It’s win-or-go-home time for the Oregon baseball team. The Ducks found themselves on the wrong end of an 8-6 loss Wednesday on the opening day of the Pac-12 tournament.
Now, they are one loss away from being sent home from Scottsdale early.
No. 4-seeded Oregon (35-22, 18-12 Pac-12) will face off with No. 8-seeded Arizona State (25-31, 13-17) in the losers bracket Thursday, with first pitch set for 9:00 a .m. from Scottsdale Stadium.
The Ducks will look to right-hander Isaac Ayon, who tossed his first career complete game last Friday, against a dangerous Sun Devils’ offense.
A win could be necessary for the Ducks if they hope to host a regional in Eugene. When the week began, 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.
Follow along for live updates throughout the morning, and join the discussion in the ScoopDuck forums.
First inning
T1 — Oregon drew a pair of one-out walks and made ASU starter Tyler Meyer throw 23 pitches. But they could not get a run across.
B1 — Ducks’ starter Isaac Ayon ran into trouble with a couple of one-out singles. But fought back to retire ASU”s No. 4 and No. 5 hitters to escape the jam without surrendering a run.
Second inning
T2 —Jacob Walsh reached with a leadoff single for the Ducks, continuing the success from his two-hit game on Wednesday. But he was left stranded.
B2 — Isaac Ayon worked around a two-out single from Sun Devil’s right-fielder KaI Murphy to record another scoreless frame.
Third inning
T3 — Once again, the Ducks put two runners on early in the inning when Colby Shade was hit by a pitch, and Anthony Hall followed by drawing a walk. But Oregon was unable to capitalize.
B3 — Isaac Ayon nearly worked his way out of trouble again. But with two runners on, he surrendered a two-out bloop to Conor Davis that gave ASU a 1-0 lead.
Fourth inning
T4 — Gavin Grant’s one-out single scored Sam Novitske from second to tie the game at 1-1. Then, Tanner Smith lifted a sac-fly to center to score Bennett Thompson and give Oregon a 2-1 lead.
B4 — Isaac Ayon worked around a two-out single, and some loud contact, to hold the Sun Devils scoreless in the fourth.
Fifth inning
T5 — Oregon chased ASU starter Tyler Meyer by putting two runners on with two outs. But Christian Bodlovich came on in relief and got Bennett Thompson to line out to rleft to end the inning.
Meyers’ final line was: 2 hits, 2 earned runs, 5 walks, and 4 strikeouts in 4 2/3 innings of work.
B5 — With his 75th pitch of the day, Isaac Ayon struck out Conor Davis to end the inning with a runner on second and hold the Oregon lead at 2-1.
Sixth inning
T6 — Graham Osman came on in relief for Arizona State at the start of the inning. Tanner Smith and Colby Shade greeted him with back-to-back one-out singles, with Smith taking third on a successful hit-and-run by Shade. But Shade was thrown out at second trying to take an extra base for the second out of the inning.
Then, Osman struck out Anthony Hall looking to end the inning and hold the Oregon lead to 2-1.
B6 — Kai Murphy hammered a two-run homer to right field to give Arizona State a 3-2 lead. Ayon then hit ASU’s No. 9 hitter with a pitch, and Oregon turned to its bullpen and brought on lefty Rio Britton.
Britton got Joe Lampe to fly out to center, then got Sean McClain to fly out and end the inning.
Seventh inning
T7 — Drew Cowley worked a leadoff walk, but Josh Kasevich then grounded into a double play to wipe out the early momentum of the inning. Osman then struck out Jacob Walsh looking on three pitches.
B7 — Rio Britton retired three of the four batters he faced to complete a scoreless seventh and hold the ASU lead to 3-2.
Eighth inning
T8 — Sam Novitske drew a leadoff walk, then moved to second on Bennett Thompson’s groundout. but he was left stranded there as Gavin Grant struck out looking and Tanner Smith grounded out to end the inning.
B8 — The Sun Devils tacked on an insurance run when Joe Lampe lifted a sac-fly to center to push the ASU lead to 4-2 against Ducks’ closer Kolby Somers, who entered midway through the inning with runners in the corners.
Ninth inning
T9 — ASU closer Brock Perry came on in the ninth and retired Oregon’s 2-3-4 hitters in order to end the game and send the Ducks home after two straight losses in the Pac-12 tournament.
