Oregon Ducks baseball coach Mark Wasikowski probably prefers his offense to spread the runs out a bit more, but as long as the Ducks win, it doesn’t matter all that much.
A five-run first inning gave the Ducks the upper hand and Oregon was able to cruise to a relatively easy 8-3 win over California on a blustery day at PK Park. With the win, the Ducks improved to 28-14 overall and 13-7 in conference play.
Oregon starting pitcher Isaac Ayon pitched six solid innings, giving up three runs on seven hits and striking out seven. He earned his third win of the season.
It didn’t look good for Ayon early on as he gave up a lead-off homer and a double in the first inning. But he was able to settle down and held the Bears off the scoreboard other than that home run.
That was all the Oregon offense needed to get to off the deck in the bottom of the first. The Ducks used three doubles and three singles to score five runs and that was more than enough for Ayon.
Cal scored single runs in the second and third. The Ducks scored a run in the second and at the end of three, it was 6-3 Oregon. It stayed that way until the seventh when the Ducks were able to score two insurance runs on Tanner Smith’s single to left that drove into Anthony Hall and Gavin Grant.
The Ducks will go for the sweep Sunday at noon as they will send out Jace Stoffal to the mound. The Bears haven’t announced their starters.
