The Oregon Ducks whipped out the black jerseys on Sunday as they looked to salvage their four-game series against Seattle.
Another upperclassman got the start for the Ducks, this time junior right-hander Cullen Kafka. The Redhawks’ first batter got on base for the fourth consecutive game with an infield single, but a double play helped Kafka work out of it in the first.
Seattle had some ugly fielding in the bottom of the first. Tanner Smith reached on an error by the second baseman, stole second and advanced to third on an errant throw from the catcher. Gabe Matthews brought him in with a sacrifice fly and the Ducks led 1-0 after one, despite not having a hit.
Kafka had hitters off balance, striking out four batters in a hitless second and third inning.
The Ducks threatened in the third with a walk, a hit by pitch and a wild pitch, but Sam Novitske struck out and Matthews grounded out to end the inning and keep the score at 1-0.
Kafka pitched a scoreless fourth and finished his afternoon with six strikeouts in four scoreless innings. Freshman Isaac Ayon relieved him in the fifth for his second collegiate appearance after making his debut in game one.
Ayon struck out the first batter he faced on three pitches, but allowed three straight hits as the Redhawks tied the score at 1-1. After a hit by pitch, Ayon allowed a two-run single that gave Seattle a 3-1 lead, and a groundout brought in a fourth run.
Gavin Grant got the Ducks’ first hit with two outs in the fifth, but the Oregon offense continued to go down quietly.
Ayon stayed on the mound for the sixth and gave up a leadoff double, but worked out of it with two strikeouts, showing some sharp fastballs and nasty breaking stuff.
After Zavala reached on an error with two outs in the sixth, the Redhawks made their first pitching change of the game after Morgan White dominated them for 5 2/3 innings. Josh Kasevich greeted the new pitcher with a two-run homer that cut the Seattle lead to 4-3, his second home run of the series.
Anthony Hall kept the rally alive with a single, which prompted another Seattle pitching change. Two-sport athlete Robby Ashford collected his first hit as a Duck to load the bases, and Jack Scanlon and Grant each drew walks to bring in the tying run.
A fourth Seattle pitcher came in to retire Smith and finally end the inning. All of this came with two outs after the error, so all three runs were unearned.
In the seventh, Andrew Mosiello hit three batters en route to the Redhawks retaking the lead, 5-4. A three-run triple under the glove of the diving left fielder Hall then made it 8-4.
Matthews doubled and Zavala singled in the eighth, but a double play sent the Ducks to the eighth inning still down four.
Mosiello struck out the side in order in the eighth, and pitched a scoreless ninth. Oregon pitchers finished with a combined 16 strikeouts on the day.
Grant led off the ninth with a single, as the No. 9 hitter reached base all four times. The Ducks made some sharp contact but failed to get anything going as they fell to the Redhawks, 8-4.
“It reflects that our guys do have great live arms and good stuff…,” head coach Mark Wasikowski said of his team’s strikeout total. “But the objective is to win the game, and we didn’t do that today, and we need to wear that as a ball club. I will as a manager for sure.”
The Ducks are now 2-2 and will travel to UC Santa Barbara for a four-game series that starts on Friday.
