No. 22 Oregon baseball drops opening game of Pac-12 tournament
At this time of year, talent looms large in the college baseball postseason. Unfortunately for the Oregon Ducks, they ran into one of the most talented players in the country at the wrong time on Wednesday and he punished them all afternoon.
Arizona catcher Daniel Susac went 3-for-4 with two homers and three RBIs to lead Arizona to an 8-6 win over the No. 22 Ducks in the opening round of the Pac-12 tournament in Scottsdale, Ariz.
A third-team All-American last season and projected first-round pick in the upcoming MLB Draft, Susac is arguably the best catcher on the west coast. On Wednesday, his solo homer in the second and two-run shot in the ninth was the difference.
As a result, No. 4-seeded Oregon is now in win-or-go-home mode. The Ducks will face the loser of Wednesday’s matchup between No. 1-seed Stanford and No. 8 Arizona, which is scheduled to begin at 12:45 p.m. PT. Arizona, the No. 5 seed in the tournament, will play the winner of that game.
Oregon brought plenty of firepower at the plate, with five players delivering multi-hit performances. Anthony Hall crushed a three-run homer to give the Ducks a 5-4 lead in the sixth, and Colby Shade and Jacob Walsh each went 2-for-4 with doubles.
But just three days after it carried the Ducks to a series sweep of the Wildcats in Eugene, Oregon’s pitching staff was torched by a stacked Arizona offense and could not find a way to produce outs in crucial moments.
Ducks’ opener Christian Ciuffetelli gave up three early runs. RJ Gordon came on to relieve him midway through the third but ran into trouble in the seventh when he allowed the first three Arizona batters of the inning to reach base.
Rio Britton, one of Oregon’s top relievers, replaced Gordon and hit Tanner O’Tremba with his first pitch of the day to bring home the tying run. The next batter, Chase Davis, lifted a sac-fly to right to plate another run and give Arizona a 6-5 lead.
The Wildcats padded their lead in the ninth and gave the game its final score with Susac’s second homer of the day.
Oregon fought back for a run in the bottom of the ninth when Drew Cowley doubled to plate Colby Shade. With two outs, Hall came to the plate as the tying run, but flew out to left to end the game.
