The No. 19 Oregon baseball team defeated the No. 21 Oregon State Beavers 5-1 in the second game of their three-game series. The Ducks improve to 18-7 and 5-1 in their season series with the Beavers.
Oregon’s pitching led the way as Cullen Kafka provided a strong 5 2/3 innings before Nico Tellache and Andrew Mosiello controlled the middle innings. Kolby Somers finished off the victory with three strikeouts in the ninth inning.
“I’m really proud of Nico Tellache and Kolby Somers coming in and they provided nine strikeouts and only gave up one hit,” head coach Mark Wasikowski said.
Kafka took the mound for the Ducks searching for his fourth win of the season. Entering the game, Kafka led all Duck pitchers with 52 strikeouts and added two impressive ones to his total in the top of the first. He caught Jake Dukart whiffing on a slider that clipped the edge of the plate and Garrett Forrester was fooled by a 91 MPH fastball for the third out of the inning.
Cooper Hjerpe answered Kafka’s strong start at the bottom of the first. Hjerpe struck out Anthony Hall who swung at missed on a taunting breaking ball. Then he struck out Josh Kasevich as he watched a silky fastball catch the outside corner of the strike zone for the third out.
Gabe Matthews provided Oregon with its first hit of the ball game on a line-drive single and Novitske followed with a single of his own. He slapped a single past Andy Armstrong at shortstop, putting two Duck runners on.
Jack Scanlon’s sacrifice bunt advanced the runners to second and third as Gavin Grant came up. Grant laid down a bunt as well and forced Hjerpe into a tough decision. The pitcher threw out Grant but the first baseman bobbled the ball on the relay home as both Matthews and Novitske scored, giving the Ducks a 2-0 lead.
The Beavers responded to the Ducks’ surge in the top of the third inning. Wade Meckler pounced on the first pitch of the inning with a line drive over Grant’s head at second. Meckler slid into second as he stretched out the double. Dukart put the Beavers on the board, blooping a single over Novitske’s head to score Meckler, cutting the lead to one.
Oregon State threatened to break the game open in the top of the fourth inning. Their two-out rally started with Kafka’s third walk of the game conceded to Troy Claunch. Micah McDowell hit a hard grounder for an infield single as Claunch advanced to second. Meckler took a pitch on the arm to fill the bases.
With two outs and the bases loaded, Jacob Melton stepped up to the plate. Melton, who’s batting .444 on the season, posed a threat to the Ducks’ lead, but Kafka eeked his way out. He got Melton down in the count 0-2, before using the outside slider to catch Melton looking for strike three.
The Ducks extended their lead in the bottom of the fourth. Kasevich opened the inning by rocketing a double off the left field wall. Matthews added his second hit of the ball game as Kasevich advanced to third on the infield single. Novitske grounded into a double play that stifled the Ducks’ momentum but scored Kasevich from third. The Ducks led 3-1 through four innings.
The fifth inning went quiet for both sides and Kafka continued to control the game through the top half of the sixth. Wasikowski made his first move of the game taking Kafka out after Joe Casey’s two-out single. Nico Tellache came in for Kafka, who set up the Ducks for a win only conceding four hits and one earned run through 5 2/3 innings.
Tellache picked up where Kafka left off as he struck out Preston Jones to end the inning.
Aaron Zavala drew a walk to start the bottom half of the sixth and advanced to second on Kasevich’s groundout to first. Novitske hit a bloop single into center field for his second run batted in of the game as Zavala rounded the bases to give the Ducks a 4-1 lead.
The struggles continued for Reid Sebby as Jack Scanlon drew a two-out walk and then Sebby hit Grant square in the chest to load the bases for Tanner Smith. Sebby couldn’t find the middle of the plate and put Smith on first after four balls. Novitske scored on the walk to give Oregon a 5-1 lead.
Closer Kolby Somers entered the game in the top of the ninth with a four-run cushion looking for his sixth save of the season. The Beavers couldn’t touch Somers as he struck out the side. Kyler McMahan went down swinging for the first out. Then Somers caught Dukart with a nasty sinker that curled into the edge of the plate for a called strike three. To finish off the night, Somers found the bottom of the zone with a fastball to strike out Ober.
With the victory, the Ducks improve to 18-7 on the season. Oregon’s next game is at 4 p.m. on Sunday, April 11 at PK Park against Oregon State.
