No. 13 Oregon (23-8) defeated the UCLA Bruins, 5-3, in its opening game of the three-game series.
Robert Ahlstrom earned his third win of the season while Sam Novitzke led the Ducks with two hits and two runs batted in.
“[Ahlstrom] was in total command of his pitches,” head coach Mark Wasikowski said. “He retired seven hitters in a row and kept his innings short.”
Ahlstrom entered the game with a 2-3 record but a 2.03 ERA against ranked opponents. In the first inning, Ahlstrom worked through the top of the Bruins order with ease but started to struggle in the third inning.
Kyle Karros reached base on a single through the left side of the infield. Kevin Kendall followed Karros’ as he slapped a single into deep right field. Kendall attempted to stretch it out, but Aaron Zavala beat him with the throw from right field.
Karros advanced to third as Kendall was thrown out. Pat Caulfield delivered the initial run for the Bruins as his sacrifice fly scored Karros from third.
Bruins pitcher Zach Pettway kept Oregon’s bats quiet through five innings until Novitzke doubled into right center field to lead off the sixth inning. Grant kept the rally alive with a double into deep right field scoring Novitzke. He attempted to stretch for a triple but the throw from right field caught him on his way to third.
“They had a good relay to catch [Grant] at third,” Novitzke said. “But it was a clutch at-bat from Gavin to give us our first run.”
Ahlstrom’s outing extended into the top of the seventh as the Bruins hitters failed to figure him out. He caught J.T. Schwartz looking for a called strike three and followed that up by striking out Mikey Perez. Ahlstrom struck out seven batters through seven innings.
The Ducks bats picked up right where they left off in the bottom frame of the seventh. Anthony Hall singled to center field to start off the inning. Then, Yovan followed with a double off the wall in center field that scored Hall from first base. Oregon took a 2-1 lead.
Zavala then drew a four-pitch walk. The right-fielder leads the Ducks with 28 bases-on-balls this season. Pettway’s struggles continued as he clipped Matthews on the elbow to load the bases for Novitzke.
Novitzke cracked a single through the left side of UCLA’s infield scoring Yovan and Zavala. The Bruins pulled Pettway after Novitzke’s hit and Adrian Chaidez entered the game to stop the bleeding.
Grant reached first base on a walk to load the bases once again as Smith came up to bat. Smith slapped a hard grounder straight to Schwartz at first base, but he miss-handled the ground ball and Matthews scored from third giving the Ducks a 5-1 lead.
After the Ducks’ bats gave Ahlstrom some cushion, he fought his way through the top of the eighth. He faced Karros with two outs once again and fooled him with a slider in the dirt for strike three.
Ahlstrom came into the ninth inning to finish off his complete game, but he conceded back to back hits. Matt McLain added another single that knocked Kendall home and took Ahlstrom out of the game. The Bruins cut the lead to three.
Somers entered the game in the ninth with runners on first and second looking for his seventh save.
Schwartz worked a 3-2 count and almost bit on a fastball outside, but he held his check swing and reached first on a walk to load the bases. After the walk Somers settled in by striking out Perez. Cardenas slapped a hard ground ball to Kasevich at shortstop who threw it to third for the second out, but Caulfield scored from third making it 5-3.
Somers worked his way out of the jam as he forced Michael Curialle to ground out for the final out of the Ducks victory.
The Ducks next game is against the Bruins at 2 p.m. on Saturday, April 24.
