GAME 4 - 247 SPORTS: Gritty performance pushes Oregon baseball to sweep No. 7 UCSB (1 photo, article)

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Gritty performance pushes Oregon baseball to sweep No. 7 UCSB

With a chance to sweep its first series of the season, the Ducks needed extra innings to beat the No. 7 UCSB Gauchos 9-4, giving Oregon a 6-2 record on the year.

The Ducks sent Robert Ahlstrom to the mound, his first start of the season. The lefty had an uncharacteristic season in the shortened 2020 season, starting four games, allowing 16 runs in 23.2 innings pitched, good enough for a 6.08 ERA.

Ahlstrom took on a talented UCSB lineup but did well in his opening day. Ahlstrom threw three full innings, allowed just one hit, one walk, and struck out four on Sunday. Ahlstrom faced 13 batters, hitting only one batter but forcing three groundouts and limiting damage. Oregon’s starting rotation had limited damages the entire series, and Ahlstrom was no different on Sunday.

Working on a pitch count, Ahlstrom hit his outing limit, and freshman Isaac Ayon came in for relief. At this point in the season, Ayon, the pseudo long reliever, came on and shut the Gauchos down across four innings. Ayon struggled in his last appearance against Seattle, allowing five hits, four runs in just two innings of work.

Ayon matched Ahlstrom in batters faced, 13, despite pitching an extra inning. The freshman struck out three batters, allowing just one hit on her appearance. Ayon’s future with the Ducks is bright, as the righty has electric stuff, with a fastball that sits around 93MPH and can reach 95. Ayon, paired with fellow freshman Rio Britton, has given head coach Mark Wasikowski two arms to build around for the future of Oregon baseball.

The Ducks turned to Hunter Breault for the second straight game, but Breault struggled in the eighth inning on Sunday. With the Ducks leading 4-1 heading into the eighth, Breault allowed a leadoff home run, a single through the left side, and then another home-run, to knot the game at four. With one out in the inning, Breault’s day was done, and Andrew Mosiello came in and closed the door.

Mosiello had a stellar weekend in Santa Barbara; in two appearances, the righty threw 4.2 innings of work, allowing three hits, one run, while striking out seven batters. Mosiello struck out five in route to securing his second win of the season.

The Ducks offense was once again the Kenyon Yovan show early in the ball game. Yovan hit his fourth home run of the series, another towering shot to left field in the top of the first inning, giving the Ducks a 1-0 lead early in the contest. Josh Kasevich secured another run on an RBI double to right-center.

Yovan nearly hit his fifth home run of the series but settled for a long single to left field, banging off the top of the wall and into the left fielder’s glove. Yovan was held to a single only because of how deep the left fielder was playing him. Nearly at the warning track, the left fielder only had to turn and run a short distance, as UCSB has been introduced multiple times to Yovan’s power.

Sam Novitske and Yovan both drove in a run in the seventh inning, increasing the Ducks’ lead to 4-1. After UCSB tied the game, the Ducks offense put up five runs in the 10th inning, giving the Ducks their final 9-4 lead.

Oregon’s offense consistently put crooked numbers on the board against UCSB. Against Seattle, we saw the Ducks struggle at points, becoming too aggressive at others. Coach Wasikowski wanted his players to remain aggressive at the plate, and it showed in the series sweep against UCSB.

Oregon takes on No. 16 Oregon State in a non-conference three-game series starting Friday, March 12, in Corvallis at 5:35 PM.

Gritty performance pushes Oregon baseball to sweep No. 7 UCSB (247sports.com)

 

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