Coming off of Thursday night’s wild comeback win, the Ducks took the field for their second game of the season against Seattle at PK Park on Friday.
Right-handed pitcher Peyton Fuller took the mound for Oregon after enjoying brief success (2.84 ERA in 19 innings) in 2020.
Fuller’s control looked a bit shaky at the beginning, with a single and two walks to start off, but a slick pickoff and a double play got him out of early trouble. He then rolled through an easy second inning.
He got into trouble again in the third after a leadoff double, but worked his way out with a strikeout and a flyout to keep the game scoreless.
The Ducks offense came out swinging early and often, but to no avail as the first six Ducks were retired.
To start the bottom of the third, catcher Jack Scanlon reached on an error by the first baseman, and second baseman Gavin Grant came through with the Ducks’ first hit to put runners on the corners.
Center fielder Bryce Boettcher had his first collegiate hit soon thereafter with an RBI single to put the Ducks up 1-0, and Aaron Zavala extended the lead with a fielder’s choice that brought in a second run.
Then the floodgates opened. Josh Kasevich hit a two-run homer, Gabe Matthews doubled and Tanner Smith tripled to make it 5-0. The Ducks got another run with a sac fly from A.J. Miller and headed to the fourth inning up 6-0. All nine Oregon hitters batted in the inning.
The Ducks offense mostly quieted down after that explosive third inning. Boettcher got a second hit in the fourth, and Oregon left two runners stranded in the fifth.
Fuller settled in, retiring 10 consecutive batters while pitching to contact. His streak finally ended with a one-out single in the sixth, but he worked out of it with two popups to short.
The Redhawks got back-to-back singles off Fuller in the seventh, but he battled to work around the jam with help from a diving catch by Boettcher in center. Fuller finished the night with seven scoreless innings and 89 pitches under his belt.
“He pitched down in the zone, he got a lot of friendly contact for us,” head coach Mark Wasikowski said. “And he utilized his defense.”
Left-handed pitcher Rio Britton relieved Fuller to make his collegiate debut in the eighth, after Isaac Ayon made his collegiate debut the previous night.
You wouldn’t have known it was his collegiate debut, as Britton struck out his first batter while working a perfect eighth inning. With his performance in this game and Ayon’s in game one, along with Boettcher’s defense and two hits, the Ducks have had three freshmen make an impression in these first two games.
“We’ve got several talented young players…,” Wasikowski said. “They’ve earned it…They bring joy, they’re always smiling and they’re just great kids to be around.”
Nick Bellafronto pinch-hit for Sam Novitske and doubled in the bottom of the eighth, but was left at second.
Britton came back out for his second inning of work and only gave up a walk, collecting his second strikeout to finish it off as the Ducks won by a score of 6-0.
“He was electric tonight…,” Wasikowski said of Britton. “The kid’s got a huge upside.”
The Ducks have pitched well in both games as they move to 2-0. They’ll take on the Redhawks again on Saturday at 2:00 p.m., and Sunday at 12:00 p.m.
