One night after defeating No. 3 Stanford, the Oregon Ducks returned to action looking to win its first series over the Cardinal since 2015.
That mission was delayed until tomorrow with the Cardinal taking game two 5-1.
Starting pitcher Matt Mercer made his seventh start of the season, going 5.2 innings with two earned runs, one unearned, allowing six hits and striking out two.
Despite having the lead early, Mercer could not hold on, surrendering the 1-0 advantage in the third.
Stanford tied the game when Beau Branton singled Nick Brueser home. Brueser had led-off the inning with a single and then stole second base.
The Cardinal got their first lead of the series in a similar fashion. Brueser had a two-out single and advanced to second on a passed ball by catcher Ray Soderman. Once he was in scoring position, Branton knocked-in the unearned run with his second RBI single of the game.
Mercer ran into trouble in the sixth inning and it wound up being his last. He allowed a lead-off double to Tim Tawa, who then advanced to third on another passed ball by Soderman. After Nico Hoerner was intentionally walked, Andrew Daschbach singled in Tawa.
Mercer got one more out but was eventually relieved by Parker Kelly, who escaped the inning without further damage.
Stanford tacked two more runs on in the eighth off Kelly. Hoerner hit a single and was knocked-in by Kyle Stowers. Stowers then stole second and advanced to third on a throwing error by Soderman. A groundout scored Stowers, making it the second unearned run of the ballgame.
Oregon’s lone run came early in the second inning off Cardinal starting pitcher Kris Bubic.
After getting the win on the mound last night, multi-talented Kenyon Yovan got the start at designated hitter and went 1-3, scoring the lone run for the Ducks.
Yovan hit a one-out double and eventually scored on Kyle Kasser’s single with help from an error by Daschbach in left field.
The Ducks struggled to create much offense and were shut down by Jack Little, who relieved Bubic, by striking out the side in the ninth.
The two teams will return tomorrow at 1:05 p.m. with Oregon looking to win the series.
Follow Maverick Pallack on Twitter @mavpallack