After sweeping UCSB, taking two of three over Oregon State and climbing into the top 25, the Oregon baseball team returned home on Friday to open conference play against the Arizona State Sun Devils.
Lefty Robert Ahlstrom took the mound for the Ducks after pitching seven scoreless innings with 10 strikeouts in his previous outing. He allowed a leadoff single in the first, but quickly set the Sun Devils down with a double play and a flyout to left.
Kenyon Yovan singled in the bottom of the first, extending his on-base streak to 25 games dating back to 2018. Gabe Matthews then delivered with a double down the right field line. The ASU right fielder mishandled the ball, allowing Yovan to score the game’s first run.
Aaron Zavala brought in another run with a double, and Sam Novtiske singled him home. The Ducks led 3-0 after the first inning.
The Sun Devils got on the board in the second after a leadoff triple and an RBI groundout to make it 3-1.
They came right back out in the third, collecting back-to-back singles and tying the game with a two-run double. A two-out single then gave them a 4-3 lead.
Ahlstrom bounced back in the fourth, setting the Sun Devils down one-two-three.
The Ducks had a baserunner in each of the second, third and fourth innings but couldn’t get anything going after that first inning rally.
Ahlstrom continued to settle down, and he ended up going seven innings allowing only four runs, three of which came in that rough third inning. His ERA remains a crisp 2.16.
“I thought Robby Ahlstrom didn’t have his best stuff but still really competed on the mound,” head coach Mark Wasikowski said.
Zavala recorded his third hit of the day in the sixth, but a double play erased him. The Ducks went down quietly again in the seventh as what looked early on to be a slugfest turned into a pitching duel.
Freshman Isaac Ayon relieved Ahlstrom in the eighth and allowed a two-run homer that gave the Sun Devils more of a cushion with a 6-3 lead.
The top of the order came up for the Ducks in the bottom of the eighth, but they went down one-two-three.
Another freshman pitcher came in for Oregon, this time lefty Rio Britton. He walked the first batter, but Tanner Smith made a nice assist from left field to nab the runner at second. A walk and a single put runners on the corners, and Britton was taken out for RJ Gordon, the third freshman reliever of the game for the Ducks. Gordon induced a groundout to get out of the jam.
“They all have good arms,” Wasikowski said of his freshman pitchers. “They need seasoning, they need to be in games. They need to feel what it’s like to be in Pac-12 games…Those kids have deserved it.”
Zavala led off the ninth inning with his fourth hit of the game. Nothing came of it though, as the Ducks fell 6-3.
Oregon will continue the three-game series with game two Saturday at 2:00 p.m.
