Games like that aren’t good for your heart rate, but they sure are fun to watch.
Drew Smith stepped up in the bottom of the ninth with the bases loaded and two outs; it’s the scenario you dream of as a kid. Once trailing 12-4, the Ducks had a chance to tie Rhode Island or even walk off a winner. Instead, Smith’s flyball fell short of the warning track, sealing a 12-11 Rams’ win.
Rhode Island (3-1, 0-0 Atlantic 10) sent 10 hitters to the plate in the top of the sixth inning and nine in the seventh, frames that proved disastrous for the No. 11 Ducks (3-2, 0-0 Big Ten) in their series-opening loss.
“We lost the game and we didn’t play well enough to win,” Oregon head coach Mark Wasikowksi said.
Fresh off a 36-22 win (yes, you read that right) win over William and Mary a weekend ago, Rhode Island’s red-hot offense exploded in the sixth and seventh innings at PK Park to steal an upset win from the No. 11 Ducks
A sixth-inning meltdown that featured a pair of three-run homers — one from DJ Perron and another from Adonis Medina — spoiled what initially looked to be a solid performance from Grayson Grinsell.
Long before the late onslaught, Rhode Island’s Rob Butler (2-4, two RBIs) opened the scoring in the second with an RBI double off Grinsell. However, Oregon’s lefty settled in nicely after the double to retire the next 10 batters he faced.
Smith singlehandedly knotted the contest in the bottom of the second. After stretching a two-out single into a hustle double, he forced a pickoff error to advance to third and drew a balk to score. His heads-up, nifty baserunning served as an equalizer and sparked his 2-5 day.
Oregon left a ton of potential on the basepaths on Friday. The Ducks had five hits in the first two frames, but only pushed one run across. In all, Oregon stranded 14 on Friday while Rhode Island only left four runners aboard.
Mason Neville temporarily put Grinsell in line for a win with a towering solo homer in the bottom of the fifth. His third of the season landed on the roof of the Karcher Korner Bullpen and put the Ducks ahead 2-1. The blast was admirable, and Neville made sure to watch it fly before tossing his bat in celebration.
But disaster was waiting in the sixth.
Grinsell was pulled after allowing three hits (including an RBI single from Anthony DePino) for Santiago Garcia, who immediately gave up a towering three-run homer to Perron (2-4, three runs, four RBIs). After walking the next hitter, Santiago was pulled before he could record an out.
Ryan Featherston came in and surrendered another three-run homer — this one to Medina (2-3, three RBIs) — as the Rams opened up an 8-2 lead on a seven-run, five-hit frame.
Grinsell was responsible for two of the runs on the Perron homer, putting his final line at 5.1 IP, four earned runs on six hits, four strikeouts and a walk. He threw 81 pitches in his second outing of the season, but earned the loss as his ERA climbed from 1.80 to 4.35.
“He was pitching good,” Wasikowkski said of the decision to send Grinsell back out for a sixth frame. “He was pitching good and [wasn’t] at the pitch count we wanted him to get to.”
Rhode Island starter Jeremy Urena surrendered a lot of hard contact, but altogether did a solid job keeping a talented Oregon offense at bay. He didn’t allow the Ducks to string together successful at-bats. The homers to Neville and Aroz were the only real damage dealt on the Ducks’ eight hits against Urena. He went 5.1 innings on 81 pitches in what has to be the biggest win of his collegiate career.
When the Ducks had runners on, Urena wouldn’t allow momentum to build. He forced 10 Oregon groundouts and relied on the guys behind him.
“He threw a lot of strikes,” Wasikowski said of Urena. “The kid had a good arm. He was constantly ahead in the count. He didn’t do anything secretive, he just threw the ball over the plate.”
Anson Aroz (2-3) got one back for the Ducks with a solo shot to lead off the bottom of the sixth and Carter Garate (2-3) tallied an RBI single to bring the Ducks within four, but the Rams’ offense wasn’t done either.
Rhode Island loaded the bases before Oregon could record an out in the frame. A slew of hits, walks and errors gave way to another big inning as the Rams added another four runs on three hits. Rhode Island hit .500 with runners on base and .300 with two outs.
Oregon responded with a trio of runs in a two-hit seventh and two on a one-hit eighth. Jacob Walsh (3-6) hit a clutch two-RBI double in the ninth to bring the Ducks within a run. It just wasn’t meant to be. Smith’s last-hope ball fell just short.
In all, the Ducks’ bullpen allowed eight runs on five hits and four walks in the loss. RIU’s bullpen was tagged for seven runs on five hits and 12 walks. When the starters left the game, the wheels completely fell off for both pitching staffs.
“We went to the bullpen because we had fresh arms that we trusted and they didn’t pitch very well tonight,” Wasikowski said.
On the bright side, each hitter in Oregon’s lineup reached base at least once with eight of nine starters recording a hit and Jack Brooks drawing a pair of walks and Dominic Hellman (2-3, 5 runs) reaching base five times. Oregon outhit the Rams 13-11
399 total pitches were thrown across Friday’s three-hour, 45-minute marathon. 10 different pitchers were used, 10 from the Rams and five from the Ducks.
The Ducks and Rams return to action on Saturday with a doubleheader slated to start at 11:05 a.m. Oregon’s Collin Clakre and Rhode Island’s Trystan Levesque are expected to start.
