Oregon baseball’s first win of the 2020 season had an all-too-perfect ending on Friday evening.
With one out in the bottom of the ninth, the bases were loaded, and the Ducks had Kenyon Yovan — their three-hitter and batting average leader thus far in the season — striding to the plate. After being fooled on a 2-1 offspeed pitch, he hit a missile past the third baseman’s glove, giving the Ducks a 3-2 walk-off victory over Nevada in the first home game of the season.
It’s been two years since Yovan has played a game at PK Park, after having to sit out all of last season due to a hand injury he suffered in the first game of the season. Friday night, he got a little reward for all the hard work he’s put in to getting back to full strength.
“It’s a great feeling getting out there and winning in your home park on opening day,” Yovan, a junior, said. “It was the best feeling to get out here and play again in front of these fans, we have the best fans in the country.”
The Beaverton, Oregon native went 3-4 with a walk on the night, picking up three singles to lead his team in hits on a night when the offense took a little while to find a groove.
Nevada starter Owen Sharts shut down the Oregon lineup for the first six innings of the game, allowing just two hits in the start. He kept hitters off balance with a loopy, mid-70s curveball and a crafty changeup. The only trouble he got into was in the sixth, when he walked the first two batters of the inning, only to strikeout Gabe Matthews and Anthony Hall and extinguish the threat.
Oregon starter Cullen Kafka had a rebound performance Friday evening. In his last start against Minnesota, Kafka allowed nine earned runs in just 2.2 innings pitched, but head coach Mark Wasikowski still trusted him with starting the home opener. He didn’t disappoint, chucking five innings of two-run ball, neither of which were earned, and striking out five.
“He got rocked by a real good-hitting Minnesota team, and he came out tonight and threw well,” Wasikowski said.
It wasn’t just Kafka. The Ducks had a great pitching performance out of the bullpen as well. Freshman Andrew Mosiello relieved Kafka in the seventh and struck out the side, then recorded two more three-up, three-down innings. With the game tied at two in the ninth, Kolby Somers came in to shut the door, with a little help from Jack Scanlon’s throw to second, catching a Nevada runner stealing for the second out of the inning.
Yovan hit a one-out single in the eighth to spark a rally that would tie the game at two. Matthews followed with a walk, and with two outs, Aaron Zavala hit a ground-ball single through the right side, bringing home two Ducks to tie the game. An inning later, Yovan would end it with a single of his own. But Wasikowski was more impressed with a hustle play that put two runners in scoring position to set up the two-RBI single.
“The clutch play of the eighth inning was when Evan Williams goes on the dirt-ball with two outs and he advances to second base,” Wasikowski said. “Without him getting an aggressive read with two outs, that single only scores one, and we might not be sitting here celebrating.”
The Ducks have had a tough season so far, but it will be hustle plays like this that will give this team a fighting chance. They may only be 1-3 on the year, but a walk-off win at home has to feel pretty good.
