Oregon wins a rare pitcher’s duel in 11 innings over San Francisco
Suffice it to say that there won’t be many pitching duels at PK Park this season.
Oregon came into today’s game with San Francisco averaging nine runs per contest. But on those rare occasions where the Duck bats just don’t have it, they still need to find ways to win.
The second game of the brief midweek series with the Dons featured one such occasion and the Ducks managed to find a way to win 4-3 in 11 innings. Oregon is now 18-7 overall as it prepares to go down to Los Angeles to face UCLA for a three-game set.
Josh Kasevich had three of Oregon’s six hits on the day. His single to begin the ninth sparked a rally to tie the game at 3-3 and his double led off the 11th where Kasevich eventually scored the winning run.
The Ducks had runners on second and third with two out and the Dons decided to pitch to Gavin Grant. It was a pick your poison option with Tanner Smith waiting on deck. Grant hit a bouncer to second where it was slow enough for Grant to beat the throw sending Oregon home happy.
USF took the early 2-0 lead in the second inning, but the Ducks were able to tie the game an inning later. Brennan Milone’s single got Oregon on the board and Kasevich’s single up the middle tied the game.
It remained 2-2 until the sixth inning when USF was able to scratch out a run off of reliever Logan Mercado. Oregon used five pitchers out of the bullpen after Scott Ellis made his first career start. Matt Dallas threw the final 3 2/3 innings and earned the win.
