Smith's Homer In The Ninth Inning Brings Ducks Home Winners

Monday, April 15

Spokane, Wash.

3:00 PM

University of Oregon

22-13

Gonzaga

17-15

Oregon

Gonzaga

Photo by: Rob Moseley/GoDucks.com

Smith's Homer In The Ninth Inning Brings Ducks Home Winners

04/15/19 | Baseball

Box Score Box Score: Oregon 7, Gonzaga 6

Tanner Smith's three-run homer in the ninth Monday helped Oregon to a 7-6 win at Gonzaga and clinched a 4-1 road trip for the Ducks.

By: Rob Moseley

SPOKANE, Wash. — Tanner Smith's three-run homer in the ninth inning Monday capped an Oregon rally and continued a hot weekend by the UO bats, as the Ducks beat Gonzaga, 7-6, to finish off a five-game road trip with four wins.

Smith came up with two on and one out in the ninth, and worked a 3-1 count. With reigning Pac-12 player of the week Spencer Steer in the on-deck circle, Smith said, "I knew I was going to get something to hit. And I got what I was looking for."

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After the Ducks (22-13) rallied into a 2-1 lead in the top of the fourth, the Bulldogs responded with three in the bottom of the inning. It was 6-2 in the eighth when Jonny DeLuca's home run cut the lead in half; DeLuca finished a single short of the cycle Monday, and finished Oregon's four-game trip to Eastern Washington with seven extra-base hits.

Just pulverized.

Seventh extra-base hit in the last 4 games for Jonny DeLuca is a two-run ?? that cuts the deficit in half. #GoDucks pic.twitter.com/3Y2n6UM4Gi
— Oregon Duck Baseball (@OregonBaseball) April 16, 2019

Monday's rally came a day after Steer's grand slam in the ninth forced extra innings in a loss at Washington State.

"Whatever the obstacle, we have enough firepower in our offense, one through nine, that I don't think there's a lead we couldn't come back from," Smith said.

How It Happened: Gonzaga touched Tyler Frazier for a run in the first, but the UO starting pitcher settled down to pitch two scoreless inning as Oregon took the lead. Evan Williams drove in both early UO runs on sacrifice flies, bringing home DeLuca in the second and Steer in the fourth.

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Steer, named Pac-12 player of the week earlier Monday, singled in the fourth to extend his hitting streak to 15 games — tying the modern UO record shared by Kyle Garlick and Kyle Kasser.

Gonzaga hit two home runs to take the lead in the fourth, and added some insurance with a squeeze play on which ex-UO catcher Slade Heggen put down the bunt. The Bulldogs have a second UO transfer, infielder Carson Breshears, who appeared as a pinch runner and came around to score another insurance run in the seventh inning Monday.

But the Ducks rallied in the ninth for the second game in a row, and this time finished the job. DeLuca made it 6-4 in the eighth, and Smith put the Ducks in the lead with his third home run of the season, driving in Kyle Froemke and Sam Novitske. Froemke entered the game as a defensive replacement and ended it with a diving stop and throw to first in the bottom of the ninth.

That clinched Nico Tellache's fifth save of the season, and made a winner of reliever Kolby Somers (1-2), who allowed one run over four innings. After Sunday's loss at WSU, UO coach George Horton challenged Oregon's pitchers to take a more aggressive mentality, and they combined to walk just one batter at Gonzaga.

"I got chills a little bit," Horton said of watching Oregon's pitchers attack the strike zone Monday. "They bought in. It just felt different to me."

Up Next: The Ducks kick off a three-game series against Stanford at PK Park on Thursday (7 p.m., Pac-12 Network).