied.
Decker Stedman came in for the 11th and allowed a leadoff single. The runner advanced to second on a sacrifice fly and tagged up to third on a flyout. With two outs, a pitch got by the catcher, Sam Olsson, but took a good bounce and Olsson was able to throw out the runner at home. Stedman pumped his fist as the Ducks went back to the dugout.
With two outs in the bottom of the 11th, Hanoian scratched out a bunt single to keep the inning alive. Smith, who had been 0-for-5, followed with an opposite field single to put runners on the corners for Bryce Boettcher, who had come in as a defensive replacement.
Boettcher swung on the first pitch and hit a seemingly routine grounder to shortstop, but the ball was bobbled and the Ducks walked it off to secure the 5-4 victory. They complete a three-game sweep of the Beavers and improve to 19-7 on the season and are tied for first place in the Pac-12.
“It was like going to the dentist today,” head coach Mark Wasikowski said. “Nothing was easy all day.”
Up next, the Ducks will travel to Portland for a game against the Pilots on Wednesday at 2:00 p.m.
