Following a confusing 24 hours in which their game on Friday was changed to be a doubleheader on Saturday due to weather, and then that doubleheader was moved to Sunday, the Oregon baseball team took the field in Salt Lake City to play the Utah Utes on Saturday.
The Ducks brushed off the schedule changes and scored the first nine runs of the ballgame to defeat the Utes 9-4 in the series opener.
Center fielder Johnny DeLuca doubled home third baseman Sam Novitske to open the scoring before an out was recorded. Freshman outfielder Tanner Smith knocked in two more runs in the first inning on a bases loaded, two-run single.
The Ducks followed up that three-run first inning with another run in the second. Catcher Cameron Campbell led off the inning with a walk and then scored on a Novitske double.
Smith extended the lead to 5-0 in the fourth when he hit his first collegiate home run off Utah starting pitcher Kyle Robeniol.
The Ducks added three unearned runs in the sixth. Second baseman Max Foxcroft worked a two out walk, Novitske reached on an error by shortstop Matt Richardson and DeLuca walked to load the bases for shortstop Spencer Steer.
Steer promptly hit a three-run double to left field, which gave Oregon an 8-0 lead.
The Ducks scored their ninth run in the seventh inning when Campbell singled designated hitter Aaron Zavala home. That 9-0 lead is now the largest for Oregon all season, breaking the brief 8-0 lead the Ducks held in the top of the first against Texas Tech on Feb. 16.
Eugene native Robert Ahlstrom (4-3) earned his fourth win of the season, setting a career-high in innings pitched, 7.1, while tying his career high in strikeouts, eight. The left hander surrendered just one in a big performance for a depleted Oregon rotation.
Three of Utah’s four runs came in the eighth inning. The Utes turned a Foxcroft’s fielding error into three unearned runs. The other three came off reliever Peyton Fuller, who took over for Ahlstrom with one out in the eighth.
The Utes added one more unearned run in the ninth when Rykker Tom singled home a run.
The Ducks will play the final two games of the series on Sunday, looking to win their first Pac-12 series since they swept Utah in May of last season.
Follow Maverick Pallack on Twitter @mavpallack
