Gonzaga was on its third pitcher of the ballgame when it finally pushed across its first hit. The Bulldogs made a late push in the seventh, but couldn’t keep pace with Oregon’s early offense.
The No. 18 Ducks (26-10, 10-5 Pac-12) followed up an offensively-lacking series with over USC with an offensively-explosively win over Gonzaga (14-18, 10-2 WCC). It was a much needed game for Mark Wasikowski’s squad.
The Ducks’ offense got started early. Three straight hits opened the bottom of the first and gave way to a two-run opening frame for Oregon. Jacob Walsh had an RBI single and Anson Aroz picked up an RBI on a ground out in Tuesday’s first inning.
It gave some early run support to Oregon starter Ian Umlandt, who was fresh off a dominant seven-inning outing last week against Sacramento State.
The Ducks more than quadrupled their lead in the third on a towering two-run home run from Walsh. Oregon’s all-time home run leader’s 13th bomb of the season was shortly followed by a three-run blast off the bat of Maddox Molony, his fifth of the year.
That would be all for Gonzaga starter Nate DeSchryver. Through just 2.1 innings, he surrendered seven runs (all earned) on seven hits while striking-out one and walking one. He threw 53 pitches in his disastrous outing, and he earned his second loss of the season. In all, the Zags used six pitchers in their loss, and allowed a .439 batting average against.
But the Ducks still weren’t done in the third inning. Later in the same frame, Bryce Boettcher launched a two-run shot of his own out for his fifth of the season. In all, Oregon tallied seven runs on a trio of homers in a seven-hit third inning to take a whopping 9-0 lead.
The Oregon hit parade continued in the fourth. After Jeffery Heard opened the inning with a double, Mason Neville brought him home on a two-run shot to right-center, his fifth blast of the season. It sparked another Gonzaga pitching change, the Bulldogs’ second before recording a hit offensively.
Umlandt had a much steadier day than anyone on the Bulldogs’ roster. He didn’t allow as much as a hit until the fourth inning — a single from Max Coupe — but he would allow a pair of runs to cross in the frame.
It was a second straight incredible appearance for Umlandt. Across his six complete innings, he allowed just two runs on two hits while walking two and fanning a pair. He demonstrated a dominance over the Bulldogs that the rest of the Oregon pitching staff had trouble replicating. Umlandt is now 3-0 on the season with a 3.51 ERA.
The Bulldogs’ offense finally erupted in the seventh. With Umlandt out of the game, they collected seven runs during a long seven-hit seventh frame. It took three Oregon pitchers — Cole Stokes, Turner Spoljaric and Bradley Mullan — to work the frame, but the Ducks still escaped it with an 11-9 advantage.
But, of course, Oregon would have the last laugh on Tuesday. The Ducks tallied three insurance runs across the seventh and eighth innings. Walsh homered again in the seventh for his 14th of the season. Chase Meggers homered in the eighth and Walsh scored again on an RBI single from Heard.
Logan Mercado pitched a scoreless ninth to lock down Oregon’s 26th win of the season. The Ducks are now 26-2 all-time against Gonzaga — including now 10 straight wins after Tuesday’s slugfest.
Oregon faces Stanford (14-19, 7-8 Pac-12) this weekend for a crucial Pac-12 series. Game one is set for 6:05 p.m.
