Coming off a promising postseason run, the Oregon Ducks haven’t gotten out to the start they had envisioned for the 2022 season.
A 10-4 loss against the San Diego Toreros on Saturday night in Southern California dropped the Ducks to 0-2 on the season.
Saturday’s game began just as it did on Friday with the Toreros jumping on the Ducks in the bottom of the first. San Diego’s Kevin Sim made hard contact on a pitch from Oregon’s Andrew Mosiello that was too hot to handle for second baseman Gavin Grant, which allowed both runners on base to come home.
Errors became a trend for the Ducks throughout the outing, but most notably in the third inning when San Diego’s offense exploded for seven runs for the second game in a row. Two of those runs were scored on wild pitches from both Mosiello and Caleb Sloan, who replaced Mosielo after the Toreros made it 5-0.
One run was also scored on a pick-off attempt by catcher Josiah Cromwick.
The score after the third read 9-0.
Unfortunately for the Ducks, their offense wasn’t able to overcome the errors they made on defense. Oregon batters struck out 15 times on Saturday night, 12 of which were tossed by starting lefty pitcher Brycen Mautz.
There was some hope in the fifth when Oregon broke through by notching two runs on a single by Tanner Smith, who was able to trot all the way home because of a throwing error made by San Diego’s catcher to make the score 9-2.
Then in the sixth the Ducks were able to get two more runs on the board by way of a double from Cromwick, scoring Josh Kasevich on the play.
Cromwick went 2-4 on the day and was the lone bright spot for Oregon.
The slight burst of offense wasn’t enough to get the Ducks past the Toreros, who forced Oregon to strand six runners on base.
Ultimately, the comeback came too late for Oregon as the Ducks fell Saturday and have now dropped their first two games of the season for the second time in the past three years.
The Ducks look to bounce back against San Diego in the third game of their season-opening series on Sunday at 1 p.m. PT at Fowler Park.
