The Oregon Ducks defeated Gonzaga 7-3 Saturday night at PK Park.
Oregon batted first, playing as the visiting team in front of their home crowd due to the regional format.
In the top of the first inning, Oregon was aided by shaky fielding from the Zags.
Leading off, Tanner Smith legged out a double after a 10 pitch at-bat. Then, an error by Gonzaga third baseman Brett Harris put Oregon in business early.
Aaron Zavala grounded into a fielder’s choice, pinning runners on first and third.
First baseman Gabe Matthews roped a hard ground ball to the shortstop, Ernie Yake, who bobbled it into center field, bringing home a run. Then, a Josh Kasevich RBI groundout made it 2-0 Ducks.
A double by Anthony Hall and a single by Sam Novitske drove in back-to-back runs for Oregon, who left the top of the first with a 4-0 lead, much to the delight of a raucous home crowd.
“I thought that the tone was set by the guys right out of the shoot,” Ducks head coach Mark Wasikowski said. “There was pressure early, and Gonzaga couldn’t handle some of [it].”
Later on, a single, a double and a hit batter loaded the bases for the Zags with nobody out in the bottom of the third. Tyler Rando put Gonzaga on the board with a sacrifice fly, making it a 4-1 ball game while advancing runners to second and third.
Then a single and an error by center fielder Hall scored two, making it a 4-3 ball game.
Left-hander Robert Ahlstrom started on the mound for the Ducks. The Eugene native lasted eight innings, allowing just the three runs on seven hits while striking out six batters and walking one.
“Knowing that we used quite a few guys out of the pen yesterday, I just wanted to go as long as I could,” Ahlstrom said. “The third inning kind of got away from me a little bit, but after that, we answered back, which was huge.”
The Ducks wasted no time responding to Gonzaga’s big third inning.
With two outs, Kenyon Yovan reached on a walk, then a double off the wall by Zavala put Oregon ahead 5-3.
Matthews followed with a two-run blast to right, effectively negating Gonzaga’s three-run third.
In the fifth, the Zags loaded the bases with one out, but Ahlstrom induced a 4-6-3 double play to get out of trouble.
“He’s just the ultimate competitor,” Wasikowski said of Ahlstrom. “For what he did in the fifth… that was a game changer right there.”
Kolby Somers came out of the bullpen for Oregon in the ninth. After a leadoff walk, Somers got a 4-6-3 double play, then struck out the final batter to secure the Oregon victory.
Oregon benefitted from clutch hitting the entire game, hitting .364 and driving in five runs with two outs.
Sunday night, the Ducks will play the winner of Game 5 between Gonzaga and LSU. A win would secure the regional title for Oregon and advance them to Super Regionals.
