USC fought on, but fell just short.
Oregon head coach Mark Wasikowski has talked about the necessity for a team to be able to win games in a variety of ways. He’s raved about his Ducks’ ability to do just that.
On Saturday, No. 10 Oregon (13-2, 2-0, Big Ten) demonstrated another form of it, finding a way to beat USC (9-5, 0-2 Big Ten) 8-6 despite the Trojans scoring the game’s final six runs.
The Ducks’ pitching staff worked out of a plethora of jams to escape Irvine, California, with a series win. Oregon is one of the hottest teams in the country right now, winning each of its past 10 contests.
A circus of Trojan miscues gave Oregon the game’s first run. Anson Aroz reached on USC’s fourth error of the weekend, and he then took second on a passed ball. After the back-to-back blunders, Maddox Molony (2-4) brought him home with an RBI single.
Dominic Hellman (2-5, two RBIs, two runs) continued his recent tear in the third, blasting his sixth homer in eight days to drive in both himself and Mason Neville (1-4, two runs).
USC starter Caden Aoki’s day ended in a disastrous fifth inning. After Neville led the inning off with a walk, Oregon recorded three-straight hits to chase him from the game. Back-to-back doubles from Jacob Walsh (3-5, two doubles) and Aroz (2-5, two RBIs, two runs) set up a five-run frame to put Oregon fully in charge with an 8-0 advantage as it hunted a series win.
It was enough cushion for starter Collin Clarke to work with. He continued his stellar start to the season with 4.2 innings of solid work on Saturday. He relented four runs on five hits while fanning five across his 79 total pitches (50 strikes).
He faced danger in the second, when he loaded the bases with back-to-back hit-by-pitches, but he got two batters to pop out to Ryan Cooney (1-3, RBI) at second to end the threat. He kept USC’s offense at bay until the fifth.
Brayden Dowd roped a one-out double down the first-base line in the fifth to plate a run — putting the Trojans on the board — and setting USC up with a two-on, one-out scoring opportunity. A two-out, two-RBI double off the bat of Ethan Hedges brought another pair of runs in and chased Clarke from the game. Dean Carpentier singled to bring Hedges in and halve the Ducks’ lead.
On the season, Clarke has now allowed seven runs in 23.1 total innings of work. His ERA sits at 2.70 after Saturday’s outing.
Hedges struck again in the seventh. He blasted a two-run homer — his fifth of the year — to bring two more runs in and bring his daily RBI total up to four. Just like that, the Trojans had scored the game’s last six runs and were within two runs with two frames to play.
Hedges’ blast ended a 22.2-inning scoreless streak from the Ducks’ bullpen that dated back to Feb 28. Oregon needed an offensive response, but didn’t get one.
Despite allowing the homer, Oregon’s Santiago Garcia earned Saturday’s win with his 2.1 innings of work. He recorded five of the Ducks’ 13 total strikeouts on the day.
An error, a hit and walk loaded the bases for USC in the eighth, putting the go-ahead run on first base with two down, but Cole Stokes got the Ducks out of another jam with a groundout to keep his ERA perfect on the season.
USC brought what could’ve been the game-winning run to the plate in the ninth, but Stokes worked a five-out save (and fanned three in the ninth) to clinch the series win for Oregon. In all, USC stranded 10 runners on base and was 0-3 with runners on third with less than two outs.
The theme of the game for the Trojans has to be all of their missed opportunities. For Oregon, it was the grit of the pitching staff to close out a win, even after the offense stopped scoring. Still, the Ducks have now scored seven or more runs in nine-straight games.
Oregon goes for the conference series sweep tomorrow at 12:05 p.m. Freshman Will Sanford will get the nod for the Ducks.
