Oregon baseball eclipsed the highest single-season run total in the school’s history Sunday as the Ducks beat Arizona State 15-5, taking the rubber game of the series over the Sun Devils. It was the first time in Oregon history that the Ducks won a series at Arizona State. Sunday was also the team’s last regular season road game of the year as it gears up for the postseason.
All nine of the Ducks’ starters recorded a hit in the offensive barrage, while six of them collected multiple hits. After being shut out for the first three times in the Mark Wasikowksi era, Oregon has put up double-digit run totals in three of its last four games.
Arizona State struck first with three singles against Jace Stoffal in the first inning. Stoffal was able to limit the damage, inducing a double play that first baseman Brennan Milone made a nice turn on.
The Ducks didn’t record a hit through the first two innings. But they drew three walks in the third, which loaded the bases for Drew Cowley with two outs.
Cowley swung on the first pitch and hit a fly ball to left, but the Arizona State outfielders lost the ball in the sun. It landed for a double as three runs came across for Oregon. It was the first hit for the Ducks, giving them a 3-1 lead.
Josh Kasevich followed by lining an RBI single to tack on another. The fourth run of the inning was the 380th of Oregon’s season, setting the new single-season school record.
The Ducks built off their four-spot with five in the fifth as the wheels fell off for the Sun Devils. The scoring started with an RBI single by Gavin Grant, and they added two more on a Colby Shade squeeze bunt. Milone hit a “Little League home run” as he doubled and scored on a two-base error, and Kasevich put the icing on the cake with an RBI double.
Oregon broke the score open to 9-1.
Freshman catcher Bennett Thompson led off the fifth with his second hit of the game. It was his fifth hit and sixth time on base through just two collegiate starts. Wasikowski called Thompson a “stud” on Wednesday, and Thompson has proved as much in his young career.
The Sun Devils played another messy inning as the Ducks scored twice in the fifth. Smith had an RBI infield hit, and another run came in on Arizona State’s third error of the game.
Stoffal didn’t make it through the bottom of the fifth after allowing a string of hits that brought in two runs. Logan Mercado recorded the final out of the inning to hold the Ducks’ 11-3 lead.
Jacob Walsh smashed a two-run homer in the sixth. It was his first long ball since April 8, and he celebrated by wearing the Ducks’ honorary cowboy hat in the dugout.
Oregon kept pouring it on in the seventh. Milone doubled and scored on a Cowley single. Kasevich then struck out, the first time the Ducks had done so all day. Anthony Hall wasted no time in adding another with an RBI double, bringing Oregon’s run total to 15 for the second time in the last week.
Mercado gave up a run in each of the sixth and seventh innings, but the Ducks cruised to a 15-5 victory. Kolby Somers shut the door with two strikeouts in a scoreless ninth.
After winning the weekend series, Oregon (31-21, 15-12 Pac-12) will come back to Eugene for four more games before the Pac-12 Baseball Tournament. The Ducks play No. 12 Gonzaga (31-13) on Tuesday before a series against Arizona (34-18, 15-11 Pac-12) starting Thursday.
