Diamond Ducks Lose Their Respective Games

Baseball vs. UCLA Bruins

Jackson Pace started at the mound for the Ducks, with Kelly Austin pitching for UCLA. Pace immediately got off on the wrong foot when his first pitch was sent to left center field for a double. UCLA’s second out nevertheless scored their first of 16 runs on the game. With two outs, the Bruins picked up and single, a walk, and Pace hit a batter to load the bases. A two-out double with the bases loaded scored three, and the UCLA rout was on.

The Ducks bats could not respond on this afternoon. UCLA’s Austin pitched nearly seven shutout innings, allowing three hits and only walking two. Meanwhile, in the second inning Pace’s troubles continued - Pace just didn’t have his best stuff today. He walked the first at-bat, hit another batter, and those runners advanced on a failed pickoff attempt. When pace gave up an RBI single and walked another batter, his afternoon was done. Logan Mercado came in on relief but fared no better; the Bruins scored another four runs before the inning was closed.

Mercado held UCLA scoreless for the next two innings, but in the fifth he was taken off the mound after loading the bases. Grayson Grinsell was thrust in a difficult situation but proved as ineffective as rest of the pitching staff and gave up the grand slam.

UCLA scored a pair of runs in the top of the ninth, bringing us to today’s 0-16 final score. Jackson Pace (1-1) picked up the loss with UCLA’s Kelly Austin (2-1) earning the win. The Ducks only managed three hits today and left three on base. UCLA’s outstanding pitching earned them the series win this weekend.

Ducks baseball (9-5, 1-2 Pac-12) hosts a midweek, non-conference game against Niagara. That game is on Wednesday, 3/15/23, at 4:05 pm PT and will be shown on Oregon Live Stream.

Softball vs. Washington Huskies

Ducks softball struck first, but the Huskies put nine on the board in the second and third innings, and just held off an Oregon rally to take the weekend series on today’s final, 7-9.

Raegan Breedlove started for Oregon, and Ruby Meylan started for Washington. KK Humphreys hit a single, and two batters later Terra McGowan hit a well placed double to bring Humphreys home.

McGowan reached third on an Alyssa Daniell single, and then scored Oregon’s second run on a wild pitch. The Ducks’ third run of the inning came when a Hannah Delgado single brought Daniell home, and Oregon was up 3-0.

UW went down 1-2-3 in the bottom of the first and Oregon bats struck again in the second inning. Tehya Bird opened the top if the inning with a single, and Kai Luschar replaced Bird as a pinch runner. Two successive sacrifice flies scored Luschar and the Ducks were up 4-0.

In the bottom of the second, unfortunate errors and this wild pitch meant that the Huskies were able to tie and then take the lead, 4-5.

The Ducks were scoreless in the third, and Washington continued to tally runs. After Breedlove allowed another run, Stevie Hansen came to the circle in relief. The bad news is that the Huskies scored another three runs off of this home run:

The good news was that Hansen kept Washington off the board for the rest of the game, allowing for the possibility of an Oregon comeback. Hansen picked up the defensive help that the Ducks needed if they were going to make a game of this.

Oregon tacked on a couple of runs in the fifth to bring the game up to a three-point difference, 6-9.

In the sixth inning Terra McGowan was again trying the will the Ducks to victory. After KK Humphreys got on base, a McGowan two-out single scored KK.

UW’s Ruby Melan was relieved in the second inning, when Oregon was up 4-0. Lindsey Lopez pitched relief until Oregon’s seventh run in the sixth inning, when Melan returned to the circle. Although the Ducks were able to get the winning run on base in the 7th, Melan shut down the side with the bases loaded to give the Huskies the game and series win with the final score of 7-9.

Raegan Breedlove (2-1) picked up the loss today, while Lopez got the win and Melan the save. Terra McGowan’s bat lead the way for the Ducks, going 2-4 with 3 RBIs. KK Humphreys, Alyssa Daniell, and Hannah Delgado also added and RBI each. The Ducks stranded nine on base in a game where they really needed to get base runners across the plate.

Oregon softball (17-6, 1-2 Pac-12) stays in Seattle for a game against Seattle tomorrow, 3/13/23, at 3:00 pm PT. That game will be televised on ESPN+. This coming weekend marks Oregon’s home opener at The Jane, where they host the Stanford Cardinal. First pitch is Friday, 3/17/23, at 6:00 pm, and will be televised on the Pac-12 Network.