Oregon Ducks Baseball: Ducks Drop The Series Against UCLA

Today’s game featured Issac Ayon starting for the Ducks against Max Rajcic for UCLA.

Both pitchers had an uneventful first inning, with the Duck bats striking first in the second. A Josh Kasevich single set Anthony Hall up for a two-run homer, putting the Ducks up 2-0. Rajcic then settled down, and took care of all the Duck batters through the end of the sixth inning.

In the bottom of the third, a couple of singles lead to UCLA’s first score of the game, down 2-1. A scoreless fourth inning brought the Bruins’ go-ahead inning in the fifth, when they tagged Ayon for two singles and two double, going up 4-2. Christian Ciuffetelli came in for relief and closed the inning, but the damage would prove to be fatal.

The Ducks would bring in a couple more relievers and hold UCLA at bay, setting up a rally in the ninth that fell just short of tying the game. Singles by Kasevich, Hall, and Sam Novitske allowed Kasevich to score and take the game to 4-3, but that’s all that Oregon would muster as UCLA closed out the game in the middle on the ninth.

Max Rajcic (3-3) picked up the win today, and Issac Ayon (2-1) scored his first loss of the season.

Anthony Hall went 2-4 with the home run, and Josh Kasevich also went 2-4, and between the two they scored all three of Oregon’s runs.

Today’s game felt much like last night’s, with Oregon being stymied by the Bruins’ starting pitching and falling just short by one run - again. The Ducks bring an 18-9, 7-4 Pac-12 record to tomorrow’s final game of the series and hope to avoid a weekend sweep.

Oregon plays the final game of the UCLA series tomorrow, 4/3/22, at 12:00 pm PT. The game can be viewed on the Pac-12 Network.