The Ducks dropped the mid-week Civil War one-game series against the Oregon State Beavers 4-1 Tuesday on the road in Corvallis, Oregon.
The loss dropped Oregon’s record to 25-15, but despite playing a Pac-12 opponent, the game was considered a nonconference contest, so it did not count towards the conference standings.
The Beavers took a 1-0 lead in the first inning on a sacrifice fly by Jack Anderson that scored Steven Kwan. In the fourth inning, the Beavers tripled their lead thanks to an RBI single by Adley Rutschman and another sacrifice fly that scored Christian Donahue.
The Ducks trimmed the deficit in the sixth inning when Morgan McCullough scored on a wild pitch. Oregon State pitchers Jordan Britton and Brandon Eisert limited the Ducks to just two hits on the day.
Oregon State regained its three-run advantage in the seventh inning with an RBI-single by K.J. Harrison with two outs.
The Ducks started freshman Ryne Nelson for his first career start, but he pitched just one inning in the loss. The Ducks used five pitchers the rest of the game. Only two pitchers saw more than one inning of work with James Acuna and Cooper Stiles each pitching two innings. Stiles pitched two innings of shutout baseball, and Brac Warren threw a perfect eighth inning to give the bullpen good experience against the No. 1 team in the nation.
The Ducks’ five game road stretch continues with a three game series against the Washington State Cougars that begins Friday at 5:00 p.m.
Follow Zak Laster on Twitter @zlast3445