Ducks fall to Portland in 11 innings

Monday, April 9

Eugene, Ore.

6:00 PM

University of Oregon

18-13

Portland

11-19

Portland

Oregon

Photo by: Deborah Mundorff

04/09/18 | Baseball

Box Score Box Score: Portland 9, Oregon 7

EUGENE, Ore. – Kenyon Yovan hit a two-out game-tying home run in the bottom of the ninth inning, but Portland answered with a pair of runs in the top of the 11th to hand Oregon a 9-7 loss in a non-conference game on Monday night at PK Park.

How it happened: Chad Stevens and Beau Brundage led off the 11th inning for the Pilots (11-19) with back-to-back singles against Ducks' closer Ryne Nelson. After Stevens was retired at third on a fielder's choice on an attempted sacrifice bunt by Daniel Lopez, Brundage scored on back-to-back passed balls by Oregon catcher Ray Soderman. Lopez, who moved to third on the passed balls, then scored on a loop single by Ryan Kim with Oregon's infield playing in.

The Ducks (18-13) tried to rally in the bottom of the 11th, bringing the winning run to the plate after a Jonny DeLuca walk and a Gabe Matthews single, but pinch hitter Alex Andranovich grounded out to end the game.

Both teams got off to quick starts with each team scoring two runs in their half of the first inning. The Pilots took a 2-0 lead on a Cody Hawken two-RBI single scoring Stevens and Brundage. Oregon came right back to tie it. Daniel Patzlaff and Soderman each had RBI singles to make it 2-2.

Oregon took the lead in the bottom of the second inning. DeLuca executed a squeeze bunt perfectly to score Taylor Travess for a 3-2 Ducks' lead.

Portland rallied for four runs in the top of the third and added another run in the sixth to build a 7-3 lead. The Ducks rallied with three unearned runs in the top of the eighth to get within one of the Pilots. Yovan led off the inning with a walk, moved to second on a hit by Patzlaff and scored on a throwing error by Lopez, Portland's third baseman, on a ball hit by Nelson. Travess then drove in Patzlaff and Nelson with a RBI single up the middle.

Yovan tied the game with his first career home run with two outs in the bottom of the ninth.

Quotable: George Horton, Head Coach
On his message to the team as they prepare to play Washington…
"We have to get our game in order. Offensively we have to have better approaches. The Huskies have good pitching; they have a good pitching plan. We are going to have to fix that in a hurry if we are going to be competitive up there and score runs."

Duck Notes: Yovan scored a career-high three runs … Kasser is now tied with Brett Thomas (2011-13) for sixth all-time on Oregon's career hits list with 159 … Kafka struck out a season-high five … Zack Noll went a season-long 2.2 innings in relief without giving up a hit and striking out two … Travess recorded his first multi-RBI game of the season and third of his career … This was the Ducks' first extra inning game since a win over Mississippi State on March 5, 2017 … It was their first extra-inning loss since dropping a 12-inning affair at Arizona State on May 6, 2016.

On deck: Oregon returns to Pac-12 Conference play with a three-game series at Washington starting on Friday. The Ducks and Huskies play at 4 p.m. on Friday, with a 2 p.m. first pitch on both Saturday and Sunday. All three games will be broadcast on the Pac-12 Network.