Ducks score late to claim Pac-12 Tournament win

Tuesday, May 23

Scottsdale, Ariz.

7:00 PM

University of Oregon

34-20

California

24-27

California

Oregon

Photo by: @JDigosPhoto

05/24/23 | Baseball

Box Score Box Score | Oregon 3, California 2 Photo Gallery

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – Oregon scored two runs in the bottom of the eighth to come away with a 3-2 win over California in game one of pool play at the Pac-12 Conference Tournament on Tuesday night at Scottsdale Stadium.

The Ducks scored on a Cal error and a sacrifice fly in the eighth to rally from a 2-1 deficit. Ducks' closer Josh Mollerus came in to get the final three outs and register his eighth save. Mollerus capped a brilliant effort by the Ducks' bullpen that saw five relievers combine to not allow a run on just two hits with two walks and seven strikeouts.

How It Happened: Cal (24-27) built an early lead with single runs in the first and second before the Ducks answered. Tanner Smith singled to lead off the inning before moving to second on a Drew Smith single and to third on a Jacob Walsh ground out. Bennett Thompson, who came into the tournament seven for his last nine, picked up the RBI with a sacrifice fly to left field.

Neither team scored in the next five innings until the Ducks snapped the scoreless streak in the bottom of the eighth.

Sabin Ceballos, who was named first-team All-Pac-12 Conference earlier in the day, sparked the rally with a base hit to leadoff the inning before being pinch run for by Bryce Boettcher. Tanner Smith followed with a double putting a pair of runners in scoring position, at which point Oregon was 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position.

Ironically, Oregon (34-20) would finish 0-for-8 despite scoring two runs in the inning. Drew Smith drove in the first run without a hit when he reached on an error by Cal shortstop Carson Crawford that saw Boettcher score on the play. Jacob Walsh followed with Oregon's second sacrifice fly of the game to give the Ducks the lead.

Box Score Notes: Freshman Drew Smith extended his hitting streak to 16 games, the second longest in Oregon history (Spencer Steer 18 in 2019) … Smith (2-for-4, RBI) has at least one hit in all 15 of his starts, seven of those multi-hit games … Tanner Smith (3-for-4, 2 R) had the 19th multi-hit game of the year and the 84th of his career … Colby Shade's fifth-inning stolen base gave him 30 for his career, tying him with Tanner Smith for sixth all-time on the Oregon career list … Freshman Grayson Grinsell (3.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 2 K) made his first career start on the mound after 25 relief appearances … Logan Mercado (5-1) picked up the win making his first appearance out of the bullpen since April 26 … The two teams combined to go 1-for-19 with runners in scoring position and 2-for-15 with two outs.

On Deck: Oregon gets a day off before facing Stanford, the No. 1 seed in the tournament, on Thursday at 7:05 p.m. Stanford meets Cal on Wednesday at 7:05 p.m.