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Oregon eliminated from Pac-12 tournament after difficult day at the plate

Jarrid Denneyby: Jarrid Denney05/26/22jarrid_denney
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Cameron Parker/ScoopDuck

Oregon’s time at the inaugural Pac-12 tournament has come to an early end.

The No. 4-seeded Ducks fell 4-2 to No. 8 Arizona State on Thursday at Scottsdale Stadium. The loss comes one day after they were upset by No. 5 Arizona by a score of 8-6.

Now, Oregon has been sent packing from a tournament it hoped would bolster its postseason resume. Instead, the trip to the desert might have done more harm than good.

At the start of this week, D1Baseball tabbed Oregon as one of its 16 regional hosts. However, Wednesday’s loss to the Wildcats has drooped them out of the publication’s top-16. Thursday’s loss isn’t going to help their stock.

Isaac Ayon delivered his second consecutive strong start for the Ducks and struck out five batters throughout 5 1/3 innings while working around 10 hits. But his day took a rocky turn in the fifth when Kai Murphy, son of legendary ASU coach Pat Murphy, launched a two-run homer to deep right field that gave the Sun Devils a 3-2 lead they would not surrender

Meanwhile, the Ducks had plenty of opportunities at the plate. Oregon tallied at least one hit or walk in each of the first eight innings. But it went just 3-for-18 with runners on base and 1-for-13 with runners in scoring position on the day.

The Ducks’ lone runs came in the fourth inning when Gavin Grant ripped a run-scoring single, and Tanner Smith followed with a sac-fly to center that gave them a 2-1 lead at the time.

However, Murphy’s homer proved to be the difference, and Joe Lampe tacked on an insurance run for ASU in the eighth with a sac-fly against Oregon closer Kolby Somers.

The Ducks were without Brennan Milone, their leading run-producer and No. 3 hitter, on Thursday for undisclosed reasons. During the Pac-12 broadcast, commentators alluded to Tanner Smith playing through illness.

Oregon is the first team eliminated from the tournament and now will have to play the waiting game until next week to find out its postseason destination.

The NCAA selection show is set to air Monday, May 30 and will begin at 9 a.m. PT on ESPN2.

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