An early-morning clash between Ducks and Bears earned Oregon (2-0) its second win of the 2024 season while Baylor (0-2) failed to bounce back in the Shriners Children’s College Showdown.
Oregon capitalized on its opponent’s miscues for the second-straight day. After trailing 4-0, the Ducks scored two unearned runs while their bullpen held strong again.
Kevin Seitter got his first start for the green and yellow on Saturday. The Quinnipiac transfer was 13-14 with an ERA of 5.00 as a Bobcat, but an 8-4 2023 campaign opened windows of opportunities for the senior. Seitter transferred cross-country to join the Ducks for 2024, but got off to a rough start in the 2nd.
A leadoff-triple off the bat of Hunter Simmons gave the Bears an early scoring chance. Gavin Brzozowski grounded out and Simmons scored to give Baylor the early advantage. Mason Greer then homered to double the Bears’ lead in 2nd.
Baylor scored another run in both the 3rd and the 4th. An error on Oregon’s Drew Smith extended the inning. A triple one batter later tallied another Bears’ run.
Seitter’s day would end after four full innings in which he allowed four runs (three earned) on five hits while striking out two and walking one. It was far from an ideal Ducks-debut, and Oregon had to turn to the bullpen for the remaining five innings, trailing 4-0.
Oregon got its first hit and first run in the 4th. Justin Cassella opened the inning by reaching on an error. He advanced to second before Bennett Thompson singled him home to record the Ducks’ first base-hit of the contest.
Bradley Mullan took over on the mound for the start of the 5th inning. He sparked a bullpen performance that would feature 5.0 innings of shutout ball while allowing just two hits. It was reminiscent of Friday’s game that saw Oregon’s relievers completely shut down Oklahoma for 4.2 innings.
“It was enough to win, you know,” Oregon head coach Mark Wasikowski said after Oregon’s bullpen’s heroic effort on Friday. “When you pitch well and you play good enough defense, the score is going to be low, and we capitalized.”
That theme continued on Saturday as the Ducks’ bullpen stood firm again to secure another win.
A 5th-inning rally got the Ducks back to even. With runners on the corners, Jacob Walsh doubled to drive in a run and give Oregon a two-on, one-out opportunity. A batter later, Cassella singled to score Smith and keep the line moving. Jeffery Heard would later single to bring in Walsh and tie the game.
The line kept moving again in the 6th as three Oregon hits and a Baylor error led to the Ducks’ taking their first lead of the day, 7-4. It was a nightmarish inning for relief-pitcher Jackson Elizondo as Mason Neville started the inning with a double in his Oregon-debut. Ryan Cooney singled him home before Smith drove in both Cooney and Carter Garate. The Ducks scored a run in the 4th and three runs in both the 5th and 6th to rally back into command of the game.
A trio of Mullan, Jaxon Jordan and Logan Mercado shut the Bears down from the 5th inning on. Mullan snagged the win while Mercado earned the six-out save. The Oregon bullpen has allowed zero runs in 9.2 innings of work on the season.
On Baylor’s side of the pitching metrics, Collin McKinney started on the bump for the Bears. The redshirt-freshman missed the entire 2023 season with an injury and made his first start for Baylor against an Oregon team just one year removed from a NCAA Super Regional appearance. McKinney went 4.1 innings and gave up three runs on three hits while striking out five. Elizondo, however, earned himself the loss after allowing Oregon’s big 6th inning.
Baylor was 20-35 last season with a 6-18 record in Big 12 Conference play. The Bears were dealt a 4-1 loss by Nebraska on the first day of the Shriners Children’s College Showdown and are now 0-2 in what was hoped to be a bounceback season.
Battles are rarely without blemish, Saturday was no different. Early-season pitch selection was a concerning issue for Oregon for a second-straight game. After striking out 13 times on Friday, the Ducks were K’d-up 10 times against Baylor. Oregon pitchers have tallied 18 opponent-strikeouts so far in the young season.
The first ever meeting between Oregon and Baylor baseball went the way of the Ducks. Oregon will face its toughest test of the tournament against No. 18 Texas Tech on Sunday at 12:30 p.m.
