If Oregon baseball’s postseason hopes were on the ropes before Friday’s game, they’re down for the count now.
The Ducks found a way to plate two runs against No. 2 UCLA’s dominant closer David Berg (7-1) in the eighth inning, but walked home the go ahead run in the ninth to lose 4-3 Friday night at PK Park.
Missed opportunities and pitching mistakes were at the forefront of Oregon’s first loss in eight games, which is poor timing for head coach George Horton’s squad.

“I thought we took good at bats all day long against arguably as good of pitchers as there is, not only in the league, but in the country,” Horton said. “We knew going into this you can’t give away runs against this kind of a pitching staff.”
Oregon left 12 batters on base and watched its pitching staff walk seven Bruin batters. While the Ducks found a way to chase UCLA’s ace starter James Kaprielian – who was riding a 23.2 scoreless inning streak coming into the contest – in the sixth by the way of six hits and four walks, Oregon didn’t do enough to pick up an elusive win against the dominant Bruin pitching staff.
Oregon’s Scott Heineman ended Kaprielian’s scoreless streak with a solo shot to left field (3) in the bottom of the second.
The Bruins answered with three runs of their own in their next at bats.
Oregon starting pitcher Cole Irvin walked back-to-back batters, watched a squeeze play plate the first run, loaded the bases pitching around UCLA’s RBI leader Ty Moore, then gave up a first pitch 2-RBI single to Luke Persico to give the Bruins a 3-1 lead.
Irvin settled down after the early trouble. The lefty pitched a season-high 7.1 innings, giving up three earned runs on five hits and four walks.
It wasn’t until the eighth inning when the Ducks found a way to apply pressure to UCLA’s bullpen.
Heineman started the inning off with a single, then moved to second on a Brandon Cuddy pinch-hit single. UCLA head coach John Savage then made the move to bring in Berg with one out in the eighth.
Horton responded by successfully activating a double steal play to move the tying run into scoring position. Tim Susnara followed Horton’s move with a hard hit 2-RBI single to center, tying the game at 3.
With all the momentum in Oregon’s dugout, UCLA went back to work on offense against Oregon reliever Stephen Nogosek (6-2).
Darrell Miller Jr. led off the ninth with a single and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt. Nogosek walked the next two batters to load the bases for the top of the Bruin lineup.
Horton opted to bring in lefty closer Garrett Cleavinger with the bases juiced. Cleavinger picked up a force play at the plate for the second out of the inning, but then walked Kevin Kramer on four pitches to plate the go-ahead run.
Berg reset and stranded Oregon’s tying run at third to close things out in the ninth.
“They’re the best of the best,” Heineman said. “Against those guys they give you very few opportunities and you need to take advantage of them. We did some things late to help us, especially off Berg with that base hit that scored two, but before that we’re hitting the ball hard and no luck.”
Ranked No. 64 in the RPI headed into the series, Oregon will have to at least salvage this final series to have any sort of argument at making the postseason.
“We’ve really got to fight tomorrow,” Horton said. “Does this committee look at this and go, ‘Wow, it was a one run loss?’ There’s not much value in that. We certainly need to try to get it done tomorrow to protect our lives.”
Oregon will send David Peterson (4-6, 4.62) to the mound tomorrow. He’ll face UCLA’s veteran lefty Grant Watson (8-4, 2.02) with the Ducks’ season on the line.
First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. on the Pac-12 Networks.
Follow Josh Schlichter on Twitter @joshschlichter