Following Friday’s 8-0 victory, Ducks baseball beat the Washington Huskies 5-1 on Saturday in Eugene.
After going three up, three down in the first inning, the Ducks came knocking in the second. On what appeared to be a two-out rally in the making, Sam Novitske singled to advance Anthony Hall to third, who’d walked from the sixth spot. Ducks catcher Jack Scanlon walked to the plate in hopes of driving in Hall, but fell behind in the count.
Facing two outs and a lopsided count, Ducks head coach Mark Wasikowski forced his hand. Hall took off down the third baseline in an attempted steal, but was tagged out at home, ending the inning and keeping the game scoreless through the second inning.
With walks from infielders Gavin Grant and Gabe Matthews and a single from left fielder Tanner Smith, the Ducks loaded the bases in the bottom of the third inning. With two outs, Oregon cleanup hitter Aaron Zavala stepped into the batter’s box, but Washington pitcher Tyson Guerrero induced a groundout to fend off any damage.
Through three innings, the score remained knotted at zero.
Building on his first three innings, Oregon pitcher Cullen Kafka remained clean in the fourth, forcing a groundout and tallying two strikeouts to retire the side.
Kafka had six strikeouts through 6 2/3 innings on Saturday.
The Huskies managed to open up the scoring in the fifth inning. Designated hitter Michael Brown reached first on a walk and advanced to second on an errant throw from Kafka. Huskies catcher Johnny Trincher singled to bring Brown to third and the next pitch squeaked by Oregon’s Scanlon, allowing Brown to score with ease.
Scanlon caught Trincher in an attempted steal of third, and Kafka retired the final batter of the inning to ward off further damage. Halfway through the fifth, the Ducks trailed 1-0.
Left-handed pitcher Nico Tellache took over the mound for the Ducks following a less-than-perfect start to the sixth inning from Kafka. Tellache remained clean through the sixth and seventh, preventing any damage and tallying two strikeouts along the way.
Following a walk from Scanlon and a single to left field from Grant, Smith delivered a three-run shot to right-center, getting the Ducks on the board and catapulting them into their first lead of the game. The Ducks led 3-1 over the Huskies at the end of the seventh.
“First and foremost, he [Smith] is a leader,” said Wasikowski. “And with his work ethic, he’s a tough kid. And for me, he shows up to work every single day and he loves to play.
Right-handed closer Andrew Mosiello took the mound for the Ducks in the eighth, but it was short-lived, as Kolby Somers assumed pitching duties just three batters later.
Somers took the mound with two runners on and a solo out in pocket, but he worked out of the jam, striking out two straight.
“I felt really good,” Somers said. “Only up two, my main focus was just throwing strikes, competing.”
The Ducks didn’t stop there, as Josh Kasevich tripled through the right field gap, scoring Zavala in the process. Ducks catcher Sam Olsson added to the damage as well, sending a double into the left field corner and scoring Kasevich.
Somers struck out the side in the ninth, finishing off a Ducks victory and securing a series win over Washington.
With the win, the Ducks move to 21-11 on the year. They’ll turn their focus to Sunday as they look to complete the sweep at noon.
“We came into this weekend expecting to sweep and that was our goal,” Smith said. “At the same time we knew today we couldn’t win three without winning two, so it’s just one game at a time. Tomorrow’s a big game, so we’re going to do whatever we can to get that sweep.”
