Ducks fall to Niagara

Wednesday, March 15

Eugene, Ore.

4:05 PM

University of Oregon

9-6

Niagara

6-6

Niagara

Oregon

Photo by: Rob Moseley/GoDucks.com

03/15/23 | Baseball

Box Score Box Score: Niagara 8, Oregon 5 Photo Gallery

EUGENE – Oregon erased an early 3-0 lead but Niagara responded with two runs in the fifth and two more in the sixth and then held on for an 8-5 nonconference win at PK Park on Wednesday.

How It Happened: Niagara (6-6) scored a run in the first and two more in the second to take a 3-0 lead. The Ducks (9-6) responded with single runs in the second, third and fourth innings.

Colby Shade got the Ducks on the board almost single-handedly. The Ducks' center fielder singled to lead off the second, stole both second and third and then scored on a Josiah Cromwick single.

Oregon cut the lead to one in the third thanks again to Shade. After Sabin Ceballos and Jacob Walsh both walked to put runners on first and second, Shade delivered a RBI double. Gavin Grant tied the game in the third with a solo home run.

The Purple Eagles regained momentum with a pair of runs in both the fifth and sixth for a 7-3 lead. The Ducks cut the lead in half in the seventh on back-to-back RBI singles by Walsh and Shade, but left the bases loaded after Grant grounded back to the pitcher to end the inning.

Niagara added a run in the eighth before retiring six of Oregon's last seven batters to clinch the win.

Box Score Notes: Shade (4-for-5, 2B, 2 RBI, R, 2 SB) matched a career high for hits while setting a career best for stolen bases … Josh Mollerus struck out all four batters he faced in the eighth and ninth, matching a season high for strikeouts … Spoljaric became the fourth Ducks' freshman to make his first career start on the mound this season (Uelmen, Grabmann, Pace) … The first five Ducks' pitchers were freshmen … Dominic Hellman made his second career start at designated hitter and batted in the 2-hole for the first time this year … Rikuu Nishida battled ninth for the first time this season after batting leadoff or second in the first 14 games … Niagara had a three runners thrown out at the plate on ground balls, two to third baseman Sabin Ceballos and one to shortstop Gavin Grant.

On Deck: After a school-record 15-game homestand, Oregon hits the road for the first time this season. The Ducks open a three-game Pac-12 Conference series at Washington State on Friday at 4:05 p.m.

Quotes:

Head Coach Mark Wasikowski:

Overall thoughts on the team's energy coming into the game and on the team's performance:
"We didn't get the clutch hits when we needed them. I don't think it was an energy thing. The energy around the dugout was fine but in terms of the execution of pitches and free bases, that was an issue. And in terms of getting clutch hits when we needed it, we had a really good rally going late in the game, bases loaded and we needed one more knock to really get that thing to favor us and it didn't happen."

On Colby Shades' four-hit game:
"He squared one up at the end there too, and had a really good at bat on his last at bat and so hopefully we can keep him going. Maybe he can help some others get going and some others get hits because obviously we need to put better at bats together to come out on top."

Colby Shade

What has been the message in the clubhouse after some hard losses:
"We have to get better. That's really what it is, we have to play to win. We're just not playing all together right now but we'll get it fixed. We just have to compete better."