
Ducks open USC series with win
03/25/22 | Baseball
Â
OREGON ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | FRIDAY, MARCH 25, 2022
BASEBALL | @OregonBaseball
COMMUNICATIONS CONTACT: Todd Miles (miles@uoregon.edu)
Â
Ducks open USC series with win
Â
Online Version:
Box Score Attached (PDF Version)
Â
EUGENE, Ore. — Oregon hit a pair of home runs to take an early lead and then the Ducks bullpen tossed four scoreless innings to preserve a 9-7 Pac-12 Conference win over USC in game one of the series at PK Park on Friday night.
Â
The Ducks extended their school record for consecutive games with a home run to 14 in the first inning on a Josh Kasevich three-run home run, and then extended their consecutive games with multiple home runs to six games with a Brennan Milone two-run shot in the third.
Â
How It Happened: Â The Ducks (15-6, 6-1 Pac-12) jumped out to an early 3-0 lead on the Kasevich two-out, three-run homer. Tanner Smith reached on an error to lead off the inning before Jacob Walsh singled moving Smith to second base.
Â
USC (13-7, 3-4 Pac-12) answered to tie the game with a three-run homer of their own in the top of the second, before taking the lead with a run in the top of the third.
Â
Oregon came right back scoring four in the bottom of the third. Colby Shade doubled to lead off the inning and scored on Milone's two-run homer. Jacob Walsh doubled before being thrown out at third looking to advance on a Kasevich ground ball.
Â
Anthony Hall doubled to put runners at second and third with one out. Josiah Cromwick drove in Kasevich with a ground out before Hall scored on a Sam Novitske infield single to give Oregon a 7-4 lead.
Â
The Ducks added two more runs in the fourth to push the lead to five. Smith led off the inning with a single and moved to second on a Shade single and to third on a Milone fly out. After Shade moved to second on a wild pitch, Walsh picked up an RBI single scoring Smith and moving Shade to third. Kasevich then drove in his fourth run of the game with a ground out scoring Shade.
Â
USC cut the lead to three with a run in the fifth and two runs in the sixth off Oregon starter RJ Gordon, forcing the Ducks to the bullpen.
Â
Once again, Oregon's relievers responded. Logan Mercado, Dylan Sabia, Matt Dallas and Kolby Somers combined to throw four scoreless innings and clinch the Ducks' win.Â
Â
Box Score Notes: All nine Oregon starters had at least one hit, with five of them finishing with multiple hits … Smith (2-for-5, 2 R) extended his team-best hitting streak to 12 games, while Shade (2-for-5, 2 R) pushed his hitting streak to 10 games … Smith's registered his 48th career multi-hit game, tying Spencer Steer (2017-19) for seventh all time at Oregon … Kasevich (1-for-4, 4 RBI, 2 R) had multiple-RBI for the 23rd time in his career, moving into sole possession of eighth all-time … Gordon picked up his first win of the season … Somers got his third save of the season and the 15th of his career, moving to within one of Stephen Nogosek (2014-16) for third all-time.
Â
Up Next: Oregon will look to clinch the series with a win over USC on Saturday. First pitch is at 2:05 p.m. at PK Park.
Â
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Gordon, RJ (1-0)
L: Agassi, Jaden (2-1)
S: Somers, Kolby (3)
Batting:
2B: Lozano, Tyler 1
HR: Olmstead, Johnny 1
RBI: Smith, D'Andre 1 ; Turner, Tyresse 1 ; Lozano, Tyler 1 ; Olmstead, Johnny 4
SF: Turner, Tyresse 1 ; Lozano, Tyler 1 ; Olmstead, Johnny 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Thomas, Rhylan 1 ; Colon-Rosado, Adrian 1 ; Guillemette, Garret 1 ; Halsema, Trevor 1 ; Lozano, Tyler 1 ; Olmstead, Johnny 1 ; Wells, Carson 1
PO: Smith, D'Andre 1

Batting:
2B: Shade, Colby 1 ; Walsh, Jacob 1 ; Hall, Anthony 1
HR: Milone, Brennan 1 ; Kasevich, Josh 1
RBI: Milone, Brennan 2 ; Walsh, Jacob 1 ; Kasevich, Josh 4 ; Cromwick, Josiah 1 ; Novitske, Sam 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Smith, Tanner 2 ; Shade, Colby 2 ; Milone, Brennan 1 ; Walsh, Jacob 1 ; Kasevich, Josh 2 ; Hall, Anthony 1























