Ducks Drop Opener at Hawaii

Thursday, March 7

Honolulu, Hawaii

8:35 PM

University of Oregon

7-4

Hawaii

8-5

Oregon

Hawaii

Photo by: @EricEvansPhoto

03/08/19 | Baseball

Box Score Box Score: Hawaii 7, Oregon 6

By: Derren Iha

HONOLULU – Oregon took a four-run lead into the bottom of the seventh inning but surrendered five unanswered runs in a 7-6 loss to Hawaii Thursday at Les Murakami Stadium.

How it Happened: The Rainbow Warriors (8-5) scored two runs in the seventh and three in the eighth to jump in front after Oregon led most of the way. Ethan Lopez drove in both seventh-inning runs with a two-out single, before Daylen Calicdan put Hawaii in front for good on a three-run double in the eighth.

The Ducks (7-4) got on the board first, scoring on an error in the first inning. Jonny DeLuca legged out an infield single, before moving to second on a base hit by Spencer Steer and came in to score on an infield hit and error on Hawaii first baseman Alex Baeza.

Freshman Max Foxcroft plated another run for the Ducks in the fourth inning on a RBI single to right, scoring fellow freshman Aaron Zavala who led off the frame with a double.

Oregon added a pair of runs in the top of the fifth to take a 4-0 lead. After Steer tripled with one out in the inning, Jakob Goldfarb drove him in with a two-out single to make it 3-0. Zavala followed one batter later with a run-scoring single of his own, plating Goldfarb who got a hand in just ahead of the tag on a bang-bang play at home.

Hawaii answered with a two-run sixth inning with the help of a couple of Oregon errors. The Ducks avoided surrendering a much bigger inning by cutting down a potential run on a 3-2-3 double play and getting a ground out after the Rainbow Warriors had the bases loaded and no outs.

Zavala answered for the Ducks in the top of the seventh, driving in Steer, who reached with his fourth hit of the game, with a single. Cameron Campbell pushed across another run with a bunt single to score Gabe Matthews, making it 6-2 Oregon.

Box Score Notes: Steer turned in the first four-hit game for Oregon since Goldfarb did it March 24, 2018 against California … He's 9-for-17 (.529) with seven runs scored over the last five games … Zavala turned in his fifth three-hit game of the season, finishing 3-for-5 with two RBI and a run scored … Oregon starter Robert Ahlstrom went five shutout innings in his first career start, striking out five and walking none … Oregon finished with double-digits in hits for the fifth time.

On Deck: The Ducks will play game two of their series at Hawaii Friday at 8:35 p.m. Pacific. The Ducks will start Cullen Kafka (1-0, 4.41) while Dylan Thomas (2-0, 0.69) is scheduled to throw for Hawaii.