Game two of Saturday’s doubleheader was a surprisingly close one. The Leopards allowed a season-low seven runs while losing by a season-low three runs as the Ducks finished off the Saturday-sweep with a 7-4 win.
“There were parts of [Saturday] that were an ‘A’ performance and parts of it that were probably a not-passing performance,” Oregon head coach Mark Wasikowski said.
Taking just a one-run lead into the 7th — and having been blanked in three-straight innings — Oregon’s (5-1) offense needed a spark. A strand of Lafayette (0-6) miscues and Jeffery Heard’s third hit of the ballgame pieced together a three-run 7th that put Oregon comfortably in control to close out its fifth win of the season.
With runners on the corners, Oregon executed a baserunning play that drew a pickoff attempt. Lafayette failed to record an out on it as Justin Cassella scored. Jack Brooks laid down a bunt on the following at-bat. That ball was thrown into right field and Mason Neville scored. Heard followed it up with an RBI double to plate Brooks and open up a 7-3 lead that the Ducks would take into the 8th.
Luke Craytor earned his second loss of the season for Lafayette. Entering the game with an ERA of 27.00, the sophomore looked like he’d be another arm for Oregon’s offense to feast on. Instead, he ended up having the best outing of the series thus far for Lafayette. He still gave up four runs on five hits across 6.0 innings, but only two of those runs were earned, and by the time his outing ended, his ERA had plummeted to 7.36.
Toby Twist made his first collegiate start on Saturday. After a solid relief-appearance down in Texas, Wasikowski bumped Twist into the starting rotation for the Ducks’ series against Lafayette. He opened the game by pitching four scoreless innings while working out of several jams.
Oregon got the scoring going in the 2nd. Ryan Cooney drove in Bennet Thompson and a fielding error on Blaze Fadio plated two more Ducks’ runs to help Oregon jump out to a 3-0 lead and give Twist an early cushion.
The lead grew in the 4th as Jeffery Heard sent his first home run of the season out to center field. Heard had a commendable evening, going 3-4 with two RBIs and a run. He was just a triple short of a cycle.
“I like what everybody sees and likes from Jeffery,” Wasikowski said. “He’s a wonderful human being, first off. We’ve taken him out of games and he doesn’t make a stink. And the way he’s playing, boy, he’s just really playing well. He fills up the box with confidence. He’s a poised hitter, very mature.”
Twist would be pulled with two on and nobody out in the 5th as Michael Freund took over. Twist watched on as the two runners he was responsible for came in to score on a duo of groundouts, bringing his final statline for the evening to two earned runs allowed on two hits across 4.0 innings while striking-out five and walking three. He threw 78 total pitches (43 for strikes) while his season ERA dropped to 4.70.
The Leopards got another run back in the 6th on a pair of singles and a sacrifice fly from Michael Mallas drew Lafayette within one. Oregon was held scoreless for a third-straight inning as the Ducks’ bats that had been so hot in the first two games of the series took a hiatus.
Bradley Mullen entered to take the mound with one out in the 7th. He picked up the win in Oregon’s 4-2 win over Baylor in Texas. He would retire the first two batters he faced to end the inning.
Oregon’s offense returned in the bottom of the 7th. The glimmer of hope that Lafayette had to pull off an upset disappeared. The Leopards did, however, avoid further embarrassment like they experienced in Friday’s 17-3 loss and game one’s 15-4 defeat.
The Oregon dugout erupted as Mullan finished striking-out the side in the 8th. Oregon was back in control, and everyone knew it. Still, game two on Saturday should not have been as close as it was.
“You’ve got to be mentally tough to handle 18 innings of game,” Wasikowski said. “We probably handled 16 worth of game today, so we’ve got a little bit to work on for sure.”
Freund earned the win on Saturday, but Mullen had the most dominating performance of any Oregon pitcher in game two going 1.2 innings and striking-out four without allowing a hit. Logan Mercado came in to pitch the 9th. He allowed four baserunners, walked in a run and struck-out two, but did not earn his second save of the season.
The final game of the Oregon-Lafayette series is set for Sunday at 12:05 p.m. The Ducks look to finish off the sweep before turning to host UC Santa Barbara next weekend.
