Saturday, March 31
Stanford, Calif.
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Photo by: Deborah Mundorff
Somers Strong For Six, But Ducks Drop Rubber Match At Stanford
03/31/18 | Baseball
Freshman left-hander Kolby Somers allowed one run over six innings Saturday but the Ducks couldn't come up with a timely hit and lost 4-0 to the No. 3 Cardinal.
STANFORD, Calif. — Freshman left-hander Kolby Somers threw six brilliant innings Saturday against No. 3 Stanford, but Oregon's bats couldn't support him and the Ducks lost the rubber match of their three-game series against the Cardinal, 4-0, before 1,661 fans at Sunken Diamond.
Somers allowed one run over six innings, striking out six with no walks. The Ducks (15-11, 3-6) outhit the Cardinal, 9-7, but Oregon was 4-for-22 with runners on and 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position, failing to plate a run despite getting a man to second base in six of the nine innings.
After taking Thursday's series opener 10-1 behind the pitching of Kenyon Yovan, the Ducks (15-11, 3-6 Pac-12) managed only one unearned one in the final two games, squandering a solid start by Matt Mercer on Friday and then Somers' effort Saturday.
"They pitched well enough for us to get all three games," UO coach George Horton said. "But the defense didn't play well enough to help them out. And we were in and out offensively all day today; unfortunately we were out when we had guys in scoring position."
How It Happened: Oregon's excellent pitching, shaky defense and lack of clutch hitting were apparent from the outset. In the top of the first, Kyle Kasser walked and moved to third on singles by Gabe Matthews and Ray Soderman — the latter the only hit all day for the Ducks with a runner in scoring position. Jakob Goldfarb flew out to end the threat, as Stanford left-hander Erik Miller wriggled out of trouble for the first of three times in his four-inning start.
In the bottom of the first, meanwhile, a one-out error on shortstop Daniel Patzlaff gave the Cardinal its first runner, and he moved to third on a two-out stolen base plus a throwing error on the catcher Soderman. But on the next pitch, Somers got a swinging strike to end the inning.
"Kolby was terrific," Horton said.
Kasser doubled to lead off the third but was stranded when Matthews grounded into a double play three batters later. The Ducks got runners on first and second again in the fourth, but Evan Williams flew out to give Miller four scoreless innings.
Stanford took advantage of more UO defensive breakdowns to score the game's first run, in the bottom of the third. Tim Tawa led off with a single, was sacrificed to second and took third on a fielder's choice when Patzlaff fielded a groundball and threw wide of third base. Tawa scored on a wild pitch, the only major blemish on an otherwise outstanding day for Somers.
Oregon's futility continued into the later innings, meanwhile. Kasser singled to lead off the fifth but was thrown out when Patzlaff followed with a failed sacrifice bunt attempt. It was a similar story in the sixth, when Goldfarb couldn't bunt a man over — a runner that might have scored the tying run on Jonny DeLuca's single two batters later. Instead DeLuca's single only moved Goldfarb to second, and Williams grounded out to end another threat.
Two two-out walks in the seventh went for naught as well, as did a one-out double by Yovan in the eighth. Stanford tacked on in the bottom of the eighth, with a two-run homer by Kyle Stowers the big blow.
Duck Notes: Starting pitchers Yovan, Mercer and Somers combined to allow three earned runs on 12 hits and three walks with 17 strikeouts over 17 2/3 innings against the Cardinal, who scored 34 runs in their series sweep of Southern California a week earlier. … Kasser went 3-for-4 on Saturday, his third multi-hit game in a 7-for-13 series. He's up to 155 hits for his career, tied for eighth in UO history, and moved up to fifth in career multi-hit games with 47. … With Stanford leading 1-0 in the seventh, Goldfarb kept the Ducks in the game with his ninth career outfield assist, second all-time at Oregon. With two on and two out in the inning, Maverick Handley grounded his first hit of the series into right-field, but Goldfarb gunned down Beau Branton trying to score from second, with the aid of a diving tag from Soderman.
On Deck: The Ducks look to salvage a split of the road trip when they face San Francisco on Monday at 3 p.m.
Somers allowed one run over six innings, striking out six with no walks. The Ducks (15-11, 3-6) outhit the Cardinal, 9-7, but Oregon was 4-for-22 with runners on and 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position, failing to plate a run despite getting a man to second base in six of the nine innings.
