Oregon baseball swept its doubleheader against California on Saturday at PK Park in Eugene, Oregon. The Ducks took game one 8-5 behind six early runs and a quality start from Matt Mercer, who improved to 3-1 on the season after throwing six innings, allowing seven hits, three runs (two earned), and two hits while striking out eight Golden Bears. Kyle Kasser went 4-5 at the plate with two runs scored, but also committed his first two errors of the season after being moved from second to third base in the middle of the game after Spencer Steer was hit by a pitch on the wrist. He was not available in game two of the doubleheader. Catcher Ray Soderman had three hits, two runs batted in, and two runs scored as well for the Ducks. Parker Kelly recorded the final nine outs of the game and allowed two runs on two hits while striking out three batters en route to his first-career save.

In game two, Cal got out to an early lead with a run in the first against Kenyon Yovan, who made his first-career collegiate start on Saturday. After assuming the role of closer up to this point in his career, Yovan was on a 70-pitch limit as he builds up his arm strength. He pitched five innings, allowing just one run, while walking three and striking out four Golden Bears on the way to his first win of the season. James Acuna threw three scoreless innings in relief, allowing just two hits, while walking none and striking out two. The Oregon offense scored a single run in both the third and fourth innings and scored two more in each the sixth and seventh innings before tacking on another in the eighth with help from Jakob Goldfarb, who singled three times, tripled once, drove in two runs, stole a base and scored a run for the Ducks. With the two wins, Oregon is now 14-7 and 2-3 in Pac-12 play on the season and secures its first Pac-12 series win of the season. The Ducks go for the series sweep on Sunday with first pitch scheduled for noon.

Game Story (by Marc Grandi)

Postgame Interviews

Head Coach George Horton

Junior Matt Mercer

Senior Kyle Kasser

Redshirt Junior Jakob Goldfarb