Ducks continue offensive roll in doubleheader sweep

Saturday, March 25

Eugene, Ore.

12:05 PM

University of Oregon

13-7

Northwestern State

13-9

Northwestern State

Oregon

Photo by: Deborah Mundorff

Ducks continue offensive roll in doubleheader sweep

03/25/23 | Baseball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2 Game 1 Box Score: Oregon 12, Northwestern State 7 Game 2 Box Score: Oregon 13, Northwestern State 3 Photo Gallery

EUGENE – Oregon ran its streak of scoring double digits to five games in a doubleheader sweep of Northwestern State on Saturday at PK Park, winning 12-7 and 13-3 to take a 3-0 series lead.

A day after hitting a school record six home runs in a game in a 16-1 win on Friday, the Ducks (14-7) hit six home runs combined in the doubleheader. The 12 home runs in three games are the most in Oregon modern-era baseball history, besting the old record of eight hit in both 2021 and 2022.

Tanner Smith hit home runs in both games, running his streak of home runs in consecutive games to four dating back to the series finale at Washington State last Sunday. Smith joins Kenyon Yovan (2021) as the only Ducks to hit homers in four consecutive games.

Game 1: Oregon 12, Northwestern State 7
Oregon had seven extra base hits (4 doubles, 3 home runs) and got a strong start from junior Logan Mercado to win game one of the doubleheader.

Smith, Drew Cowley and Jacob Walsh all went yard while Oregon racked up 11 hits. Mercado picked up his second win of the season while making just his second start of the season. The Ducks' right-hander allowed two runs on six hits with three walks and six strikeouts.

How It Happened: After Mercado gave up a home run on the first pitch of the game, Oregon rallied scoring seven runs over the first three innings to take command of the game. The Ducks added two more in the bottom of the fifth and three more in the seventh to push the lead to 12-2.

After the Demons (13-10) took the early lead, Oregon tied it with a run in the bottom of the first. Sabin Ceballos, coming off a two home run game on Friday, doubled into the right-center gap scoring Rikuu Nishida who walked to lead off the inning.

The Ducks tacked on two more in the second. Nishida drove in the first run on a ground out to second, before Colby Shade picked up a RBI with a base hit to center field.

Ceballos stayed hot in his next at-bat in the third driving in Drew Cowley, who doubled to lead off the inning. After Smith reached on a fielding error, Josiah Cromwick double driving in both Ceballos and Smith for a 6-1 lead. Gavin Grant plated Cromwick to give Oregon a six-run lead.

Oregon's home run parade started in the fifth when Smith hit a two-run homer and continued in the eighth with a Cowley lead-off bomb and a Walsh two-run homer.

Box Score Notes: Eight of Oregon's nine starters had a hit and a RBI in the game … Seven Ducks scored a run … Four Ducks had two RBI … Three Ducks had multiple hits.

Game 2: Oregon 13, Northwestern State 3
Smith went 3-for-3 with a home run, five RBI and two runs scored to lead Oregon to the doubleheader sweep. Freshmen pitchers Leo Uelmen and Grayson Grinsell combined to hold the Demons to just six hits with eight strikeouts.

Uelmen had his longest outing of the season, tossing six innings while picking up his first career quality start. He gave up two runs on four hits with a pair of strikeouts. Grinsell got his first career save fanning a season-high six in 3.0 innings while allowing a run on two hits.

How It Happened: Oregon put the game away early scoring six runs in the first inning and then adding four in the fourth to build a 10-0 lead.

The Ducks scored the six in the first with some timely hitting and some help from NSU. Two Ducks reached first after striking out, one on a wild pitch and one on a passed ball in the inning. Oregon made the Demons pay for the mistakes scoring on a Smith double, a Bennett Thompson single and a Carter Garate two-RBI double. Two Ducks scored on wild pitches.

Nishida got Oregon's fourth-inning rally started with a one-out base hit before scoring on a Cowley single. After Ceballos singled to put two runners on, Smith launched a three-run homer onto the roof of the Player Development Area beyond the right-field bullpen.

Oregon added single runs in the sixth (Smith RBI single), seventh (Garate solo home run) and eighth (Thompson solo home run).

Box Score Notes: Smith and Nishida led the Ducks with three hits apiece, while Cowley, Thompson and Garate all had two hits … Garate (3 RBI) and Thompson (2 RBI) joined Smith with multiple RBI … Five Ducks scored multiple runs led by Cowley with three … Nishida stole his 10th base of the season.

Doubleheader Notes: Smith went 4-for-6 with two home runs, a double, seven RBI and four runs scored … His two home runs gives him 25 for his career, tied for the third most all-time at Oregon … He tied Shaun Chase (2012-15) for the most in the modern era … His seven RBI moved him into second all-time on the Oregon career list, six shy of setting a new record … Cowley went 4-for-7 with a home run, two doubles, two RBI and five runs scored … Ceballos went 3-for-5 with two RBI, five runs scored a double and two walks.

On Deck: Oregon will look for a series sweep with a win on Sunday. First pitch is 12:05 p.m.

Quotes:

Head Coach Mark Wasikowski:

On what stood out in the doubleheader:
"Just two wins. It's the biggest, most important thing today."

On the team's overall approach:
"It's been team baseball and complete baseball. I've liked the quality starts we're getting and the relief work. I thought Grayson (Grinsell) was really good today. Coming in and finishing that game up and the start by Leo in the second game was really good."

On getting quality starts in the first three games of the series:
"It's fantastic. We're in a good spot going into Sunday trying to win another ballgame and just trying to build off momentum pieces and competing and making adjustments. I didn't think we were doing that early in the season and we started to do that here recently. It looks at least two days at home and a couple days on the road we've been able to string some things together and hopefully can continue to do that."

Drew Cowley:

On the team's recent success:
"We've been talking about a boulder kind of getting pushed up a hill and now we're feeling that boulder rolling downhill and you can see it with guys' performances. Up and down the lineup and guys coming off the bench you can name anyone and everyone and it's been good. You feel the vibe and everybody's having fun and doing their part."

On what is working at the plate
"Just trying to use the whole field and take what they're giving me, not trying to do too much and just having fun."

Logan Mercado:

On how he felt making his second start of the season:
"Felt good. Delay wasn't helping that much, but I just had to stay warm through it. Luckily the weather was feeling right during the game."

On allowing a leadoff homer:
"It's just a solo. One run doesn't matter. It's just like all the rest, just because it happens on the first pitch doesn't mean it's any more important or less important than the others. So you just have to pound a strike the next pitch and continue."

Leo Uelmen:

On how he felt on the mound:
"Felt pretty good. There've been days where I felt bad, but just a lot of things going my way the first couple of innings. The fifth inning kind of got away from me, but a lot of things were going my way. It was overall a good day."

On what was working today:
"They just missed a lot of barrels and they had plus counts where they would just pop the ball up and stuff like that. They weren't really getting ahead. I was getting ahead of batters more than I did in the past and that is really what gave me time and I threw the slider really well today. They just got ahead of the bat a lot. Just first pitch sliders that they were sitting on fastballs."