After taking Thursday's series opener 10-1 behind the pitching of Kenyon Yovan, the Ducks (15-11, 3-6 Pac-12) managed only one unearned one in the final two games, squandering a solid start by Matt Mercer on Friday and then Somers' effort Saturday.
"They pitched well enough for us to get all three games," UO coach George Horton said. "But the defense didn't play well enough to help them out. And we were in and out offensively all day today; unfortunately we were out when we had guys in scoring position."
How It Happened: Oregon's excellent pitching, shaky defense and lack of clutch hitting were apparent from the outset. In the top of the first, Kyle Kasser walked and moved to third on singles by Gabe Matthews and Ray Soderman — the latter the only hit all day for the Ducks with a runner in scoring position. Jakob Goldfarb flew out to end the threat, as Stanford left-hander Erik Miller wriggled out of trouble for the first of three times in his four-inning start.
In the bottom of the first, meanwhile, a one-out error on shortstop Daniel Patzlaff gave the Cardinal its first runner, and he moved to third on a two-out stolen base plus a throwing error on the catcher Soderman. But on the next pitch, Somers got a swinging strike to end the inning.
"Kolby was terrific," Horton said.
Kasser doubled to lead off the third but was stranded when Matthews grounded into a double play three batters later. The Ducks got runners on first and second again in the fourth, but Evan Williams flew out to give Miller four scoreless innings.
Stanford took advantage of more UO defensive breakdowns to score the game's first run, in the bottom of the third. Tim Tawa led off with a single, was sacrificed to second and took third on a fielder's choice when Patzlaff fielded a groundball and threw wide of third base. Tawa scored on a wild pitch, the only major blemish on an otherwise outstanding day for Somers.
Oregon's futility continued into the later innings, meanwhile. Kasser singled to lead off the fifth but was thrown out when Patzlaff followed with a failed sacrifice bunt attempt. It was a similar story in the sixth, when Goldfarb couldn't bunt a man over — a runner that might have scored the tying run on Jonny DeLuca's single two batters later. Instead DeLuca's single only moved Goldfarb to second, and Williams grounded out to end another threat.
Two two-out walks in the seventh went for naught as well, as did a one-out double by Yovan in the eighth. Stanford tacked on in the bottom of the eighth, with a two-run homer by Kyle Stowers the big blow.
Duck Notes: Starting pitchers Yovan, Mercer and Somers combined to allow three earned runs on 12 hits and three walks with 17 strikeouts over 17 2/3 innings against the Cardinal, who scored 34 runs in their series sweep of Southern California a week earlier. … Kasser went 3-for-4 on Saturday, his third multi-hit game in a 7-for-13 series. He's up to 155 hits for his career, tied for eighth in UO history, and moved up to fifth in career multi-hit games with 47. … With Stanford leading 1-0 in the seventh, Goldfarb kept the Ducks in the game with his ninth career outfield assist, second all-time at Oregon. With two on and two out in the inning, Maverick Handley grounded his first hit of the series into right-field, but Goldfarb gunned down Beau Branton trying to score from second, with the aid of a diving tag from Soderman.
On Deck: The Ducks look to salvage a split of the road trip when they face San Francisco on Monday at 3 p.m.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Palisch, Jacob (3-0)
L: Somers, Kolby (1-3)
S: Little, Jack (9)
Batting:
2B: Kasser, Kyle 1 ; Yovan, Kenyon 1
Base Running:
HBP: Steer, Spencer 1
PO: Williams, Evan 1
Batting:
HR: Stowers,Kyle 1
RBI: Stowers,Kyle 2 ; Branton,Beau 1
SH: Tawa, Tim 1 ; Handley, Maverick 1 ; Kuet,Jesse 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Tawa, Tim 1 ; Hoerner,Nico 1 ; Stowers,Kyle 1 ; Molfetta,Christian 1
SB: Handley, Maverick 1 ; Hoerner,Nico 2
HBP: Matthiessen, Will 1
Game Leaders
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AB
4
R
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H
2
RBI
0
AB
3
R
0
H
2
RBI
0
AB
4
R
0
H
1
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
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RHP
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INF
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RHP/INF
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