For the second game in a row, Oregon fell to the Arizona State Sun Devils on the last play of the night.
Jordan Aboites drove home Ryan Lillard with a two-out, walk-off single off Oregon pitcher Brac Warren in the bottom of the ninth to clinch a 9-7 win for Arizona State in Tempe, Arizona Saturday evening. One play before Aboites’ game-winning hit, Andrew Shaps scored from third to tie the game after Warren fumbled a comeback line-drive and had to settle for an out at first base.
The Ducks held a four-run lead late in the game, and took an 8-7 lead into the ninth, only to see it evaporate.
In the eighth, Oregon pitcher Matt Krook came on for his first relief appearance of the Pac-12 season after being pulled from the rotation before the series began. He walked the first two batters he faced and was quickly replaced by Jack Karraker, who surrendered a two-RBI double to David Greer to make the score 8-7.
Oregon jumped out to a 7-3 lead in the top of the sixth when Tim Susnara homered to lead off the frame, and Jake Bennett smashed a two-RBI double later in the inning. But in the bottom half of the sixth, the Sun Devils cut the deficit to two after scoring runs on back-to-back hits.
Kyle Kasser finished the game 3-for-4 with two RBI, and Bennett went 2-for-3 with two RBI and two walks. For the Sun Devils, Greer went 3-for-5 with five RBI.
Oregon starter David Peterson went 5.1 innings and struck out one while surrendering four runs. Six different Ducks pitched, and Warren was charged with his first loss of the season.
Arizona State’s walk-off win comes less than 24 hours after the Sun Devils topped the Ducks with a game-winning sac-fly by Bryan Serven in the bottom of the twelfth. The Ducks led late in that game, too, but watched a three-run lead disappear as the Sun Devils blasted two home runs in the bottom of the eighth to draw even and eventually force extra innings.
A.J. Balta went 2-for-4 and hit his team-leading eighth homer for the Ducks in that game, but it wasn’t enough to push Oregon to a win.
With Saturday’s loss, the Ducks dropped to 9-10 in the Pac-12 standings and are now third to last in the conference standings. However, they are still just three and a half games back of  first place Utah (11-7). The Ducks are just 21-18 overall this season and will likely need to win the conference in order to qualify for the NCAA tournament.
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