April 18, 2009
BERKELEY, CALIF. - Cal baseball scored three runs in the bottom of the ninth inning on junior designated hitter Blake Smith's two-run homer and an Oregon wild pitch, but it was too little too late as the Golden Bears fell to the Ducks, 5-3, Saturday afternoon at Evans Diamond. Cal, who had defeated Oregon, 14-1 on Friday, fell to 17-19 overall and 4-10 in the Pac-10. The Ducks, who prior to this season hadn't fielded a baseball team since 1981, improved to 13-22 overall and 3-8 in the conference.
Oregon had an outstanding pitching performance from junior right-hander Erik Stavert (4-2), who threw 8.0 innings with five hits, two runs, four walks and eight strikeouts. Stavert walked junior second baseman Jeff Kobernus to start the Bears' bottom of the ninth and then gave up a towering home run to Smith over the left center field fence. Ryan Fleckenstein replaced Stavert and walked Cal freshman right fielder Danny Oh. Duck closer Drew Gagnier then replaced Fleckenstein and proceeded to walk sophomore left fielder Dwight Tanaka and throw a wild pitch that allowed Oh to score.
But Gagnier was able to gather himself enough to get freshman catcher Chadd Krist to line-out to right field, strikeout pinch-hitter Chad Bunting and get junior center fielder Brett Jackson to groundout to second base to end the ballgame and earn his sixth save of the season.
The losing pitcher for the Bears was junior left-hander Chris Petrini (1-3), who threw 4.2 innings with five hits, three runs, one walk and four strikeouts. Freshman right-hander Matt Flemer replaced Petrini in the fifth inning and pitched the final 4.1 innings (four hits, two runs, two walks, three strikeouts).
|
|
 |
Oregon scored its runs on a two-run homer by Darrell Hunter on 3-0 count off of Petrini in the second inning. The Ducks added a run in the fifth inning on an RBI single to center field by Caleb Tommasini, and a run in the sixth inning when KC Serna hit a solo home run off of Flemer. Oregon added an insurance run in the top of the ninth on a sacrifice bunt RBI by Curtis Raulinaitis.
Cal will next play the rubber match of the three-game Pac-10 series versus Oregon, Sunday, April 19 at 1 p.m. at Evans Diamond.
Home Runs:
Oregon: Darrell Hunter, two-run homer in the second inning. KC Serna, solo home run in the sixth inning.
Cal: Blake Smith, two-run homer in the ninth inning.
